The first song I ever remember hearing by English goth rock band The Cure was “Why Can’t I Be You?”, back in 1987. Though they began releasing singles in 1978 (and albums in 1979), none of their songs made the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. until 1985, when “In Between Days” reached #99 (though a few of their earlier singles appeared on the dance charts). 

Released in April 1987 as the first single from their seventh studio album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, “Why Can’t I Be You?” was played on the radio in Los Angeles, where I lived at the time, and I immediately loved it’s bombastic energy, blaring horns and band frontman Robert Smith’s unusual and quirky high-pitched vocals. Not only did that album help The Cure break into the American music mainstream, becoming their first to enter the top 40 of the Billboard 200 Album chart, the song became their most successful in the U.S. up to that time as well, peaking at #54 on the Hot 100, with a remix of the track reaching #27 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart. (“Just Like Heaven”, their follow-up single from Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, – which is my all-time favorite song by The Cure – shockingly peaked at only #40. I wrote about that song in 2019, which you can read here.)

As it’s title suggests, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is filled with songs about love and romance, and “Why Can’t I Be You?” is a shining example. The lyrics are sung by Smith to a woman he’s deeply smitten with, telling her she’s so perfect and gorgeous that he’d do anything for her, his obsession so overwhelming he even wants to be her.

You’re so gorgeous I’ll do anything!
I’ll kiss you from your feet
To where your head begins!
You’re so perfect!
You’re so right as rain!
You make me
Make me hungry again

Everything you do is irresistible
Everything you do is simply kissable
Why can’t I be you?

I’ll run around in circles
‘Til I run out of breath
I’ll eat you all up
Or I’ll just hug you to death
You’re so wonderful!
Too good to be true!
You make me
Make me hungry for you

Everything you do is simply delicate
Everything you do is quite angelicate
Why can’t I be you?

You turn my head when you turn around
You turn the whole world upside down
I’m smitten I’m bitten I’m hooked I’m cooked
I’m stuck like glue!
You make me
Make me hungry for you

Everything you do is simply dreamy
Everything you do is quite delicious
Why can’t I be you?
Why can’t I be you?
Why can’t I be you?

You’re simply elegant!

The odd video for the song was directed by Tim Pope, who’d worked with The Cure on some of their previous videos. Referred to by Pope as “the video I’ve always wanted to make“, it featured the band members performing what The Cure biographer Jeff Apter later described as “some of the most poorly choreographed dancing ever seen on MTV“. All five band members wore various costumes: Robert Smith was dressed as a bear and a school-girl in a pinafore dress, Simon Gallup as both a crow and a Morris dancer, Porl Thompson as a Scotsman as well as cross-dressed, Boris Williams as a schoolgirl and a vampire, and Lol Tolhurst in blackface and a bumblebee. In a 2019 interview with The Quietus, Pope said he regretted featuring Tolhurst in blackface, calling it “A very inappropriate choice, and not a thing I feel great about retrospectively.” (Wikipedia)

Here’s a video of The Cure performing the song for Dutch television program TopPop in April 1987: