Stand up/sit down..'comedy?'

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j72

The Fly
Joined
Nov 26, 2011
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83
Obviously very subjective this but why the hell did the band think this song was so special? Why did it take (years as i understand?) an age to pranny around and tinker with to get 'right'??? They stood up, they played, they sat down, thought about it/reworked it, stood up again to play rehearse, they sit down etc, etc. Any thoughts on this song folks and/or waht's written below or your own tangent of thought relating to this stuff?

I am worried when the band overthink and obscure things, i know others on here think this. My question has this been a growing phenomennon over the years and can they really cut loose and just create and not worry about hit singles/being over calculating, perfectionist or trying to be rad and hip.

I liked the fact that Bono was questioning their relevance (i still think they're a fabulous band) but i personally think history shows the band can be at their best when their backs are up against the wall. Cmon fellas bring out a diamond from the cave, please!!!!
 
I don't mind the song that much. But hardly the best on No Line for me. I thought it was funny when my dad heard the album for the first time... he loved SUC, and thought it was the best song on the album.
 
It contains one of the best lines Bono's ever written, the line is a little hidden gem, IMO. It's not one of my favorite songs, but I don't hate it either. Would have been cool to see live though, it might have taken on another life live, sort of like Boots did.
 
cobl04 said:
Which line?
Click to expand...

coolian2 said:
i'd hazard a guess as it being the one in her signature.


presuming you're not posting from the app, you should see it.
Click to expand...

cobl04 said:
Yeah I'm posting from my phone. I think it's "come on ye people, we're made of stars"? With a Bono ipod jumping gif?
Click to expand...

popacrobat said:
God is love, and love is evolution's very best day
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cobl funny you remember that! That was my signature for awhile. The star line is good too. But it's the "Love is evolution's very best day" line I like most. I don't mind "God is love" before that, but it isn't even necessary to make the second part really, really good. That line stands on it's own.
 
Hi Folks

Enjoyed the replies so far, i would like to say i do quite enjoy this song and obviously enjoy differences of opinion. I am grateeful to folks pointing out the love/evolution line, never really clocked that fully. I personally love the God/little old lady line.

I guess for me it is just that i hear othr bands in it so much more than them, if they'd rattled the song off quickly and i also take the point about how fun it could have been live i could understand it more.

However for all the time spent on this i can't help thinking they could have worked on or used other material for the album, but then that's just my thoughts-Elmer Fudd x
 
This song is basically a lot of fun. Some of the lyrics are a bit cringe worthy, it's just Bono trying to be Bono a little too hard :lol: I love the song's groove and it always gets me to my feet. There are two things I don't like about the song: 1. Its placement on NLOTH, it's just out of place and 2. That they never ever played it live. I thought it would be the perfect live track and I still wonder why they never even tried it.
 
j72 said:
Obviously very subjective this but why the hell did the band think this song was so special? Why did it take (years as i understand?) an age to pranny around and tinker with to get 'right'??? They stood up, they played, they sat down, thought about it/reworked it, stood up again to play rehearse, they sit down etc, etc. Any thoughts on this song folks and/or waht's written below or your own tangent of thought relating to this stuff?
Click to expand...

yeah it sounds stale to my ears.. like an Audioslave b-side.. it doesn't sound like the band is actually playing it. I think a song like that has to sound looser, raw (ie recorded live off the floor). instead, it sounds cut and pasted from various takes..

I think the fact that it was never played live speaks volumes of what U2 now think of it.
 
It was sort of a new sound for them but archaic to practically everyone else listening.
So it came off as a turd, IMO.

And the producer had nothing to do with that shit.
They produced it themselves, basically (along with Breathe and a few others).

And of course Bono mega-hammed it up in the lyrics. Enough of the self-effacing 'rock star hypocrisy' that nobody but rich rock and rollers can relate to, Bono.
 
Hey Registered Dude, great user name, love it. I think you're probably right about if you're going to do it just do it one take, pretty much live and organic on the studio floor. As you say it sounds a cut and paste job to me to.

Comments such as this has been made i notice about other u2 songs and as i said in my initial thread here, this is what concerns me, when over egging the pudding as it were or too many ideas in one song can taint or ruin potentially good or even great songs.

I guess this is also interesting to me in that as a band progresses they can either evolve naturally or suddenly lose along the way the spark that set the flame as the band said in one song or something very like that. Thankfully i found that so many of their songs are still beautiful, creative and deeply felt, i would say this is very much in evidence in NLOTH, speaking in 'character' or not. I have to admit that suprised me how much that style of writing did get through to me, i didn't think it was the way u2 would get to me, but i like to be suprised so that was great.
The depth gets through to me - which is why i get so frustrated with songs such as SUC or that when a man loves a woman Scmatlz on the previous album.
 
I stand by my last.fm comment:

"This seems like the kind of song that a father would play his teenage son on a sitcom to convince the son that he's cool and that he's "still got it.""

It's kind of enjoyable in a weird way, but this song and Boots definitely did not fit into NLOTH. I really like the line "stop helping God across the road like a little old lady" though.
 
Hillers wrote:

"This seems like the kind of song that a father would play his teenage son on a sitcom to convince the son that he's cool and that he's "still got it.""

"It's kind of enjoyable in a weird way, but this song and Boots definitely did not fit into NLOTH. I really like the line "stop helping God across the road like a little old lady" though."

This made me chuckle, nice start to the day and sums up a lot of my feelings about it, respect that others love it though, fair play to individual feelings and opinions.

Ps This is a tad embarassing but can someone tell me in a very fool proof way how to quote or multi quote in the way others do on this forum.


Thanks Captain Caveman
 
"stop helping God across the road like a little old lady"

see now - if i was thinking about the old lady (witch) in my village, people here would only help her across the road into the path of a passing tractor, and i can relate to that interpretation of God in society - we want to do everything on our own without Him/Her so s/he's always getting shoved under a passing tractor, metaphorically speaking obviously :D

ok i'm not sure if i'm actually taking the piss here or not!
 
j72 said:
Ps This is a tad embarassing but can someone tell me in a very fool proof way how to quote or multi quote in the way others do on this forum.


Thanks Captain Caveman
Click to expand...

there's a button right next to the "Quote" button.. click that each for each person you'd like to quote, and then post your reply :up:
 
Hi Mama , Cass, enjoyed your interpretation, there's something in that and it also made me laugh and brought to mind someone i know too a bit like your 'lady'? in question.

I like the lyrics around the one that has been mentioned, namely:


Stand up, this is comedy
The DNA lottery may have left you smart
But can you stand up to beauty, dictator of the heart
I can stand up for hope, faith, love
But while Im getting over certainty
Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady for me,

I personally feel this to be akin to my own practice of spiritual mediation/moments of silence/surrender. I do not have to 'rationalise'
it to anyone or alternatively have no urge push it on to anyone.

God/spirit, connection with deeper self (whatever one may or may not want to call/name it) does not have to be stood up and explained with 'scientific' certainty and it has helped me find strength, clarity and insight without
being helped by anyone, my own or others theories, 'certainties'. Not sure if that makes sense, i'm sure some may
find it stupid but for me these particular lyrics make sense.
 
j72 said:
Hi Mama , Cass, enjoyed your interpretation, there's something in that and it also made me laugh and brought to mind someone i know too a bit like your 'lady'? in question.

I like the lyrics around the one that has been mentioned, namely:


Stand up, this is comedy
The DNA lottery may have left you smart
But can you stand up to beauty, dictator of the heart
I can stand up for hope, faith, love
But while Im getting over certainty
Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady for me,

I personally feel this to be akin to my own practice of spiritual mediation/moments of silence/surrender. I do not have to 'rationalise'
it to anyone or alternatively have no urge push it on to anyone.

God/spirit, connection with deeper self (whatever one may or may not want to call/name it) does not have to be stood up and explained with 'scientific' certainty and it has helped me find strength, clarity and insight without
being helped by anyone, my own or others theories, 'certainties'. Not sure if that makes sense, i'm sure some may
find it stupid but for me these particular lyrics make sense.
Click to expand...

No, it does make sense. :) I think Bono wrote a song which he really did write something of his beliefs on spirituality. (Of course I don't know that as fact, but he wrote it, so it still came from his head, regardless.) Obviously a lot of people (around here anyway) hate that. :shrug: I'm not saying I think the lyrics are so great and perfect, but I never mind listening to what Bono has to say, and since we all know it's a topic he feels strongly about, I think it's a nice little insight.
 
Im a bit Meh about the song. I can listen to it, but if forced to rate it, id have to say, its the second least fave track on the album. i feel its lazy. Its just a very averge song built around a mediocre guitar riff. Kinda sounds Like Led Zepp meets RHCP to me
 
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