The Cure – Alt.End

• +1
  My Interpretation:i see this in a different light though. since in literature a piece's meaning could also be your own and yeah i can pretty much relate to the song now actually...
  
  for me this is a bitter song. i see the persona of the song as someone who's already tired of love probably because his/her relationships failed. then in the middle of a song, it's as if he's addressing the song to someone who is in love with but would not like to take the risk anymore in spite of people telling him there are still a lot of people in the world who could possibly love him back the way he wanted to as seen in this stanza:
  
  "Yeah it's a big bright beautiful world
  Just the other side of the door
  Six billion beautiful faces
  But I saw them all before..."
  
  and:
  
  "And it's not about giving up on you
  It's not a case of do or die
  It's simply that it's over and out for me
  There's no more room inside"
  
  for me it clearly shows that he/she doesn't want to be in a relationship with the person because he already closed his heat's door.
  
  then the persona further tells in this stanza that "ok you can still love me. come whatever may in the future but as of now, i don't care. and if you're gonna hate me for it, it's still fine with me"
  
  "Yeah I know I should care if you come with me
  Yeah and I should care if you go
  Really should care about your love or your hate of me
  Yeah I should care... but I don't"
  
  here it is shown that he/she never fell out of love and still holds the feeling. he just doesn't want to entrust him/herself again and be hurt, which is a vicious cycle he/she wanted to free him/herself of:
  
  "No this is not about running out on you
  Not a case of right or wrong
  It's only that it's over and done for me
  It's already been and gone
  
  And I don't want another go around - I don't want to start again
  No I don't want another go around - I want this to be the end
  I want this to be the end - I don't want to start again
  I want this to be the last thing we do - this to be it for me and you
  This to be the last we go through this to be the end.."
  
  then the last line shows that he/she is contented, or perhaps enjoying his freedom of being single - of not being broken again by another person:
  
  "For all my dreams came true"
  
  
  just my 2 cents.. i hope this makes sense
  
  

  Flag tinkertotson December 23, 2010   Link

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    and oh yeah... per social standards, everyone should get married and have a family. for me it was "alternative end" because he wanted to live his life alone than with the wrong person.
    
    i was actually thinking of this song as a continuation of "end of the world" hahaha..

    Flag tinkertotson December 23, 2010  

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    "I want this to be the last thing we do - this to be it for me and you
    This to be the last we go through this to be the end"
    
    also tells that let's just love each other but without any commitments because we'll be happier this way for the longest time.

    Flag tinkertotson December 23, 2010  
• 0
  General Comment:i think its about dying happily in your lovers arms. giving like a feeling of safety knowing that everything else you two did right or wrong ends with you two together. this is a pretty common theme with their music think about the album disintegration but in recent years they seem to have put a more philosophical and dare i say spiritual element to their music, at least roberts lyrics....i dont want to be reborn into this world i dont want nirvana cos ive found it right here

  Flag dubtigeron July 09, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:i think it's about reincarnation.
  (as i see, other people do too)
  
  That he's happy with his life,
  1. and has done all his dreams,
  2. and doesn't want to do it over it over again
  3. because he likes this life and is complete.
  
  2. "And I don't want another run around - I don't want
  to start again"
  
  1. "This to be the last we go through this to be the end For all my dreams came true"
  
  3. "There's no more room inside"
  
  
  and he could be talking to God
  
  "Yeah it's a big bright beautiful world out there ....
  No this is not about running out on you
  Not a case of right or wrong
  It's only that it's over and done for me
  For all my dreams came true "
  
  "Really should care about your love or your hate of me
  Yeah I should care... but I don't "
  
  that could be that even if he's done wrong, he still wouldn't want to do it again even to do it right (w/o sin).

  Flag ivanyon April 15, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:I love the Cure as much as anyone could ever hope to do, but this totally rips off one of the Smashing Pumpkins' first songs "Armed to the Teeth" from back in 1990, when the Pumpkins themselves were rather Cure-esque. Check it out on Livepumpkins.net. I think the venue where it was played live was called The Avalon or something.

  Flag chardsofglasson November 09, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:He was about to begin his solo carrier, but he was convinced to do another album, and he gave us this
  
  Still, I have to agree with the last posts...

  Flag Zakyathon June 15, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:I interpreted it in a similar way to Samantha and rvb8118 too, and this song does indeed voice the exact feeling I have in regard to the idea.
  
  
  Robert has said in interviews that he doesn't believe there is life after death, and I think in this song he is saying he doesn't want there to be.
  
  "yeh it's a big bright beautiful world" is, I think, a reference to heaven / the afterlife, and "six billion beautiful faces" is a reference to the fact that you will be reunited with everyone you've known and loved, however this doesn't convince Robert because he's "seen them all before".
  
  With the lines "No this is not about running out on you" and "it's not about giving up on you", Robert explains that it's not because he's depressed or in despair, but he just doesn't want "another go around.. etc" - he doesn't want to go through life all over again, because he's done it once and he's happy with what he's achieved this time round - "for all my dreams came true".

  Flag pipyoolikeon March 03, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:Yeah, I agree with Samantha. I always thought this was about the possibility of reincarnation. Robert Smith is voicing a feeling that many actually seem to have in regard to the idea: "sounds great, but I really dont want to start all over again." He admits the world is beautiful, but he doesn't want to have to begin again (doesn't "alt.end" make a computer program restart?).

  Flag rvb8118on December 19, 2006   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:This song strikes me as about reincarnation. 6 billion people in the world, he's seen them all before (maybe over many lives), he doesn't care who he leaves behind. He doesn't want to come back to live through another life. All his dreams came true in this one.

  Flag Samantha703on April 01, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:This is the perfect break up song, if you listen to the lyrics it really does sound like someone telling their lover that they have fallen out of love:
  "No this is not about running out on you
  Not a case of right or wrong
  It's only that it's over and done for me
  It's already been and gone"
  
  and that the relationship has left them emotionally drained:
  "And I don't want another go around - I don't want to start again
  No I don't want another go around - I want this to be the end "
  
  
  I always thought the six billion beautiful faces referred to the human population, because the usual rounded estimate these days is about 6.5 billion. Plus he says that its a big bright beautiful world out there. So six billion people in the world.

  Flag PtolemyKittyon January 15, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:well.... my mom had a story that this song reminded her of...and the song depressed her... uh.. i don't entirely remember the story, so i shall just attempt to interperate it.
  
  it's about any kind of a relationship that you just have to leave.

  Flag xJotunxon December 16, 2005   Link

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