Highly influenced by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and even David Bowie he started playing guitar at the age of 12. Smith has played the 6 and 12 string guitars; 4 and 6 string bass guitars; double bass; piano; drums; violin; trumpet and trombone, in various combinations.
Robert is the third of four children born to Alex and Rita Smith. His siblings are Richard, Margaret, and Janet (who is married to Porl Thompson, the lead guitarist of The Cure).
Smith grew up in a Catholic atmosphere and went to St. Mary's high school in England as a teenager. However, he is not religious, but sometimes he feels that he wishes he was. One example of his desire for belief is in the aptly-titled Faith.
Smith has written or co-written the bulk of The Cure's music and lyrics in a career spanning 35 years. He has also been involved in other musical projects, including a stint with Siouxsie & the Banshees and his side-project with Steven Severin called The Glove. He has also contributed vocals to a number of independent projects and performances, among them the B-side of the Faith cassette which is a 30 minute track from a movie project - Carnage Visors.
Robert Smith is instantly recognizable for his image, which includes deliberately smeared red lipstick and messy black hair that some have compared to a large spider. He first used Siouxsie Sioux's lipstick while he was high on opium. Smith's image has contributed to the frequent classification of The Cure as a goth band, a moniker Smith rejects. Smith is also known for his distinctive wavering singing style.
Smith's lyrics are frequently poetic and as frequently inscrutable. Smith has stated that they are often the product of some "altered state," such as drugs or sleep.
Smith met Mary Poole in school when he was 14 years old. Smith explains that his class was asked to choose partners for an activity. He mustered the courage to ask Mary and, as he says, got lucky. They have been together since and were married in 1988. The song "Love Song" was written as a wedding present for Mary. They have agreed to remain childless.
In October 2004, he stood in as one of three guest presenters for John Peel on BBC Radio 1, a week before the DJ's untimely death.
"Just Like Heaven" is reportedly Smith's favorite pop song that The Cure has produced and easily one of the public's most popular in which he details a lost love: " found myself alone alone alone above the raging sea / that stole the only girl I loved / and drowned her deep inside of me. "
Public opinion has often been that, according to the music he writes, Robert Smith must be a deeply depressed soul. However, this quote disputes that sentiment:
" At the time we wrote Disintegration...it's just about what I was doing really, how I felt. But I'm not like that all the time. That's the difficulty of writing songs that are a bit depressing. People think you're like that all the time, but I don't think that. I just usually write when I'm depressed." -Robert Smith in a 1989 interview
Smith is the only member who has been in The Cure the whole time it has existed. When asked who their favorite lineup is, most fans will almost always mention Smith along with Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, and Boris Williams.
Collaborations
In 2003, Robert Smith worked in collaboration with the band Blink-182 on the track "All of This" off their album Blink-182.
In 2004, Blank & Jones remixed " A Forest" featuring Robert Smith on vocals. There is an EP+ Bonus DVD with 4 audio remixes, The music video featuring Robert Smith and an interview by Blank & Jones with Robert Smith that takes place before the video shoot. That year, he also provided vocals for Junior Jack for the club hit "Da Hype". In November, he joined Placebo onstage at their Wembley arena gig to sing Placebo's "Without You I'm Nothing" and Smith's own "Boys Don't Cry." Robert Smith also co-wrote and supplied vocals for the Tweaker song "Truth Is".
In 2004, Junior Jack also did a remix of the song Da Hype on his album Trust It featuring Robert Smith.
In 2005, Robert Smith teamed up with Billy Corgan, the former lead singer of both the Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan, to do a cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" on Corgan's first solo release, TheFutureEmbrace.
