When it comes to creating songs that are simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking, nobody does it better than The Cure and A Thousand Hours is a perfect example of that combination in action. Musically this track starts all nostalgic and wistful, built around strings, bass, and piano; but when Smith's plaintive, even wailing vocals kick in the song elevates to a state of aching hopelessness. If pained desperation could become a song, this is what it would sound like.