title

I’ve loved Killing An Arab since the first time I heard it. I love the Eastern influenced guitar, and it’s got a great beat. Inspired by Albert Camus’ story The Stranger, the song ended up being quite controversial as Arab groups thought it promoted violence against Arabs. According to Wikipedia:

Composer Robert Smith has said that the song “was a short poetic attempt at condensing my impression of the key moments in L’Étranger (The Stranger) by Albert Camus” (Cure News number 11, October 1991). The lyrics describe a shooting on a beach, in which the Arab of the title is killed by the song’s narrator; in Camus’ story the main character, Meursault, shoots an Arab standing on a beach after staring out at the sea and being overwhelmingly blinded by the sun, reflected on the sea, the sand and the knife the Arab was holding.

There’s additional information and speculation at SongFacts and SongMeanings.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Standing on a beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
See his open mouth
But hear no sound

I’m alive
I’m dead
I’m the stranger
Killing an arab