About The Song
“A Forest” is a song by the English rock band the Cure. Co-produced by Mike Hedges and the band’s Robert Smith, it was released as a single from the band’s second album Seventeen Seconds on 28 March 1980. It was their debut entry on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 31. The accompanying music video was first shown on BBC’s Top of the Pops programme on 24 April 1980.
Recorded and mixed over seven days, along with the rest of the songs from the album, “A Forest” is representative of The Cure’s 1980s gothic rock phase. The song has featured on the band’s set lists for many years. Several versions have appeared on concert albums, and it was re-recorded, then subsequently remixed and released as a single from Mixed Up in 1990.
Mike Hedges co-produced the album Seventeen Seconds as well as “A Forest” with The Cure’s Robert Smith. Hedges had first worked with the band on the track “Killing an Arab.” Interviewed in 2004, he did not recall any demos existing for Seventeen Seconds; the band generally played the track in the studio before laying down a backing track to which overdubs were added. At the time of the recording of the album, bass guitarist Simon Gallup and keyboardist Matthieu Hartley had been added to the band’s lineup. Gallup had replaced Michael Dempsey, who had departed to join The Associates. Gallup and Hartley joined remaining Cure members Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums) in late 1979 during the group’s Future Pastimes tour, on which “A Forest” was one of the new songs added to their set list.
Due to budgetary restraints, Seventeen Seconds was recorded and mixed in seven days on a budget of between £2,000 and £3,000, which resulted in the band working 16 or 17 hours a day to complete the album. Hedges and Robert Smith knew the song would take more work to complete than other songs on the album, and would require more overdubs. The song was one of the last tracks recorded; the backing tracks were recorded first, followed by touch-ups to the individual parts, then Smith’s vocals. Fiction Records owner Chris Parry told Smith that the song had the potential to be a hit if they made it sound “radio-friendly”, but Smith refused, stating the way the track sounded was the sound he envisioned in his head. Work on mixing “A Forest” took up much of the final day of sessions for the album
“A Forest” and its parent album Seventeen Seconds are representative of The Cure’s gothic rock phase in the late 1970s and 1980s. The song has also been described as a post-punk track. Cure biographer Jeff Apter refers to “A Forest” as “the definitive early Cure mood piece” and argues the song is the centrepiece of the album. Smith’s intention with “A Forest” was to make a song that was “really atmospheric”. He has stated it was a pivotal recording for the group, representing “the archetypal Cure sound”.
Video
Lyrics
Come closer and see
See into the trees
Find the girl
While you can
Come closer and see
See into the dark
Just follow your eyes
Just follow your eyes
I hear her voice
Calling my name
The sound is deep
In the dark
I hear her voice
And start to run
Into the trees
Into the trees
Into the trees
Suddenly I stop
But I know it’s too late
I’m lost in a forest
All alone
The girl was never there
It’s always the same
I’m running towards nothing
Again and again and again and again…