{{Infobox song | name = Killing an Arab | cover = Killinganarab cov.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = [[the Cure]] | album = [[Boys Don't Cry (The Cure album)|Boys Don't Cry]] | B-side = [[10:15 Saturday Night]] | released = 22 December 1978 | recorded = 20 September 1978 | studio = | genre = [[Post-punk]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-sinner-the-stranger-the-cure-killing-an-arab/|title=10 Ways The Sinner Is and Isn't Like The Cure's Song "Killing an Arab"|last=Mathews|first=Liam|date=2 August 2017|website=[[TV Guide]]|access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="Breihan 2023">{{cite web|first= Tom |last= Breihan |title= The Alternative Number Ones: The Cure’s “Fascination Street|website= [[Stereogum]] |date=September 20, 2023|url= https://stereogum.com/2236620/the-alternative-number-ones-the-cures-fascination-street/columns|accessdate= May 8, 2026}} {{subscription required|s}}</ref> | length = 2:21 | label = Small Wonder, [[Fiction Records|Fiction]] | writer = The Cure ([[Robert Smith (musician)|Robert Smith]], [[Michael Dempsey]], [[Lol Tolhurst]]) | producer = [[Chris Parry (producer)|Chris Parry]] | next_title = [[Boys Don't Cry (The Cure song)|Boys Don't Cry]] | next_year = 1979 | misc = {{External music video|header=Official audio|{{YouTube|RFIwEQkH7sg|"Killing an Arab"}}}} }}
"'''Killing an Arab'''" is the debut single by English rock band [[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 (The Cure album)|Boys Don't Cry]]'' (1980).<ref>{{cite web|last=De Muir|first=Harold|title=An Interview With Robert Smith of The Cure|url=http://www.musicfanclubs.org/cure/press/I94.html|work=Eastcoast Rocket|access-date=27 April 2011}}</ref>
The song's title and lyrics reference [[Albert Camus]]'s 1942 novella [[The Stranger (Camus 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 (musician)|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]]."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Apter |first=Jeff |title=Never Enough: The Story of The Cure |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=9780857120243}}</ref> 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."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Cure 2003 |url=http://www.picturesofyou.us/03/03-08-rockandfolk-fr-1.htm |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=www.picturesofyou.us}}</ref>
==Lyrics and music== Songwriter [[Robert Smith (musician)|Robert Smith]] said the song "was a short poetic attempt at condensing my impression of the key moments in the 1942 novel ''[[The Stranger (Camus novel)|L'Étranger]]'' (''The Stranger'') by [[Albert Camus]]".<ref>''Cure News'' number 11, October 1991</ref> The lyrics describe a shooting on a beach, in which the titular [[Arab]] is killed by the song's narrator; in Camus' story the protagonist, Meursault, shoots an Arab on a beach, overwhelmed by his surroundings. Meursault is condemned for his honesty about his feelings and is considered an outsider (or "[[stranger]]") because "he refuses to lie" and "doesn't play the game".<ref>Camus, Albert, ''The Outsider'', Penguin Classics, 1989, p. 118 (afterword by Albert Camus, 8 January 1955)</ref>
Upon release, ''[[Melody Maker]]'' compared the song to "[[Hong Kong Garden (song)|Hong Kong Garden]]" by [[Siouxsie and the Banshees]]. Music critic Ian Birch wrote: "As 'Hong Kong Garden' used a simple [[Oriental]]-styled [[riff]] to striking effect, so '[Killing An] Arab' conjures up edginess through a [[Moorish]]-flavour guitar pattern".<ref>{{cite magazine|first= Ian |last= Birch |magazine= [[Melody Maker]] |title= Practical Poprock |date= 24 March 1979}}</ref>
This song lends two of its lines to the titles of one of the Cure's compilation albums, ''[[Standing on a Beach]]'', and to its CD/video counterpart ''[[Staring at the Sea]]''.{{cn|date=December 2023}}
==Reception== According to critic [[Robert Christgau]], the release of "Killing an Arab" caused controversy as seemingly promoting violence against Arabs.<ref>{{cite web | title= Robert Christgau - Creative Censorship | url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/censor-87.php}}</ref> A 1978 ''[[NME]]'' article described the song's title as "at first glance irresponsibly [[racist]]," with Robert Smith responding, "It's not really racist, if you know what the song is about. It's not a call to kill Arabs."<ref name=":0" />
