Killing an Arab
"Killing an Arab" is the first single by the Cure. It was recorded at the same time as their first album Three Imaginary Boys (1979), but not included on the album. However, it was included on the band's first US album, Boys Don't Cry (1980).
| "Killing an Arab" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by the Cure | ||||
| from the album Boys Don't Cry | ||||
| B-side | "10:15 Saturday Night" | |||
| Released | 22 December 1978 | |||
| Recorded | 20 September 1978 | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 2:21 | |||
| Label | Small Wonder, Fiction | |||
| Songwriter(s) | The Cure (Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, Lol Tolhurst) | |||
| Producer(s) | Chris Parry | |||
| The Cure singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Official audio | ||||
| "Killing an Arab" on YouTube | ||||
The song's title and lyrics reference Albert Camus's novel The Stranger. Because of the title, the song has drawn controversy for what critics have described as promoting violence against Arabs, which songwriter Robert Smith pinned on the public's lack of knowledge regarding the novel. Shortly after its release, Smith said, "It just happened that the main character in the book had actually killed an Arab, but it could have been a Scandinavian or an English bloke." In 2003, Smith acknowledged that, "If I knew it before, I would have called it 'Standing on the Beach'. It would have avoided many troubles."