Anyone actually like Grace?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Jarvio

War Child
Joined
Jun 29, 2003
Messages
692
I'm a big fan of ATYCLB, I know some don't like it, but for me it's one of U2's best, most enjoyable listens. That is, until Grace comes on...

Grace is just a right stinker. It is so incredibly boring. That is it's biggest offence. It's one of it's only offences really, but it is such a huge offence that I feel it seems so out of place on this album. Or any album really. It seems like a very lazy closer, and should have been a B-Side at best.

They should have closed the album with "Always". That would have been epic. I love that song. I know it's an early version of Beautiful Day, but if BD opened the album and Always closed it, then it would work very nicely!

So yeah, does anyone actually even like Grace?
 
I like it in an abstract sort of way. If I listen to the lyrics too hard, then yeah, it's a stupid song. But if I listen to it the same way I would listen to a song like "Elvis Presley and America", where the vocal is just another instrument, and I don't pay attention to the lyrics, then I don't mind it. I like the overall mood and feel of the music, and Bono's voice itself sounds good. I like the ways the guitar and bass play off each other, like 2 lead instruments playing a duet.

I'm somebody who doesn't normally listen to the lyrics first in a song. I think by having this habit, I'm able to enjoy songs most people don't.
 
I like it in an abstract sort of way. If I listen to the lyrics too hard, then yeah, it's a stupid song. But if I listen to it the same way I would listen to a song like "Elvis Presley and America", where the vocal is just another instrument, and I don't pay attention to the lyrics, then I don't mind it. I like the overall mood and feel of the music, and Bono's voice itself sounds good. I like the ways the guitar and bass play off each other, like 2 lead instruments playing a duet.

I'm somebody who doesn't normally listen to the lyrics first in a song. I think by having this habit, I'm able to enjoy songs most people don't.

I remember once, years ago, I was in a funk over something. Out of my hundreds and hundreds of cds, I ended up putting on Elvis Presley and America and listened to it over and over.

It was therapeutic for some reason. I have no idea why.

As for Grace . . . yeah I like it, for a closer. It bookends BD and the theme of the album very nicely. It feels right to me. I'd say in a similar way to Yahweh on their next album. Though Yahweh is catchier.
 
It's different for me as I know it as the reserved song before TGBHF closes the album. I don't dislike it, and not every U2 song has to be an upbeat rocker.
 
It gets a little too much shit 'round here. Like a lot of Bono's songs, I choose to just ignore the corny lyrics and instead just enjoy it in my own way.

My wife is very into analyzing lyrics, which is why she can't listen to certain u2 songs.
 
It's fine. It's the type of song you have to be in the mood for, but it's a decent tune overall .
 
There's nothing wrong with Grace. Or Peace on Earth (the other song on ATYCLB that gets hate around here) for that matter. It's a lovely little song.

Let's put it this way. Grace, and every other song on that record, is much better than Best Thing About Me.

And Always isn't a very good U2 song (though it also is better than the new single).
 
There's nothing wrong with Grace. Or Peace on Earth (the other song on ATYCLB that gets hate around here) for that matter. It's a lovely little song.

I don't mind Peace On Earth. The other song on ATYCLB that I don't like that much is New York, but it's still much better than Grace IMO.

I just can't listen to Grace without getting extremely bored.

To each their own, but Grace, for me, really let the album down.
 
It's fine. It's the type of song you have to be in the mood for, but it's a decent tune overall .



Exactly, the right mood indeed. I remember listening to it Christmas of 2000. It was a cold, snowy evening, and I was driving home after Christmas at my Grandparents house. I was 18 and full of whimsy and wonder (full of shit?), and I remember Xmas lights as I drove through town, listening to Grace.

That's the memory I associate with Grace, and my circumstances have to be something similar to that for me to really enjoy the song.
 
I like Grace for what it is, which is a soothing, slow-paced song. A lot of U2 album closers fit this mold, though Grace is particularly slow, which is why some people don't seem to have the patience for it.
 
