According to some accounts inspiration for “Pictures of You” came when a fire broke loose in The Cure singer, Robert Smith’s home. After that day, Smith was going through the remains and came across his wallet which had pictures of his wife, Mary.
In a 1989 interview with Music Box TV, Robert Smith said, “It’s about the idea you hold about someone. It goes back a bit to a song like ‘How Beautiful You Are.’ The idea you hold of someone isn’t really what that person is like. Sometimes you completely lose touch with what a person has turned into. You just want to hold onto what they were.”
The song is definitely a soul-stirring emotional song about the loss of a lover, regret and wishing to return to good times in the past.
Lyrics
That I almost believe that they’re real
I’ve been living so long with my pictures of you
That I almost believe that the pictures
Are all I can feel
As I ran to your heart to be near
And we kissed as the sky fell in
Holding you close
How I always held close in your fear
Remembering you running soft through the night
You were bigger and brighter and wider than snow
And screamed at the make-believe
Screamed at the sky
And you finally found all your courage
To let it all go
Remembering you fallen into my arms
Crying for the death of your heart
You were stone white
So delicate
Lost in the cold
You were always so lost in the dark
Remembering you how you used to be
Slow drowned
You were angels
So much more than everything
Hold for the last time then slip away quietly
Open my eyes
If only I’d thought of the right words
I wouldn’t be breaking apart
All my pictures of you
But I never hold on to your heart
Looking so long for the words to be true
But always just breaking apart
My pictures of you
That I ever wanted more
Than to feel you deep in my heart
There was nothing in the world
That I ever wanted more
Than to never feel the breaking apart
All my pictures of you