Robert Smith has always been a literary chap; the influence of Charles Baudelaire, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Sylvia Plath, and Mervyn Peake (to name a few) can be found throughout The Cure’s catalog. For “Charlotte Sometimes,” Smith drew inspiration from Penelope Farmer’s novel about a young girl in a boarding school who wakes up in another girl’s body 40 years earlier.

Released shortly after the Faith album, “Charlotte Sometimes” continues in a similar musical vein, its gloomy textures and atmospherics only enhancing the surreal lyrics (“All the faces/All the voices blur/Change to one face/Change to one voice”).

I first heard “Charlotte Sometimes” on the Standing on a Beach compilation, and was instantly captivated by it, as well as its music video. Although the band famously hates the video, in which a young woman wanders through a creepy old school while The Cure’s members watch over her, I think it’s a perfect fit for the song’s vibe (low budget and early ’80s visual effects notwithstanding).