Why Can't I Be You? - Live

During live performances, The Cure often used this song to play around with and incorporate different songs into the performance. These other songs have included "The Lovecats," "Fly Me To The Moon," "Young At Heart," and "Out Of Touch," among others.

The video clip to this song cleverly included some risqué word play, turning "Can't" into "Cu-t." When the members of the band are symbolizing the words "Why Can't I Be You" as the letters Y _ I B U, by shaping their bodies into the shape of these letters, the word "Can't," which is the only word that could not be symbolized by a letter, was instead represented by a large mouth, or "Pair of lips" turned sideways (i.e. a vagina). Thus, 'Y c-nt I B U.' Robert Smith denied responsibility for the joke and placed the blame on director Tim Pope. He explained: "The obvious phonetic depiction of the word 'can't' was nothing to do with me - it's the childish side of Tim Pope's award-winning nature. It seems crass now. We thought it would be seen once, fleetingly, on telly." The original film clip is nowadays often replaced with the film clip of the remix to this song which doesn't include this part of the clip.

This was the lead single from the band's first and only double album. The record was their first to enter the Billboard Top 40.