#152 (of 365) "Charlotte Sometimes" The Cure

During my college years, my second favorite band of all time (behind The Smiths) was The Cure. I freaking loved the Cure, who were super relevant at the time (Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me came out right before my freshman year; Wish came out during my junior year) and also had an incredible back catalog of albums and songs I discovered among fellow alternative music friends in the dorms. They have since faded from my favorites (doubtful they'd make the top 50 at this point) but still managed to get six songs on the list. It's amazing to me, though, that this song is even on the list at all, let alone the top Cure track in the countdown. It was released in 1981 as a non-album single after the band's third album Faith, and later as track 9 on the Standing on the Beach singles collection cassette from 1986 that I wore the fuck out of my freshman year at college. But back then, it wasn't even in the top 10 of the 16 tracks on the album for me--paling in comparison to my favorite songs like "In Between Days" or "Boys Don't Cry" or "Let's Go to Bed." Then came Paris, a live album recorded during the Wish tour in 1992 and released at the same time as Show, another live album recorded in the US. Both came out in October 1993--peak Cure love for me. Show was more of their hit songs, and became a bigger hit, but Paris featured the cult favorites and was the much better album for me. Some of them, I didn't even know (this was pre-Internet, you had to spend a lot of time and money to collect all of the singles of a band as prolific as The Cure). And one of them--this song--was a revelation live. 

Officially my #151 favorite track of all time is whatever version of Charlotte Sometimes you can find. But in reality, it's the live version from Paris. And, quite incredibly, it's my favorite Cure song of all time.

Sometimes I'm dreaming. Where all the other people dance.
Sometimes I'm dreaming. Charlotte sometimes.

"Charlotte Sometimes (Live)" - The Cure // Paris (1993)