A Short Term Effect by The Cure Lyrics Meaning – Dissecting the Transience of Human Experience
Lyrics
Cold as it hits the bleeding ground
He lived and died
Catch sight, cover me with earth
Draped in black
Static white sound
A day without substance
A change of thought
An atmosphere that rots with time
Colors that flicker in water
A short term effect
Scream, as she tries to push him over
Helpless and sick
With teeth of madness
Jump, jump dance and sing
Sideways across the desert
A charcoal face bites my hand
Time is sweet
Derange and disengage everything
A day without substance
A change of thought
The atmosphere rots with time
Colors that flicker in water
A short term effect
A short term effect
An echo and a stranger’s hand
A short term effect
An echo and a stranger’s hand
A short term effect
The Cure has long been a band synonymous with perplexing narratives and emotive sounds that, throughout their discography, have etched themselves into the very fabric of alternative music. ‘A Short Term Effect’, a track off their 1982 album ‘Pornography’, is no exception, a brooding and lyrically dense composition that invites scrutiny.
Peering through the haunting cadences and the visceral imagery conjured by Robert Smith’s pen, one finds a layered commentary on the ephemeral nature of existence, and the fleeting impact of moments that shape our consciousness.
The Eternal Sway of the Ephemeral: A Paradox Unraveled
At its core, ‘A Short Term Effect’ suggests a grappling with the concept of impermanence. Smith’s lyrics expound on the dichotomy between movement and stillness, perhaps insinuating the cold, abrupt end of a life juxtaposed with the ongoing flow of the world around it. This chilling beginning challenges the listener to confront the harsh reality of mortality, a theme that The Cure frequently revisits.
The collision with ‘the bleeding ground’ symbolizes the way life’s moments—irrespective of their gravity—inevitably ‘hit’ us and leave an indelible stain upon our psyche. Yet, the ‘short term effect’ implies that this impact is transient; a fleeting tremor in the fabric of time.
Draped in Black: The Chromatic Imagery of Desolation
Smith’s artistic choice to paint his narrative ‘draped in black’ and filled with ‘colors that flicker in water’ is a deliberate move to emphasize the transient beauty and inherent sadness of moments passing. The blackness can be seen as a metaphor for both the unknowable void we all face and the mourning of transient moments themselves.
It’s the wavering colors, those temporary bursts of vibrancy, that reveal beauty in moments that quickly dissolve; potentially a nod to our own attempts to find meaning in occurrences that are bound to fade. Thus, The Cure captures that ephemeral flickering – the beauty and despair in the transitory nature of our emotions and experiences.
The Specter of Insanity and Escape: Teeth of Madness
One cannot ignore the palpable feeling of desperation interwoven in the fabric of ‘A Short Term Effect’. The mention of ‘teeth of madness’ introduces a harrowing tension between sanity and insanity. It’s the emotional response to life’s absurdity, the ‘scream’ as one attempts to push away the inevitable, the recognition of the mind’s spikes when faced with the unyielding progression of time.
This scream followed by ‘jump, jump dance and sing’ represents a manic urge to disrupt the linear march of existence, to briefly escape the claws of a reality that ‘rots with time’. Side-stepping ‘across the desert,’ there’s a yearning for movement, for life, even within the stark landscape of the psyche.
A Requiem for Perception: ‘Derange and Disengage Everything’
The imperative to ‘derange and disengage everything’ serves as both a desperate plea and a powerful statement against the constructs that bind perception. It’s a call to disassemble reality, to untether oneself from the traditional anchors of understanding, and reframe existence.
By disengaging, we are perhaps offered emancipation from the constraints of the ‘atmosphere that rots with time,’ enabling us to see beyond the decay and embrace change as a fundamental and necessary force within our lives.
A Reflection on ‘An Echo and a Stranger’s Hand’
The haunting repetition of ‘an echo and a stranger’s hand’ escorts us to the end of this lyrical journey, leaving listeners with the image of resonance and unfamiliarity. It’s as if the song itself is that stranger, and the echo a remnant of the profound yet ephemeral effect it has on us.
This lyric grants a duality—it is both the memory that lingers after the initial encounter and the acknowledgment that our deepest impacts often come from the fleeting interactions, those unforeseen moments that reverberate through our existence with a strange and unexpected intimacy.
