Just Like Heaven

"Just Like Heaven" is a song by the British alternative rock band The Cure. The group largely wrote the song during recording sessions in Southern France in 1987. The lyrics were written by the band's frontman Robert Smith, who drew inspiration from a past trip to the sea shore with his future wife. Before Smith had completed the lyrics an instrumental version of the song was used as the theme for the French television show Les Enfants du Rock. "Just Like Heaven" was the third single released from the band's 1987 album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, while Smith's memories of the trip formed the basis for the song's accompanying music video. The song became The Cure's first American hit and in 1988 reached number 40 on the Billboard charts. It has been highly praised by critics and covered by artists such as Dinosaur Jr and Katie Melua. Smith has said he considers "Just Like Heaven" to be one of the band's strongest songs. Background and recording In order to develop material for Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Robert Smith forced himself to write music for 15 days of each month. During this regimen, he developed the chords and melody which form the basis of "Just Like Heaven". Structurally, Smith found what he had written was similar to The Only Ones's 1979 hit "Another Girl, Another Planet". When he brought an instrumental demo of the song to the album recording sessions in Southern France, Cure drummer Boris Williams increased the tempo and added an opening drum fill which inspired Smith to introduce each instrument singularly and in sequence. When the French TV show Les Enfants du Rock asked The Cure to provide a theme song Smith offered the instrumental version. As he explained, "it meant the music would be familiar to millions of Europeans even before it was released". He completed the lyrics when the group moved the sessions to Studio Miraval, located in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The band completed the song quickly, and at the time Smith considered it to be the most obvious potential single from the songs the band had recorded during their two week stay at Miraval. B-side - "Snow in Summer"/"Breathe"/"Sugar Girl"/"A Chain of Flowers" Released - 5 October 1987 Format - 7", 12", CD Recorded - Studio Miraval, France, 1987 Genre - Alternative rock Length - 3:32 Label - Fiction Writer(s) - Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, Lol Tolhurst Producer - David M. Allen, Robert Smith

[Verse 1] "Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick The one that makes me scream", she said "The one that makes me laugh", she said And threw her arms around my neck "Show me how you do it, and I promise you I promise that I'll run away with you I'll run away with you" [Verse 2] Spinning on that dizzy edge Kissed her face and kissed her head Dreamed of all the different ways I had to make her glow "Why are you so far away?", she said "Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you? That I'm in love with you?" [Refrain] You, soft and only You, lost and lonely You, strange as angels Dancing in the deepest oceans Twisting in the water You're just like a dream You're just like a dream [Verse 3] Daylight licked me into shape I must have been asleep for days And moving lips to breathe her name I opened up my eyes And found myself alone, alone Alone above a raging sea That stole the only girl I loved And drowned her deep inside of me [Refrain] You, soft and only You, lost and lonely You, just like heaven