Bono reads Elvis Ate America on BBC May 13th

[Axver]

Chris Martin Ate Australia

Chris Martin has stupid hair.

Chris Martin stalks U2.

Chris Martin isn't all there.

Chris Martin hired Brian Eno.

Chris Martin would've been a sissy without Johnny Farnham.

Chris Martin wanted his own Live Aid and got Sound Relief.

Chris Martin and his messianic pose.

Christ Martin.

Chris Martin will never save you.

Chris Martin is a wanker.

Chris Martin is a genius.

Chris Martin is dysfunctional.

Chris Martin invented the piano.

Chris Martin needs a rush of blood to the head.

Chris Martin only knows two letters of the alphabet

Chris Martin lies.

Chris ... yellow
Chris ... fix you
Chris ... in his place
Chris ... a hobo box
Chris ... not quite Bono Vox
Chris ... you're the voice
Chris ... derivative ... Martin

 

[Galeongirl]

This thread is so very respectable.

^ This.

Especially after Ax's addition.

 

[cobl04]

This is probably my favourite thread ever. Travis, respect man.

I was going to do Thom Yorke, but I can't understand anything he sings.

Plus it would never be scathing enough for Axver.

Chad Kroger Ate Shit

Chad Kroger what can you say.

Chad Kroger likes your pants around your feet.

Chad Kroger has a weedy little goatee.

Chad Kroger still wants his nickel back.

Chad Kroger figured you out.

Chad Kroger was so nervous he nearly missed.

Throw stones, Chad Kroger will get angry.

Chad Kroger thought he added something to the Spiderman soundtrack.

Santana still in rehab.

Chad Kroger SEX SEX SEX drrrrrrrrr

It is not The Chad.

Chad... loved
Chad... paddle-pop lion
Chad... white trash
Chad... probably smoked hash
Chad...

 

[Alisaura]

This thread is fantastic.

I was going to do Thom Yorke, but I can't understand anything he sings.

Thom Yorke ... aaaeeeeooouuuhhhwaaaah
Thom Yorke ... superfluous letters
Tom York

 

[U2girl]

Thom Yorke....the Kid A
Thom Yorke....amnesiac

 

[The Sad Punk]

How was tuf bono fat? Seriously?

He was still fatter than Chris Martin will ever be.

Thom Yorke ... aaaeeeeooouuuhhhwaaaah
Thom Yorke ... superfluous letters
Tom York

It's glorious.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Modern love walks beside David Bowie

(Modern love!)

His late '80s period left us all in tears

(Modern love!)

David Bowie hasn't done shit in years

(Modern love!)

David Bowie has a plastic soul

(Modern love!)

David Bowie didn't smoke bowls

Bowie...Hitler
Bowie...Nixon
Bowie...cocaine
Bowie...transvestites
Bowie...old folks thought he was sleazy
Bowie...poor little greenie
Bowie...is everybody's friend
Bowie...please record music again
Bowie...we'll forgive you
Bowie...we'll pray for you
David
Bowie

I just read through this again, and I feel that the fourth "(Modern love!)" should actually be "(Church on time!)".

 

[LemonMelon]

Abominable Poem...INTHISTOWN

Inthistowntastic Bono was a drunk

Inthistowntastic Bono had the funk

Inthistowntastic Bono couldn't see the microphone

Inthistowntastic Bono believed that he was, in fact, in this town

Inthistowntastic Bono was a womanfish

Inthistowntastic Bono couldn't have possibly been a womanfish

Inthistowntastic Bono passed the mic to Robert Smith

Inthistowntastic Bono wore a bandana

Inthistowntastic Bono looked like an ass

I can't understand what Inthistowntastic Bono just said

Inthistowntastic Bono knew some of the words

Inthistowntastic Bono did not know those four chords

Inthistowntastic Bono wrote a song about a mermaid

Inthistowntastic Bono never sang that song again

Love is all Inthistowntastic Bono needs...until the morning after

Inthistowntastic Bono has a positive outlook concerning this town

Inthistowntastic Bono...INTHISTOWN
Inthistowntastic Bono...couldn't put the glass down
Inthistowntastic Bono...proposed multiple toasts
Inthistowntastic Bono...made out with a lamp post
Inthistowntastic Bono...Guinness
Inthistowntastic Bono...incompetence
Inthistowntastic Bono...forgive us
Inthistowntastic Bono...pray for us
Inthistown
Tastic
Bono

 

[Jdragonfly]

This thread!

 

[Rosebud]

He was still fatter than Chris Martin will ever be.

Show me the pictorial evidence, I beg you.


Edit: well duh, but fat? everyone calls tuf bono fat. why? it's not very respectable, is it?

 

[mikal]

man, the promotion behind this is just so horrible!!!!111

 

[LemonMelon]

I just read through this again, and I feel that the fourth "(Modern love!)" should actually be "(Church on time!)".

This is true. Actually, that entire section should have been expanded by 4-6 lines. I felt it was a bit light.

man, the promotion behind this is just so horrible!!!!111

U2 should issue poems like this every week. I've never been a bigger fan than I am right now. Just imagine Larry writing a poem about weightlifting, or Adam about narcotics.

 

[bonocomet]

These poems

 

[Galeongirl]

I love you all gang, I love you all! :cornflakes:

 

[digitize]

I just read through this again, and I feel that the fourth "(Modern love!)" should actually be "(Church on time!)".

Interestingly, I was listening to a "Church on time" in that song when I read this post.

 

[Freefall]

I am glad I was pointed here, because it certainly is the song, or a good portion of it. I happen to get a hoot out of EAA, though I wonder what is motivating him to do it like this?

Funny they are getting in an uproar over the coverage BBC gave them. U2 had five nights on Letterman, did Good Morning America, and played a concert at a college here in the Bronx. They were pretty busy when the album was first released.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I love Elvis Ate America.

The full poem was printed in Q when Passengers came out.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Abominable Poem...INTHISTOWN

Inthistowntastic Bono was a drunk

Inthistowntastic Bono had the funk

Inthistowntastic Bono couldn't see the microphone

Inthistowntastic Bono believed that he was, in fact, in this town

Inthistowntastic Bono was a womanfish

Inthistowntastic Bono couldn't have possibly been a womanfish

Inthistowntastic Bono passed the mic to Robert Smith

Inthistowntastic Bono wore a bandana

Inthistowntastic Bono looked like an ass

I can't understand what Inthistowntastic Bono just said

Inthistowntastic Bono knew some of the words

Inthistowntastic Bono did not know those four chords

Inthistowntastic Bono wrote a song about a mermaid

Inthistowntastic Bono never sang that song again

Love is all Inthistowntastic Bono needs...until the morning after

Inthistowntastic Bono has a positive outlook concerning this town

Inthistowntastic Bono...INTHISTOWN
Inthistowntastic Bono...couldn't put the glass down
Inthistowntastic Bono...proposed multiple toasts
Inthistowntastic Bono...made out with a lamp post
Inthistowntastic Bono...Guinness
Inthistowntastic Bono...incompetence
Inthistowntastic Bono...forgive us
Inthistowntastic Bono...pray for us
Inthistown
Tastic
Bono

If this forum had some kind of Karma system, you would be getting so many +'s right now.

 

[mama cass]

well it just got slightly crucified in today's Guardian

Bono's poem Elvis: American David, annotated | Music | guardian.co.uk

 

[last unicorn]

OK, first, the guy who "annotated" this poem clearly has too much time on his hands. I do this all the time and I could do a better job. At some points he clearly isn't even trying hard enough. Who cares anyway?

Second, the comments from readers, as always, range from funny to simply spiteful and mean. OK, I understand that people tend to be annoyed by someone who is in the media so much (and yes I feel that poem shouldn't be broadcast at all), but calling him talentless, uneducated and saying he knows nothing about world affairs and poetry is a bit wrong. Bono has a unique way of writing, love it or hate it. Some of the stuff is good, some isn't. That latest piece on Elvis should have been kept in the drawer, together with the song EAA. I have no idea why the BBC decided to broadcast something like that. I wish Bono wouldn't have agreed. Just gives his critics more ammunition.

 

[Axver]

well it just got slightly crucified in today's Guardian

Bono's poem Elvis: American David, annotated | Music | guardian.co.uk

This is excellent. Now can he please come and annotate the poems in this thread?

 

[The Sad Punk]

This is excellent. Now can he please come and annotate the poems in this thread?

Bowie...is everybody's friend

Nonsense. David Bowie never befriended Darryl Sammerstein of Winston, IL.

tuf bono was sort of fat.

How was tuf bono fat? Seriously?

Robert Smith drives a hearse

Highly disputable. Rather, a note he sent to Lol Tolhurst in 1988 suggests that he instead drove an ambulance.

Inthistowntastic Bono never sang that song again

In fact, Inthistowntastic Bono briefly sang the chorus to "Womanfish" during the Conspiracy of Hope tour later in 1986, while stumbling around his LA hotel room after drinking some goon.

Christ Martin.

Laughable.

Chad...

Perhaps in 1995 crack-addicted emoticons were easily put into words, but times have changed, and now this section of the prose has already sparked heated controversy.

 

[last unicorn]

Elvis should come back and read a poem about Bono.

 

[cobl04]

Bowie...is everybody's friend

Nonsense. David Bowie never befriended Darryl Sammerstein of Winston, IL.

tuf bono was sort of fat.

How was tuf bono fat? Seriously?

Robert Smith drives a hearse

Highly disputable. Rather, a note he sent to Lol Tolhurst in 1988 suggests that he instead drove an ambulance.

Inthistowntastic Bono never sang that song again

In fact, Inthistowntastic Bono briefly sang the chorus to "Womanfish" during the Conspiracy of Hope tour later in 1986, while stumbling around his LA hotel room after drinking some goon.

Christ Martin.

Laughable.

Chad...

Perhaps in 1995 crack-addicted emoticons were easily put into words, but times have changed, and now this section of the prose has already sparked heated controversy.

I thought he might have been from Pitchfork for a second then, he left the Thom poem alone.

 

[Salome]

well it just got slightly crucified in today's Guardian

if Bono had written this in 2005 instead of 1995 the comments here on Interference would have been a lot worse than what we get in The Guardian now

 

[mama cass]

BBC iPlayer - Elvis By Bono

oh it's a little medley, and Bono reads really nicely!

i like it!

definitely works better as a spoken performance than in the written medium i reckon

 

[enajh2]

I recorded this from Radio 4 last night. It's from the digital broadcast.

2009-05-13_BBC_Radio_4_Elvis_By_Bono.zip (18.1Mb) MP2 audio 192kbps 48kHz

 

[U2Soar]

Thank you Enajh2

 

[Flaming07]

YouTube - Elvis By Bono (Part One) Poetic Soundscape

YouTube - Elvis By Bono (Part Two) Poetic Soundscape

 

[Bonogirl777]

Wow, I love it.