In the great turbulent scenario that can be the workday, school or daily life, the weekend is a relief for people. Since Friday, we always look for a plan to relax, or if that’s the case, feel as if we fell in love. yeah just like The Cure has said it before with “Friday I’m in Love”.
This song by the British band It helps us to lift our spirits a little. And it is precisely that optimistic vibe that gives the track an aura of peculiarity. Robert Smith and company, under that dark and gothic trail, gave the world an ‘absurd pop song’ (in the words of the vocalist himself) for posterity.
On this occasion, we will briefly review the unique history of how was the theme created mainstream par excellence of The Cure“Friday I’m in Love”, that song that catapulted the group out of this dark mystique to momentarily savor the sweeter side of pop.
The history of The Cure and how “Friday, I’m in Love” was composed
It is almost a fact that when hearing the name of The Cure, the ground that we walk in the mind leads us through melancholy. His discography, in most of his deliveries, proves it. But there is an album that in that sense was a bit out of place with the previous installments: Wishthat group that has “Friday I’m in Love” as one of its main singles.
In fact, that metamorphosis between albums is interesting. The band launched in 1989 the also fabulous Disintegration which evidently followed the conceptual line of nostalgia and the gloomy setting, aspects that are very present in compositions such as “Lullaby” o “Fascination Street”.
Then the 80’s ended and The Cure needed some fresh air. Something like a renovation but without leaving the roots aside. And it is that with Wishlaunched precisely on April 21, 1992, several changes were coming: it was the first album recorded with Perry Bamonteold friend of the band, in the lineup.
More striking is that this material is the last in which the founding guitarist would actively participate Pearl “Porl” Thompson after 16 years in the band (although he returned to the studio with the group in 2008 to 4:13 Dream).
The list of peculiarities of the album cannot be understood in the same way without citing its most emblematic track, which became a classic by The Cure: “Friday I’m In Love”which is what evokes the entire identity of the band at this point in their career; an approach to his most pop side.
La inesperada “Friday I’m In Love”
If there’s one song that contradicts the stereotype of The Cure as a ‘gothic’ band, it’s it. “Friday I’m In Love”. The theme was shared as the second single of the aforementioned Wish, and sooner rather than later it became popular with the public. Like many amazing songs in history, this one came from an unexpected burst of inspiration from Robert Smith.
In an interview with Guitar World, the vocalist revealed that the song was created precisely on a Friday when he was leaving the studio ready to rest for the weekend. “Memory drive home on a friday afternoon to have the weekend off and I started thinking about this really cool chord sequence. It was about 20 minutes from the studio. So I turned around, went back to the studio and they were still there.”recalled Smith.
The provisional title of the new song would be ‘Friday’, but once again Robert’s genius came. “When I wrote the lyrics, I thought, ‘why don’t I make a song about that Friday feeling?’Smith said.
“It’s something you feel when you go to school and there are a lot of people who don’t enjoy their jobs.. That Friday afternoon feeling is something to look forward to.”said the Cure frontman about “Friday I’m in Love”.
Wanting to further define that feeling, the singer said in a 1997 interview for MTV who, in those days of recording, was organized on Fridays with the other members to have a few drinks in a nearby pub. At those moments Robert thought: “Has anyone had enough of the week?”. And that idea also made noise to compose the song.
The Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love”: An ‘absurd but difficult’ pop song
As we mentioned, “Friday I’m In Love” is that more pop part of the band that broke with the more alternative scheme of The Cure…and Robert Smith always knew it. In an interview with SPIN magazine (via Far Out), the leader of the band even said that the song was a bit absurd, but it was good to have that contrast between the pop and the melancholic.
“Es a silly pop song, but it’s actually quite excellent because it’s so absurd. It’s so out of place, very optimistic… But it’s nice to have that counterbalance. People think we’re supposed to be leading some kind of pessimistic movement.“Smith said in that conversation.
With everything and that, the good Robert mentioned in that same talk that pop lyrics “genuinely dumb are so much harder to write… I went through hundreds of sheets of paper trying to find words for this record (Wish)”he commented.
The vocalist of The Cure revealed that at first he thought he had stolen the chord sequence from some other well-known song, although he never managed to remember which one it was. On the contrary, when he asked the other members of the band if they knew of any songs with that tune, they said that they hadn’t heard anything like this before.
And so, eventually, the emblematic video with which the band invites us to dance and enjoy the weekend arrived. More than 30 years after its launch and in the midst of this turbulent moment, “Friday I’m In Love” de The Cure It reminds us how much we enjoy Fridays, after spending the whole week between stress, earrings and all that sometimes consumes us.
