Killing An Arab — The Cure — Bass cover with tabs (4k)

Become a patron on Patreon:   / membership  
Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BassCove...

"Killing An Arab" is a song by The Cure from their 1979 album "Boys Don't Cry" and the band's first single.

Robert Smith has said that the song "was a short poetic attempt at condensing my impression of the key moments in the 1942 novel "The Stranger" by Albert Camus". The book deals with existentialism, and the title "Killing An Arab" was taken from a passage where the main character thinks about the emptiness of life after killing a man on a beach for reasons he can't explain. The lyrics describe a shooting, in which the Arab of the title is killed by the song's narrator. In Camus' story the protagonist, Meursault, shoots an Arab on a beach, overwhelmed by his surroundings. Meursault is condemned for his honesty about his feelings. He is considered an outsider (or "stranger") because "he refuses to lie" and "doesn't play the game".

This song came at a time when the National Front, a group whose rallying cry was "Keep England White," was on the rise. At some shows, disaffected youth associated with the group (often skinheads) showed up at The Cure shows to sing along with a misinterpreted "Killing An Arab," only to learn that the group was about the introspective and sensitive side of punk rock ("Boys Don't Cry" was especially horrifying). The Cure took plenty of verbal abuse ("Poofs!"), but there were no major incidents of violence associated with the song.

This was the Cure's first single. They were signed to the German label Hansa when they first recorded the song, but the label wanted nothing to do with it. The Cure asked for their release, and in a savvy business move, also asked for the rights to "Killing An Arab" and other songs they recorded for the label. Hansa thought very little of these songs, so in the termination agreement they gave back rights to the songs.

Now label-less, the band sent out copies of their demo tape, which contained "Killing An Arab," "Boys Don't Cry," "10:15 Saturday Night" and "It's Not You." The only interest came from Chris Parry, who was working at Polydor but was starting his own label, Fiction Records. The Cure agreed to sign with Fiction, and recorded new versions of "Killing An Arab" and "10:15 Saturday Night," which were released as a double A-side single.


The tune due has a controversial history, since it has often been viewed as promoting violence against Arabs. In the US, The Cure's first compilation of singles, "Standing on a Beach" (1986), was packaged with a sticker advising against racist usage of the song after a student DJ on WPRB Princeton provided an exacerbating talk-up prior to playing the record in October 1986. Smith and Elektra requested that radio stations discontinue airing the song and saw the sticker as a compromise to prevent having to pull the album from sale entirely.

It saw controversy again during the Persian Gulf War and following the September 11 attacks. "Killing an Arab" was the only single from the "Three Imaginary Boys" era not to be included on that album's 2004 remaster although it remains available on the albums "Boys Don't Cry" and "Standing on a Beach".

Lol Tolhurst, said the song "was about alienation and existentialism — things more relevant to us then. Obviously, events of the last two decades have changed the perception of the song's meaning. Totally erroneously I might add, as it has nothing to do with racism or killing at all."

The song was revived in 2005, when the band performed it at several European festivals. The lyrics, however, were changed from "Killing an Arab" to "Kissing an Arab". Smith added a whole new opening verse when the band performed it at the Royal Albert Hall, London on 1 April 2006 as "Killing Another". The "killing another" lyric was also used during the 2007–2008 4Tour. The band performed the song as "Killing an Ahab" with lyrics inspired by Herman Melville on 2011's "Reflections" tour. During the band's 40th anniversary tour, the lyrics and title were changed back to "Killing An Arab".

Timecode:

00:00 — Titles
00:09 — Intro
00:19 — Intro (bass part kicks in)
00:35 — Verse 1
00:47 — Chorus 1
00:58 — Verse 2
01:10 — Chorus 2
01:21 — Guitar Solo
01:44 — Verse 3
01:55 — Chorus 3
02:07 — Outro

Lyrics:

Standing on a beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
See his open mouth
But hear no sound

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

I can turn and walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I choose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

Feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes of
The dead man on the beach
The dead man
On the beach

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab.