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“I’ve never been a big fan of irony,” Smith has said, which might explain why this reverie of love, cut at a vineyard in the South of France, is his favorite Cure song. Their girlfriends hung out at the sessions, which influenced the music. “The girls would sit on the sofa in the back of the control room and give the songs marks out of ten,” Smith said. “So there was a really big female input.” It was the Cure’s first U.S. Top Forty hit.

From Wikipedia:

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

“Just Like Heaven” is written in the key of A major and consists of an A–E–Bm–D chord progression which repeats throughout the song, except during the chorus when the band plays an F#m–G–D progression. The song’s central hook is formed from a descending guitar riff which appears between song verses and in parts of the bridge and the last verse. This guitar line contrasts with the “fuzzier mix” of the rhythm guitars. Keyboards are also prominent in the song, and a piano figure is played during the second verse and the bridge.

According to Smith, “The song is about hyperventilating—kissing and fainting to the floor.” The lyrics were inspired by a trip with his then-girlfriend (and later wife) Mary Poole to Beachy Head in southern England. Smith said the opening line of the song (”Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick”) refers to his childhood memories of mastering magic tricks, but added “on another [level], it’s about a seduction trick, from much later in my life”.

From the original Rolling Stone review in 1987:

The Cure is trying to deepen and refine an existing sensibility rather than reach outward to expand it. On previous efforts, guitarist and singer Robert Smith has flirted with everything from conceptually orchestrated studio pop (The Top) to sarcastic dance tracks (”Let’s Go to Bed“); now that the Cure has evolved into an actual band, he’s able to consummate those eclectic desires. Kiss Me is a breakthrough all right. For the first time, the Cure’s music is relatively unfettered by pretension and indulgence, and the results are remarkable

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That’s right. There are high school juniors right now that weren’t alive to see Pittsburgh enjoy a winning season. We’ve been through a pair of two-term presidents and a newly-elected one, and still, no luck.

The Pirates celebrated, by the way, by surrendering eight consecutive hits to begin Tuesday’s game en route to – what else? – a 9-4 loss.

So what gives? How can one single sports franchise (aside from the Los Angeles Clippers, naturally) be so bad for so long? I believe I have an explanation.

Barry Bonds did it.

That’s right; I’m dragging his name through the mud with this. Might as well, considering any publicity is good publicity for a pariah of his stature. Look at it this way: the Cubs have the goat and Steve Bartman, the Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino. Why can’t the Pirates have the Curse of the Flaxseed Phony?

Barry was the heart and soul of the last successful Pirates team, all the way back in 1992. I was five by the way (slaughtering all credibility I might have had with my claim). That season, Barry hit .311 with 34 home runs and 103 RBI as the Pirates captured their third straight National League East title. Yes, they were even in a different division the last time they had a winning season. Anyway, Barry and his merry band of Pirates marched through the playoffs to the NL Championship Series, where they faced the Atlanta Braves. One late throw by Bonds from left field and the Pirates were denied a trip to the World Series.

According to books like Game of Shadows and Love Me, Hate Me, as well as a plethora of other sources, contract negations for the free agent Bonds broke down the offseason and he headed west, inking a then-record deal with the San Francisco Giants. The rest, as they say, is (convoluted) history.

Consider this: since Bonds snubbed Pittsburgh and went to San Francisco, there have been four expansion teams added to the Major Leagues – the Colorado Rockies (1993), Florida Marlins (’93) and Arizona Diamondbacks (’98) in the National League and the Tampa Bay Rays (’98) in the American League. Four more teams.

As of last season, when Tampa reached its apex, all four teams had made World Series appearances. That’s right, not just the playoffs, the Fall Classic.

And two of them won. Hell, the Marlins have won it twice. In the past 17 years, the three NL teams have made four World Series appearances, won three times, and qualified for the playoffs a combined seven times. The Pirates? None for all of the above.

You figure it out. Barry Bonds seems like a good scapegoat for these kind of things, no?

All kidding aside, something’s gotta be wrong with the Pirates. Shoddy ownership and poor managerial decisions? Possibly. Lack of big-name free agent signings? Sure, maybe. Just plain ol’ bad luck? Yeah, alright. But a majority of disenchanted fans – them and the media folk alike – have their own idea.

Tuesday night I headed to the restaurant next door to my workplace to get a bite to eat. As I walked in, the large center table featured a lively sports discussion between what looked like some extended family members. On one side of the table, Yankees fans. On the other, a pair of diehard Pirates fans. The conversation sounded something like this:

“Well, we can’t just buy guys like you bought C.C. Sabathia, Burnett and Teixiera,” the one Pirate fan pouted.

“That’s not our problem,” a male Yankees fan said, clearly counting himself among the front office management. “We want to compete.”

“But we can’t!” The other Pirates fan, a 40-something female, semi-shouted. “We’re not rich , we don’t have any money to spend on the best players every damn offseason like you!”

“Then have a fundraiser or something,” the Yank coolly replied. And with that, I picked up my order and walked out the door with an idea for a story.

Erik Kuselias, a frequent guest host on the Mike and Mike in the Morning radio show, had his usual spot on Labor Day morning. As the show was previewing the Pirates historic (and once again, inevitable) loss, he and co-host, former Minnesota Viking Robert Smith, discussed the dire need for a salary cap in Major League Baseball. He pointed out the Pirates as a prime reason; much like the helpless Pirates fans at the restaurant, he agreed that Pittsburgh just can’t afford a team like big markets in L.A., Chicago, New York, Boston and Philadelphia can. Five of the Pirates’ opening day starters are now on different teams. Pitchers have been shuffled in and out, as well, as Pittsburgh begins its annual “sell high for prospects, harvest prospects, sell prospects high before contracts expire, rinse, repeat” tradition.

He brought this fact into play too, which supports his theory: if the playoffs began today, six of the eight teams – the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Angles, Phillies and Dodgers – would be in the top 10 highest paid teams. Only the Rockies and the Cardinals (my favorite to win it all, by the way. Book it!) have payrolls outside of the top 10, and the Cardinals are within the next five. The New York Mets, injuries aside, would’ve likely been a seventh, either winning out the NL East or clinching the Wild Card.

Kuselias then suggested a salary floor instead of a cap, too, explaining that the previous year’s highest-salaried team, let’s say the Yankees at $180 million, set the bar for the next offseason. The “floor” would be 50 percent of that figure, so $90 million, for all teams to at least reach. It’d give them flexibility, yes, but we’re not playing MLB 09: The Show here. This is real money. It has to come from somewhere, and I don’t think our society – particularly the one with a rooted interest in baseball – is ready for a plan that involves “sharing” the wealth.

I have a sinking feeling that none of this will change soon. It pains me so, mostly because of my proud high school baseball coach. He’s been a lifelong Pirates fan, watched them capture two World Series in the 70s, and grew up dreaming of playing for them, with the legendary Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Dave Parker. Nine National League pennants – none since 1979 – and five World Series titles. It has been a dormant franchise in every sense of the word. So now, with 2009’s season winding down, the Pirates can just collectively sigh and hope for next year as they coast to last place again. But I suppose it can’t be as sufferable as the Cubs, who’ve teased fans for decades before flaming out, right? Or the Yankees, who if they do not make the World Series are considered failures? If only…

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