"The biggest frustration (of getting older) is not being able to feel strong emotions anymore," Smith said when discussing the album's lyrics. "Cynicism enters your world and you get numb."
Robert Smith mentioned “Closedown” when speaking about Disintegration with Melody Maker in 1989:
“(Disintegration has) got a lot more in it than a record like Faith. With Faith, it was like one song divided up into eight different songs. I suppose songs like “Closedown” and “Untitled” take up that thread, going back to the old things about age, sadness, and disintegration itself. They give the record a bleaker mood overall. I think it’s the kind of record you’d want to listen to on your own.“
Separately, Smith called “Closedown” the album’s ‘key song’:
“…the key song on the album could be “Closedown”. I think it’s horrible that you become insensitive with age. When you’re young and naive, you always have intense feelings. All you gain with experience makes you lose that.“
Closedown
The Cure Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm out of step and closing down
And never sleep for wanting hours
The empty hours of greed
And uselessly always the need to feel again
The real belief of something more than mockery
If only I could fill my heart with love
The lyrics of The Cure's song "Closedown" convey a sense of desperation and futility. The singer speaks of being "out of step and closing down," indicating a sense of disconnection from the world around them. The lack of sleep and constant desire for something more suggest a deep-seated sense of emptiness or dissatisfaction. The line "uselessly always the need to feel again" speaks to a desire for some kind of emotional connection or fulfillment that always seems just out of reach.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm running out of time
I feel like time is slipping away from me
I'm out of step and closing down
My life seems to be losing direction and coming to a halt
And never sleep for wanting hours
I can't sleep because I spend too much time longing for things I don't have
The empty hours of greed
All the time I spend wanting more material possessions feels meaningless and hollow
And uselessly always the need to feel again
I constantly crave the feeling of something new or exciting, but it never lasts
The real belief of something more than mockery
I yearn for a deeper sense of purpose or meaning in life, beyond what is superficial or fake
If only I could fill my heart with love
I wish I could find genuine love and happiness to fill the void inside me
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Tratore
Written by: Boris Williams, Laurence Andrew Tolhurst, Porl Thompson, Robert James Smith, Roger O'donnell, Simon Gallup
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@considerthis410
The Cure was with me when my mother died, my brother and my father. The music helped me cope with the pain. The Cure was with me through love and broken hearts. They were with me through my first marriage and divorce. I forgot how beautiful this song is.
@tnatola1
Amen, same here. Roberts lyrics hit home and got methrough a handful of messy break up with women I truly loved and was an empty vessel when we parted. Robert's songs saved me.
@valentinadelatorre2628
What the music can do It is magic
@JorgeEnriqueCuellarAgudelo
Feeling the same way since I was 14, now I'm 46 and The Cure is the most important band in my life.
@DarthVader-ux4uk
It helped me too when my dad was dying
@LuisFernandoPerezJimenez-ii2id
Soooo, don't try to forget how the beautiful the life is... CDMX!!!
@heatherharrington2563
This is the greatest album ever…so melancholy, so beautiful…and if you say it’s goth, you’d be wrong. It’s The Cure…pure and simple. They have always defied any subculture or description, and that’s what I love about them. Thank you, Robert Smith! ❤
@dancalestini5698
Same deep water as you has to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs ever I listened to it 15 times in a row one time going from Reno to SF going over the mountains I was home in no time
@ericgiguere1618
Summer of ‘92... had a summer job job and made friends with 2 guys in the same residence at the U of Toronto. Few beers in the evenings and this cd in the background. Happy memories. I’m 52 now and we’re still friends
@adrianmurillo8778
I think thats what music is all about