Grace is definitely a bad song - maybe not deserving of all the shit it gets, but deserving of at least some.

Ending with Always is a bloody weird idea though. They should've just used The Ground Beneath Her Feet as the eleventh and last song. It makes a great closer on the Aussie version of the album.

And, you know, Summer Rain definitely should've been on the album ahead of Grace, Peace on Earth, and In a Little While.
 
It's different for me as I know it as the reserved song before TGBHF closes the album. I don't dislike it, and not every U2 song has to be an upbeat rocker.

I agree, its fine as the quiet, soundscape led track before TGBHF but as an album closer its a bit disappointing. As an individual song its pretty good and lots better than Yahweh.
 
I think it's a really good song. I mean, it's not a U2-classic or anything, obviously, but it's a very nice composition and a good closer.

I also think the lyrics are quite good.
 
I love it. Think the music is really beautiful, so sweetly calming. Bono's vocals in the "you can hear the striiiings" parts = molto bene.

I'd adore it if this was a new single. They've really fallen off a cliff.
 
It's okay as a song, definitely not a good closer (Levitate instead).

Also..."grace, it's the name for a girl...it's also a thought that changed the world" really sinks the song.
 
There's nothing wrong with Grace. Or Peace on Earth (the other song on ATYCLB that gets hate around here) for that matter. It's a lovely little song.

Let's put it this way. Grace, and every other song on that record, is much better than Best Thing About Me.

And Always isn't a very good U2 song (though it also is better than the new single).

May I politely disagree with all of that?
Grace is ridiculous.
Peace on Earth could be ok if it didn't proudly include the sound of a squeaking gate every few seconds. And instead of the squeaking gate, employed a guitarist to, I dunno, play guitar perhaps.
Grace is better than Best Thing in the same way that air is better than Best Thing. I mean, air exists, it's there, its kinda boring. But comparing it to an actual song seems odd.
Always is probably my favourite song from that album cycle.

And closing with the same basic song structure wouldn't be that terrible. I mean, I know a band who released an album in 2009 which, had, as its first song, 'No Line on the Horizon', and, as its last song, "No Line on the Horizon'.

So there's that...
 
And instead of the squeaking gate, employed a guitarist to, I dunno, play guitar perhaps.
Grace is better than Best Thing in the same way that air is better than Best Thing. I mean, air exists, it's there, its kinda boring. But comparing it to an actual song seems odd.

:lol: Yes to both.

Also, I still get thrown when people change avatars. Who the hell are you and what have you done with kiwilad?
 
"Always" isn't all like BD anyway, it's just the chorus. The rest of the song is its own song.

Might seem like an odd idea to many to close the album with it, but in this isolated case I think it works well, like coming full circle, in the good way. Coming full circle in the bad way would be the vertigo tour shows where they opened AND closed with Vertigo.

I love TGBHF, and it's the closer on my version too in the UK, but because U2 didn't write the lyrics, the OCD in me would be annoyed if it were included. White As Snow on NLOTH annoys me for being included because U2 didn't write the vocal melody to it.
 
So are you OK with song sung by Johnny Cash closing out a U2 record?

U2 frequently closes their albums out with subdued, odd little songs.

If you mean in terms of Grace, the song is nothing like Grace.

My problems with Grace is that it is enormously boring. Musically, I find it completely lifeless and dull, which also never gets going, and it's long length doesn't help with that. The Wanderer, while never a favourite of mine, at least has more life to it.

But if you mean in terms of OCD with things like TGBHF and WAS, then yes I suppose The Wanderer does bother me a little, but at least U2 wrote all of it (correct me if I'm wrong there)
 
Last edited:
I was referring to your OCD. ;-)

And U2 didn't write 40 either. And that closed an album and a good number of their shows. That must wreak havoc on your OCD!
 
Last edited:
Ah yeah, the Pslam 40 stuff. I knew it had something to do with it, but didn't know it was the entire lyrics.

You have sent my OCD into meltdown now, oh well, I had to find out sooner or later lol. Any more?
 
Back
Top Bottom