Always the Same

The Cure : Jumping Someone Else's Train

[Purchase]

In November of 1979 The Cure released "Jumping Someone Else's Train" b/w "I'm Cold". The single failed to chart but it's impressive nonetheless. Writing for Smash Hits, David Hepworth raves:

The Cure at last live up to and surpass all that promise with a crisp, biting attack on fads, fashions and oneupmanship. Robert Smith takes the vocal in front of a sparkling zigzagging lead line and a wicked leaping bass. It's the first of their records to actually sound finished and the first of many classics I would venture.

Smith wrote the lyrics about the mod revival or maybe it was the ska revival. He tells the Belgian Magazine Humo:

I loath the snobbism and elitism of it all: ‘I was already acid[-house music] when you were still new wave’ – that stuff. In fact it’s all as small as the ska revival where I wrote an angry song about: Jumping Someone Else’s Train. Now I read articles everywhere about the new ska revival. Despicable. At this rate, we’re having 5 revivals every year. I’m probably old fashioned, but I like music that’s not limited to a certain time.

The B side features Siouxsie Sioux on backing vocals and anticipates the bleak sound of 1980's 17 Seconds.