10:15 On a Saturday Night Waiting For the Telephone to Ring, Wondering Where He’s Been…

The song “10:15 Saturday Night” was the first song on the band’s debut album “The Three Imaginary Boys”, released on 11th May 1979. Just like many other songs by The Cure, it is about loneliness and despair, on a Saturday night which is very convenient because Saturday is usually the fun day of the week, the day for parties and pleasure, but it can also be the loneliest day, and night, of the week. Even if the party-abstinence and the isolation are self-imposed, as they were with Morrissey for example, one does still feel this slight ache… Robert Smith actually wrote the song when he was sixteen years old while sitting in his kitchen and feeling lonely one Saturday night. The song does have a teenage vibe to it and I love its rawness and simplicity. The water dripping in the sink, as described in the lyrics, is a monotonous reminder of the passing of time and it adds to the overall mood of doom and gloom; he is alone at home on a Saturday night, waiting for the telephone to ring, waiting for the girl to call, wondering where she’s been, and the dripping of the water in the sink is the only sound breaking the moody silence. Now, Millais’ watercolour “Dreams at Dawn”, painted in 1968, has a dawn setting, but who’s to say it’s not 10:15 and the girl is on her balcony, wondering where her beloved is? Is he thinking of her? Is he writing to her? The quietness of the lonely evening is only disturbed by her occasional sigh or a scream of a distant bird. The girl’s pose, her head leaned on her hand, says it all. Her eyes may be turned upwards at the big shining moon, but we know her thoughts are elsewhere… The stars may be shining beautifully but the magic is lost for her because she can’t stop wondering; where he’s been???

John Everett Millais, A Dream at Dawn, 1868

10.1510.15Saturday nightSaturday nightAnd the tap dripsAnd the tap dripsUnder the strip lightUnder the strip lightAnd I’m sittingAnd I’m sittingIn the kitchen sinkIn the kitchen sinkAnd the tap dripsAnd the tap dripsDrip drip drip drip drip drip drip dripDrip drip drip drip drip drip drip dripWaitingWaitingFor the telephone to ringFor the telephone to ringAnd I’m wonderingAnd I’m wonderingWhere she’s beenWhere she’s beenAnd I’m cryingAnd I’m cryingFor yesterdayFor yesterdayAnd the tap dripsAnd the tap dripsDrip drip drip drip drip drip drip dripDrip drip drip drip drip drip drip dripIt’s always the sameIt’s always the same