In the US, the Cure's first compilation of singles, ''[[Standing on a Beach]]'' (1986), was packaged with a sticker advising against racist usage of the song after a student DJ on WPRB Princeton offended listeners by insensitively introducing the track prior to playing it on the radio in October 1986.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/21/arts/rock-group-accedes-to-arab-protest.html | first=Jon | last=Pareles | date=21 January 1987 | access-date=5 February 2013 | title=Rock Group Accedes to Arab Protest| work=The New York Times }}</ref> Robert Smith and [[Elektra Records]] requested that radio stations discontinue airing the song and saw the sticker as a compromise to prevent having to pull the album from sale entirely. Smith said that the song was "being used increasingly by certain [[reactionary]] factions of the media, most notably by some particularly brainless DJ's, as a part of a wave of [[anti-Arab]] feeling currently existing in some parts of America."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Cure asks radio stations not to play 'Killing an Arab' |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/20/The-Cure-asks-radio-stations-not-to-play-Killing-an-Arab/5488538117200/ |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> [[Chris Parry (producer)|Chris Parry]], who produced the song, said that "if it was called 'The Stranger', we couldn't have had this problem."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Christgau: Creative Censorship |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/censor-87.php |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=www.robertchristgau.com}}</ref> Smith conceded in 2003 that he should have titled the song "Standing on the Beach" instead.<ref name=":1" />
==Variations of the lyrics== The song saw controversy again during the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]] and following the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.chartattack.com/news/2001/10/29/oh-god-not-again-robert-smith-on-killing-an-arab/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121212060451/http://www.chartattack.com/news/2001/10/29/oh-god-not-again-robert-smith-on-killing-an-arab/ | url-status=usurped | archive-date=December 12, 2012 | first=Sean K. | last=Robb | magazine=[[Chart (magazine)|Chart]] | date=29 October 2001 | access-date=8 October 2009 | title='Oh God, not again': Robert Smith on Killing An Arab}}</ref> The song was revived in 2005, when the Cure performed it at several European festivals. The lyrics, however, were changed from "Killing an Arab" to "Kissing an Arab". Smith added a whole new opening verse when the band performed it at the [[Royal Albert Hall]], [[London]], on 1 April 2006 as "Killing Another". The "killing another" lyric was also used during the 2007–2008 [[4Tour]]. The band performed the song as "Killing an Ahab" with lyrics inspired by [[Herman Melville]] on 2011's Reflections Tour.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/2018/07/killing-arab-the-cure-single-hyde-park | title=Killing an Arab: The Cure try to reclaim their most controversial single | work=[[New Statesman]] | last=Bradshaw | first=Calum | date=20 July 2018 | access-date=4 June 2019}}</ref> During the band's 40th anniversary tour, the lyrics and title were changed back to "Killing an Arab".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cure/2018/hyde-park-london-england-63ea623f.html | title=The Cure Concert Setlist at British Summertime 2018 on July 7, 2018 | website=setlist.fm | date=7 July 2018 | access-date=1 November 2019}}</ref> The band performed the song as "Killing Another" to close out the final show on their tour in December 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cure/2022/ovo-arena-wembley-london-england-63bcaac7.html | title=The Cure Concert Setlist at OVO Arena Wembley, London, England on December 13, 2022 | website=setlist.fm | date=13 December 2022 | access-date=19 March 2023}}</ref>
==Track listing== '''7-inch single''' #"Killing an Arab" #"[[10:15 Saturday Night]]"
==Personnel== * [[Michael Dempsey]] – bass guitar, backing vocals * [[Robert Smith (musician)|Robert Smith]] – guitar, lead vocals * [[Lol Tolhurst]] – drums
==References== {{reflist}}
{{TheCure}} {{The Stranger (Camus novel)}}
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[[Category:1978 songs]] [[Category:1978 debut singles]] [[Category:The Cure songs]] [[Category:1978 controversies]] [[Category:1986 controversies in the United States]] [[Category:2005 controversies]] [[Category:Songs written by Robert Smith (musician)]] [[Category:Fiction Records singles]] [[Category:Songs written by Michael Dempsey]] [[Category:Songs written by Lol Tolhurst]] [[Category:Music based on novels]] [[Category:Anti-Arabism in Europe]] [[Category:Works based on The Stranger (Camus novel)]] [[Category:Race-related controversies in music]] [[Category:Song recordings produced by Chris Parry]]