American Football Thread the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” Through “Never Meant” in a SiriusXM Session

American Football do not tend to hurry. Their version of the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” recorded in the SiriusXMU studio after their set at Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX, makes that instinct the whole idea. Rather than deliver the 1979 single straight, the band wove it into “Never Meant,” letting the two songs share tempo, guitars and a mournful trumpet solo.

Mike Kinsella described the Cure as “fundamental to my growth as a songwriter but as much or more so on my development as a man.” He explained the arrangement plainly: the jangle swapped for thinner guitars, the pace pulled well back, the adolescent directness left untouched. That last choice is what makes the pairing work. Both songs are about failing to say something cleanly, and hearing them overlap turns a resemblance into an argument.

The session also pulled from this year’s American Football (LP4), with “Wake Her Up” and “No Feeling.” The band has toured steadily behind the record and still has dates left in November and December, including shows in Brazil, Argentina, Peru and several East Coast states.