The Making Of The Cure's 'Just Like Heaven' [Highlight From Episode 318]

Author Matthew Davis on the story behind the lyrics and music to The Cure's hit single "Just Like Heaven".

Listen to Episode 318: The Cure: From Three Imaginary Boys To Gothic Rock Legends

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's a highlight from a recent episode of Booked on Rock.
Matthew Davis is the author of The Cure, Every Album,
Every Song, riding high in the success of the Head
on the Door, which reached number seven in the UK
fifty nine in the US, along with the singles collections
Standing on a Beach, which you mentioned the Cure, you write,
were in good spirits when they convened to work on

(00:20):
the next album in nineteen eighty six, and it resulted
in the album kiss Me, Kissed Me, Kissed Me, which
had a working title of one Million Virgins I didn't know.
That has the singles why Can't I Be You, Catch Hot,
Hot Hot, and just Like Heaven, which is, in my opinion,
really a perfect pop rock song. I mean it's absolute perfection.

(00:42):
Share what you write in the book about the writing
of the songs.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
The lyrics. Yes, this is about luck A hollow eye
on beachy Head that you had with Mary, his potter
of many years. They got together when they were fifteen
years old.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Still together, yes.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Do together after all these years. It's a real real
romance story, you know, kind of relationship goals in a way.
You know, my partner and I are very affected by that.
I wish that we'd met when when they Zoe could
be together for that amount of time. But yeah, so
she's always been his news, and he's always always been
his rock and held them together when he was in

(01:18):
danger of falling apart. It must be strange to be
a person like that and just know how many love
songs have been written about you were just how many
songs in general. I mean, I can't think of anyone
else that have more songs written about her, apart from
maybe historical figures or someone like Marilyn Monroe where a
lot of people didn't know are probably written songs about her.
But I mean to know that there are like dozens
or if not hundreds of songs inspired by including some

(01:41):
of the best songs of all time, the most romantic
songs of all time. It must be quite an interesting
space to be in. But so lyrics were about that
and experience that that Robert and Mary had when they
were down there at beach. He had when They're Close
to Me video was shot and the music Robert had
written a little instrument with them. It was called Shivers
at the time, and he thought it sounded too much
like another girl and other play by the only ones

(02:01):
the rest of the events at NAT it'll be fine, basically,
so they sped it up a bit and just use
this compositional trick that they had started using probably years before,
in which I still deploy from time to time now,
where basically start with one or two instruments, add another one,
add another one at another one. See that. The way
these two is out in the old days was maybe
start with the drums and then the guitar will come

(02:24):
in and the bass and the vocals and you get
to the end and they drop out one by one. Too.
We had like maybe just the drums going in this case,
obviously start with the bass and the drums and the
acoustic guitar comes in, and then you've got your your
guitars come in and the keyboards before that theme comes in. Also,
the song was used as the theme song for French
TV show at the time, so the instrumental of aught

(02:45):
have been familiar to some viewers in France, at least
at the time before it was released as a single.