Get the latest gossip

The Cure’s Robert Smith Says Writing About Brother’s Death on ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’ Helped Him ‘Enormously’

The Cure's Robert Smith talks writing 'I Can Never Say Goodbye' about his older brother's death for the new album 'Songs of a Lost World.'

In a nearly two-hour interview with British journalist Matt Everitt — which can be unlocked by flipping to the album’s release date in Roman numerals here — Smith explains the origins of “I Can Never Say Goodbye.” The singer said he struggled to balance the “outpouring” of emotion he felt at the time with the need to write a coherent song, admitting that some earlier versions of the tune were “too overwrought” for general consumption. For the record, he loved them, but other people suggested they night be “too much.” In fact, when Smith, 65, performed “Goodbye” live on the Cure’s 2023 tour, he said he had trouble not going over the top and being overcome by emotion in concert.

Get the Android app