My Top 1000 Songs #907: The Funeral Party

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Like (probably?) a lot of people, I first got into The Cure through their more approachable upbeat songs. 1985's Head On The Door was the first Cure album that got my attention, highlighted by catchy pop tracks like "In Between Days" and "Close To Me" I could play on my college radio show; followed by the next year's Standing On A Beach singles collection, cementing my impression of them as a radio-friendly post-new-wave pop-inclined band.

But at some point around then I started working backwards, hitting the darker, more goth-oriented early albums. 1981's Faith was my favorite, quiet and somber, with a handful of songs I found ideal for an insomnia-curing mixtape of sleep-inducing ballads. "The Funeral Party" manages to be both depressing and gorgeous, something the scary people in all-black outfits could wallow in while simultaneously serving as something hushed and relaxing and haunting for those of us who were a little better adjusted but could still use a good mope (or a good nap), sadness wrapped in walls of endless shimmering reverb.

A few years later, it was sort-of repurposed for Julee Cruise's Twin Peaks theme--or maybe that's just me, but there was definitely something vaguely familiar about it.

Live 2011:

Industrialized cover by Hermetic Delight:

A quieter take, by Mellonta Tauta: