Charlotte Sometimes (song)

This article is about the song. For other uses, see Charlotte Sometimes (disambiguation).

"Charlotte Sometimes"
Single by The Cure
Released	5 October 1981
Format	7", 12"
Genre	Gothic rock
Length	4:13
Label	Fiction Records
Producer	Mike Hedges, The Cure
The Cure singles chronology
"Primary" (1981) "Charlotte Sometimes" (1981) "A Single" (1982)

"Charlotte Sometimes" is a 1981 single by The Cure. The lyrics to both sides were based on the 1969 children's novel of the same name^[1] by British writer Penelope Farmer. The single peaked at number forty-four in the UK Singles Chart.

History

The song "Charlotte Sometimes" is based on Charlotte Sometimes,^[1] a children's novel by British writer Penelope Farmer, published in 1969.

Lyrics include "she was crying and crying for a girl who died so many years before" and "sometimes I'm dreaming where all the other people dance". It has dream-like rhythmic and melodic structures; recurring modal transitions, numerous harmonic suspensions and lamenting vocals create a feeling of inevitable drift into darkness. Originally a non-album single released in between Faith and Pornography, the song later appears on the 2005 reissue of Faith. A powerful live take was included on the Concert album.

The B-Side of "Charlotte Sometimes" is "Splintered in Her Head", which is also based on the novel.^[1] The mood of "Splintered in Her Head" is overall more disquieting, with metallic, distorted vocals and heavy percussion, foreshadowing the next year's Pornography. The Cure released a third song based on the novel, called The Empty World on the album The Top.

The ten minute live version of Faith on the B-side of the 12" version was recorded at the Sydney Capitol Theatre in August 1981 by the then Australian Broadcasting Commission's youth radio station 2JJJ. This version is reproduced on Disc 2 of the deluxe reissue of album Faith.

The music video for the song was filmed at Holloway Sanitorium, the location of several other high profile music video shoots in the 1980s. It features the character of Charlotte recreating scenes from the story in the presence of the band, while Smith mimes the words of the song.

The cover of the single is a distorted picture of Mary Poole, Robert's then-girlfriend and now-wife. The same picture was used again as the cover of The Cure's 1990 single Pictures of You, but in that case the picture was clear and undistorted.

Track listing

7" Single

1. "Charlotte Sometimes"
2. "Splintered in Her Head"

12" single

1. "Charlotte Sometimes"
2. "Splintered in Her Head"
3. "Faith" (live)

Personnel

• Robert Smith - guitar, keyboard, vocals, harmonica
• Simon Gallup - bass
• Lol Tolhurst - drums

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Charlotte Sometimes author Penelope Farmer in 2007 about "Charlotte Sometimes", part one and two (via Archive.org)