Solo discography
For more than two decades, Robert Smith has been hinting at a solo album which has never materialized. It is often believed that most of his solo writing ends up in The Cure, with such closer tracks as "Homesick", "Untitled", "Treasure", "Bare", "Going Nowhere", but Smith denied this, crediting those songs to other members:
" I didn't write "Homesick" and I didn't write the music too. It's another misconception. […] Out of the 12 songs on the CD, I think I only wrote six musically... "Untitled"... (to Simon [Gallup]) You wrote that one ? ...It was Roger [O'Donnell]. So it [(Disintegration)] couldn't have been a solo album and if I'd done on my own it wouldn't have sounded anything like The Cure anyway apart from my own voice. The Top album could have been a solo album but it's not true the way we worked in studio […] " – Robert Smith in a 1989 interview
In 2001 Robert was going to end "The Cure" and work on his solo album. He was convinced otherwise by producer Ross Robinson, who himself is a massive fan of The Cure. Ross told Robert that he "had to make at least one more Cure album, the Cure album". This is why the 2004 album is simply titled "The Cure" (says Smith in an AOL interview). Making that album reminded Smith of why he enjoys doing what he does and another Cure album is due out in April of 2006, putting the solo album on hold once more.
PIRATE SHIPS
Robert Smith Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Far away child
Turn your eyes
Far away child
I will sleep
Right down beside you tonight
I will sleep tonight
Pirate ships
Pirate ships child
Merry and bold
Sparkling wits child
Coming to dock
Right at your feet tonight
Coming to dock tonight
In the stars
In the stars child
See the people
In the stars child
They will sail
Right through your window tonight
Into your window tonight
Far away
Far away child
Turn your eyes
Far away child
I will sleep
Right down beside you tonight
I will sleep tonight
I will sleep tonight
The lyrics of Robert Smith's song "Pirate Ships" are somewhat enigmatic and open to interpretation. At the core of the song is the idea of a child who is far away from something, but it's not entirely clear what that something is. The repeated lines of "far away child, turn your eyes" suggest that the child has been looking away from something and perhaps needs to be brought back to reality.
The song also contains references to pirate ships, which could be interpreted in a few different ways. One possibility is that the pirate ships are a metaphor for something that is robbing the child of their innocence or happiness. Alternatively, the pirate ships could be seen as a symbol of adventure or freedom, sailing off into the distance and promising a life beyond the constraints of ordinary existence.
The overall tone of the song is somewhat wistful and melancholic, with the repeated refrain of "I will sleep tonight" suggesting a desire for comfort and security in an uncertain world. Ultimately, the lyrics of "Pirate Ships" are open to interpretation, but they contain a sense of longing and a yearning for something that is just out of reach.
Line by Line Meaning
Far away
The subject matter of the song is far away and distant.
Far away child
The song is directed at a child that is far away; perhaps the child is living in a different place or feels disconnected from their surroundings.
Turn your eyes
The child is being asked to look towards the distance.
I will sleep
The singer is addressing the child directly, telling them that they will sleep tonight.
Right down beside you tonight
The singer wants the child to know that they will be there with them in spirit as they sleep.
Pirate ships
The song moves into imagery of pirate ships, which represents adventure and freedom.
Pirate ships child
The image of pirate ships is still directed at the child as a way of invoking their imagination and sense of wonder.
Merry and bold
The ships are represented as being full of happiness, confidence, and bravery.
Sparkling wits child
The song is harkening back to the imagination and wonder of childhood by asking the child to engage with their own sparkling wit.
Coming to dock
The pirate ships are imagined to be coming to shore.
Right at your feet tonight
The child is being told that the pirate ships will be docked right in front of them, which once again is an image of adventure and excitement.
In the stars
The song creates an image of the stars as being something that can be looked to for guidance or inspiration.
In the stars child
The child is being told that they can also use the stars as a source of inspiration and guidance.
See the people
The stars can be imagined as representing people, perhaps ancestors or heroes, that are waiting to be discovered in the night sky.
They will sail
The people represented by the stars are imagined to be sailing through the universe.
Right through your window tonight
Just as the pirate ships were imagined to be coming to the child, the stars are being suggested as being very close and accessible.
I will sleep
The song returns to the theme of rest and safety.
Right down beside you tonight
The song ends on a reassuring note, promising that the singer will be with the child as they sleep.
I will sleep tonight
The song repeats its promise of safety and rest.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Wendy Waldman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind