About The Song
“Lullaby” is a song by English rock band the Cure from their eighth studio album, Disintegration (1989). Released as a single on 10 April 1989, the song is the band’s highest-charting single in their home country, reaching number five on the UK Singles Chart. It additionally reached number three in West Germany and Ireland while becoming a top-10 hit in several other European countries and New Zealand. The music video, directed by Tim Pope, won the British Video of the Year at the 1990 Brit Awards.
The meaning of “Lullaby” has been speculated by fans, including as a metonymy for addiction, depression, or sexual assault, and lead singer Robert Smith has offered multiple explanations as to its theme or content, such as childhood nightmares or abuse. One explanation by Smith follows that the song is about the disturbing songs his father sung to him as a kid, and the horrible ending they would always have. Tim Pope, a long-time collaborator of the Cure on many of its music videos, interprets “Lullaby” as an allegory for Smith’s drug-addled past.
Upon its release, “Lullaby” became the Cure’s highest-charting hit in their home country when it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart. It remains their only single to reach the top five in the United Kingdom. In Ireland, “Lullaby” became the band’s third top 10 hit and highest-charting single, reaching number three. The song also reached the top 10 in West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway. In North America, the song was released as the second single from Disintegration instead (“Fascination Street” was the first), but did not match its predecessor’s level of success, only reaching number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 23 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart.
Upon the release, a reviewer from Music & Media wrote, “Those of you who feared the worst for the Cure’s artistic future after 1986’s “Why Can’t I Be You?” and “Hot Hot Hot”, can stop worrying. Their new single is serious pop music at its best. The backing is a strong, infectious rhythm with subtle plucked violins and sweeping strings, completed by Robert Smith’s whispering voice. Although this is not the easiest record to programme it has already become many European DJs’ favourite.” Jerry Smith from Music Week felt the Cure “are back in superb form with an enveloping marshmallow of a track, exuding atmosphere with soaring strings and breathy vocals. Sure to make a big impression on the charts and heighten anticipation for their new album, Disintegration.” In their review of the album, People Magazine noted that the group “perks up sporadically” on songs like “Lullaby”.
The accompanying music video for “Lullaby” was filmed at a sound stage in London, England. It features Robert in bed, in a dream sequence, and the rest of the band playing tin soldiers who sporadically appear throughout the music video for a few seconds. The music video, during which Smith plays both the cannibalistic “spiderman” mentioned in the lyrics and his intended victim, concludes with Smith being swallowed by what appears to be a giant spider.
The music video, directed by Tim Pope and edited by Peter Goddard, won British Video of the Year at the 1990 Brit Awards.
Video
Lyrics
On candy stripe legs the spiderman comes
Softly through the shadow of the evening sun
Stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead
Looking for the victim shivering in bed
Searching out fear in the gathering gloom and
Suddenly a movement in the corner of the room
And there is nothing I can do
When I realize with fright
That the spiderman is having me for dinner tonight
Quietly he laughs and shaking his head
Creeps closer now
Closer to the foot of the bed
And softer than shadow and quicker than flies
His arms are all around me and his tongue in my eyes
Be still be calm be quiet now my precious boy
Don’t struggle like that or I will only love you more
For it’s much too late to get away or turn on the light
The spiderman is having you for dinner tonight
And I feel like I’m being eaten
By a thousand million shivering furry holes
And I know that in the morning I will wake up
In the shivering cold
And the spiderman is always hungry