Just Like Heaven (3:31)

“Just Like Heaven” is a song by the British alternative rock band The Cure. The group largely wrote the song during recording sessions in Southern France in 1987. The lyrics were written by the band’s frontman Robert Smith, who drew inspiration from a past trip to the sea shore with his future wife. Before Smith had completed the lyrics an instrumental version of the song was used as the theme for the French television show Les Enfants du Rock.

“Just Like Heaven” was the third single released from the band’s 1987 album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, while Smith’s memories of the trip formed the basis for the song’s accompanying music video. The song became The Cure’s first American hit and in 1988 reached number 40 on the Billboard charts. It has been highly praised by critics and covered by artists such as Dinosaur Jr and Katie Melua. Smith has said he considers “Just Like Heaven” to be one of the band’s strongest songs.


Background and recording

In order to develop material for Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Robert Smith forced himself to write music for 15 days of each month. During this regimen, he developed the chords and melody which form the basis of “Just Like Heaven”. Structurally, Smith found what he had written was similar to The Only Ones’s 1979 hit “Another Girl, Another Planet”. When he brought an instrumental demo of the song to the album recording sessions in Southern France, Cure drummer Boris Williams increased the tempo and added an opening drum fill which inspired Smith to introduce each instrument singularly and in sequence.