Composer Robert Smith has said that the song "was a short poetic attempt at condensing my impression of the key moments in L'Étranger (The Stranger) by Albert Camus" (Cure News number 11, October 1991). The lyrics describe a shooting on a beach, in which the Arab of the title is killed by the song's narrator; in Camus' story the main character, Meursault, shoots an Arab standing on a beach after staring out at the sea and being overwhelmingly blinded by the sun, reflected on the sea, the sand and the knife the Arab was holding.
The track has a controversial history, since it has often been viewed as promoting violence against Arabs. In the US, The Cure's first compilation of singles, Standing on a Beach (1986), was packaged with a sticker advising against racist usage of the song. It saw controversy again during the Persian Gulf War and following September 11th.[1] "Killing an Arab" was the only single from the Three Imaginary Boys era not to be included on that album's 2004 remaster.
The song was revived in 2005, when the band performed the song at several European festivals. The lyrics, however, were changed from "Killing an Arab" to "Kissing an Arab". Smith added a whole new opening verse when the band performed it at the Royal Albert Hall, London on April 1, 2006 as "Killing Another". The "killing another" lyric has also been used during the 2007-2008 4 Tour.
This song lends two of its lines to the titles of one of The Cure's compilation albums, Standing on a Beach, and to its CD/video counterpart Staring at the Sea.
"Killing an Arab" has been covered by Frodus on the 1995 Radiopaque compilation Give Me The Cure, featured on Melbourne band The Living End's EP It's for Your Own Good in 1996 and covered in 2004 by DJ Riton. Also, the Electric Hellfire Club copied it on their 2000 Cleopatra Records compilation Empathy for the Devil
Track listing
7" single
1. "Killing an Arab"
2. "10:15 Saturday Night"
[edit] Personnel
* Michael Dempsey – bass guitar
* Robert Smith – guitar, vocals
* Lol Tolhurst – drums
Released - December 1978 (UK)
February 1979 (UK reissue)
Format - 7" single
Recorded - 1978
Genre - Post-punk
Length - 2:21
Label - Small Wonder (1978)
SMALL1
Fiction Records (1979)
FICS001
Producer - Chris Parry
Killing An Arab
The Cure Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the Arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
The Cure's Killing An Arab, a track off their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, has garnered interest since its release in 1978. The song underwent several changes to the title over the years, from "Killing An Arab," it became "Killing Another" before being changed again to "Standing On A Beach," and later "Strange Day." The song's lyrics tell of a shooter standing on the beach and staring down an Arab with a gun in hand as he feels both alive and dead, wondering if he should pull the trigger, and how it makes him a stranger.
It isn't an endorsement of hate or violence against the Arab population, as some critics suggested, it's instead an adaptation of Albert Camus' novel, The Stranger. Lead singer Robert Smith was a literature student back then and cited Camus as his influence. The book tells the story of a young Frenchman living in Algeria who becomes an accomplice to a murder and is later sentenced to death for it. He accepts his fate calmly, making no effort to explain himself, and is ultimately executed.
Smith noted that “The Stranger” is a harsh indictment of people who remain detached and refuse to become involved. The book is really an existentialist tale about the meaninglessness of life, the futility of action, and the inevitability of mortality. His adaptation of the character fits in with the haunting and eerie music to create a noirish post-punk track that's both unsettling and manipulative. The song's universal appeal ensured that it was used by several movies over the years. Among notable movies, “The Life of David Gale” (2003), where it was played in the background, and was also used in the “Generation Kill” (2008) mini-series.
Line by Line Meaning
Standing on the beach
The singer is on the shoreline
With a gun in my hand
The singer is holding a gun
Staring at the sea
The singer is looking out at the ocean
Staring at the sand
The artist is looking at the sand on the beach
Staring down the barrel
The artist is looking through the gun's scope
At the Arab on the ground
The singer is aiming at a person of Arab descent
I can see his open mouth
The singer can see the victim's mouth, likely due to shock or pain
But I hear no sound
The artist cannot hear anything from the victim
I'm alive
The artist is living
I'm dead
The artist is experiencing a sense of mortality
I'm the stranger
The singer doesn't know the victim and is a danger to them
Killing an Arab
The artist is describing their own actions
I can turn
The singer has choices
And walk away
One option is to leave without resorting to violence
Or I can fire the gun
Another option is to shoot the victim
Staring at the sky
The artist is now looking up at the sky
Staring at the sun
The artist is looking at the sun
Whichever I chose
Regardless of the decision, it won't matter
It amounts to the same
Either decision has no real consequence
Absolutely nothing
The decision won't change anything
I feel the steel butt jump
The artist feels the recoil of the gun
Smooth in my hand
The gun feels comfortable in the artist's hand
Staring at myself
The singer sees their own reflection
Reflected in the eyes
The artist sees their own face in the victim's lifeless eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The victim is now dead
The dead man on the beach
The victim is now dead and left on the beach
I'm alive
The singer is still living, but the victim is not
I'm dead
The artist has lost something within themselves as a result of their actions
I'm the stranger
The artist remains distant and disconnected from the people around them
Killing an Arab
The singer has taken the life of another human being
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Broma 16
Written by: LAURENCE ANDREW TOLHURST, MICHAEL STEPHEN DEMPSEY, ROBERT JAMES SMITH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@maxthebat_
The Cure - Killing an Arab
Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the Arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound
I'm alive, I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing
I'm alive, I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach
I'm alive, I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
@kleverly7772
[LYRICS]
I'm standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the Arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
@williamf.buckleyjr3227
I was 15 years old when I first heard this song.
Now I'm 50.
And it's still new.
@milanm403
No, it's not new. You need to listen something new and different.
Your brain will shrink 😀.
@mika-dg2bd
Thé cure pour
@destonlee2838
We're right here.all of us. Right here
@valentinasuarez9303
im 15 rn lmaoo
@Wouldyoujust_
@@valentinasuarez9303 Just 5 years older than when I started listening to my mom's cassettes. Good taste kiddo❤
@aleksandramijailovic6705
Mother died today. Or yesterday; I can't be sure
@squidhater1641
Not that it really matters anyways
@andresnieto6946
Aujourd'hui maman est mort. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas.
Like this is way much better
@jsbhmm8232
Did you have a cup of coffee and a cigarette?