Robert Smith: "I was very, very unhappy [during the 'Disintegration' era]"

Started by dsanchez, September 29, 2019, 22:59:58

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dsanchez

Great interview with Bob on RollingStone and apparently there are more parts to be published. Some fragments:

On his state to mind during 'Disintegration'

QuotePlaying [Disintegration closer] 'Untitled' (in Sydney) was actually quite difficult for me, because it's this song that has a lot of emotional... baggage isn't the right word. It's just that for me, it's a very important song. It proved very difficult, actually, for me to sing it convincingly to myself because I had to put myself back into a time and a place where I was very, very unhappy

On his state of mind now:

QuoteI'm actually a lot more depressed than I used to be in a funny way, and yet I'm probably just generally happier. And it doesn't make any sense. When I look back to how I was when I was really quite young, in my mid-teens, I think, "Why did I feel that bad all the time?" But it was kind of a sense of futility that's never really left me. It's there. If I allow it to, it still kind of creeps up and swallows me, but I suppose I'm more outward looking than I used to be. I don't really worry. I'm resigned, I suppose, to my life. It's like the aging process and everything else that goes with it.

On the new album (tentatively titled Live From the Moon)

QuoteI'm very conscious of the words I'm writing for the new stuff not being too obvious. I'm trying to write more poetically about things that aren't necessarily depressing subjects, which is quite a challenge in itself. That's maybe why I've been reading so much. It's just to steal perhaps. I don't know. I'm lifting wholesale passages from War and Peace to drop in the new stuff. That's a scoop

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/cure-robert-smith-disintegration-interview-886034/
2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

SueC

Sense of futility... depression... can't quite explain it... I've occasionally wondered what his Family of Origin analysis would be.  Sometimes, parents' later-in-life kids just don't seem as miraculous to them as their first one, and don't get celebrated the same way, or sort of disappear amongst the crowd of kids, and other life issues for the parents, such as midlife crises, marriage problems etc.  If when you're a tiny person you feel in some ways invisible to the first people you love, that can have a very long downstream effect on you emotionally, and often people don't realise that's what's going on because a lot of it is pre-verbal experience, and because it can be so difficult to see because your own growing up is the only one you've experienced yourself.  You don't have to have been actively abused to end up feeling this way.

There are lots of reasons why people may become predisposed to feelings like this, of course, and usually it's a combination of factors.  I feel for people who have to deal with black holes, for whatever reason.  I've been there, too, far longer than I wanted to be.  The up side of it - and there is an up side - is that people who have do deal with things like that usually have a lot of compassion for others.  If I'd not experienced a lot of awful stuff, I might have turned into a smug, unfeeling person who blamed others for their sadness, and kicked them when they were down.  Know anyone like that?  In which case, having to deal with black holes is worth the price of not being cold and clueless.  You can then become part of the solution to crap like this, rather than perpetuating it.

Lots of love to anyone out there who has ever had to deal with black holes.  ♥
SueC is time travelling

word_on_a_wing

"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

Ulrich

Once more, I totally understand his sentiments towards "Untitled": I didn't listen to it for years, because it reminded me of my mind-set in the "lost" summer of 1989 (melancholy etc.)! This album was the perfect soundtrack to my life back then; but you have to get over it and can't listen to that all the time. (But re-listening this year was different and brought mabye new meaning to some old songs.)
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

piggymirror

Quote from: Ulrich on September 30, 2019, 11:47:24(But re-listening this year was different and brought mabye new meaning to some old songs.)

"Can't you see I try? Swimming the same deep water as you is hard..."

So you've finally learnt to swim?

Ulrich

Thanks for the reminder, it's about time to renew my signature.
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Haha! :lol:

If you would like to hear some of Robert Smith's theories on swimming, just go to 2:00 in this clip:


It also has information on that cover art we were talking about previously, but so all over the place that it's pointless trying to find that thread to post it in (I think), and anyway, who can resist a little side track?  Noone, apparently! :angel 
SueC is time travelling

word_on_a_wing

"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

Ulrich

Quote from: SueC on January 13, 2020, 05:41:53If you would like to hear some of Robert Smith's theories on swimming...

Wow, "excellent" interview on a typical "Sat1" level (German private telly channel... don't watch it!).  :lol:
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on January 13, 2020, 08:39:15"I can't swim, I can't swim ...oh I'm swimming" 😆

Yes, very naughty individual!  :winking_tongue


Quote from: Ulrich on January 13, 2020, 09:17:22
Quote from: SueC on January 13, 2020, 05:41:53If you would like to hear some of Robert Smith's theories on swimming...

Wow, "excellent" interview on a typical "Sat1" level (German private telly channel... don't watch it!).  :lol:

Yes, wasn't that extremely ultra-professional?   :rofl  :evil:

Very funny though.  Brett laughed the hardest at the Dr Who reference, of course.  Are you also getting the impression that the majority of the German language goes right over RS's head, sort of like Swahili?   :angel

Although I bet he knows the meaning of "Bier" because it sounds exactly like "beer" anyway!  Hee hee ho ho...
SueC is time travelling

SueC

Seeing we've de-railed, and had some fun along the way (as is often the way in life), I was thinking about how to "re-rail" this thread, and wanted to add a postscript to the first post I wrote in response to the original post above.

Experiencing awful situations and feelings does have up sides - I'd mentioned increased capacity for compassion above, but forgot to say that going through hard things also tends to have the effect of increasing your appreciation of good things down the track.  Here's someone who has said it so exceptionally well that I don't need to try to elaborate myself:


On Joy and Sorrow

 
(Kahlil Gibran)

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises
was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,
the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine
the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit,
the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart
and you shall find it is only that which has
given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart,
and you shall see that in truth you are weeping
for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow,"
and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits,
alone with you at your board,
remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
SueC is time travelling