Boys Don't Cry (The Cure song)

"Boys Don't Cry"
Song

"Boys Don't Cry" was the second single to be released by The Cure, released in August 1980. It was released in the UK as an independent single but was included as the title track on Boys Don't Cry, the American equivalent to Three Imaginary Boys. In April 1986 it was re-released under the title "New Voice · New Mix", in which the original track had been remixed and the vocals re-recorded.

Written by Michael Dempsey, Robert Smith, and Laurence Tolhurst, the lyrics tell the story of a man who has given up trying to regain the love of a girl that he has lost, and tries to disguise his true emotional state by "laugh[ing] about it, hiding the tears in [his] eyes, 'cause boys don't cry".

Track listing

1980 release

7" single

1. "Boys Don't Cry"
2. "Plastic Passion"

1986 re-release

7" single

1. "Boys Don't Cry (New Voice · New Mix)"
2. "Pill Box Tales"

12" single

1. "Boys Don't Cry (New Voice · Club Mix)" - extended remix
2. "Pill Box Tales"
3. "Do the Hansa"

Use in film

A cover version of it, performed by Nathan Larson, was used as the title song of the 1999 film Boys Don't Cry for which Hilary Swank won the Academy Award for Best Actress The film is based on the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender young man who was raped and murdered by his male friends, after they found out he was physically female. The song appears at the moment in the film when Swank's character is released from jail and rejoins his waiting girlfriend. They run down a set of stairs together as the song continues; it then plays in the background during a scene in a bar and half of the following love scene.

Cover versions

The band Reel Big Fish often perform a cover of this song in a live setting, and The Smashing Pumpkins have performed teases of the song live on multiple occasions. Oleander released a studio cover of the song on their album February Son, and as a single, complete with a video. Hell Is for Heroes recorded the song as a b-side for their single "Retreat", and lostprophets did the same for their single "Last Summer". Razorlight chose to perform the song at The Cure's "MTV Icon" ceremony in 2004.

External link

• Lyrics of Boys Don't Cry