COBL and LNOE

[Varitek]

Sorry if it's been posted a while ago and I missed it, but:

Last Night on Earth:

The more you take the less you feel
The less you know the more you believe
The more you have the more it takes today


City of Blinding Lights:

The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now
....
The more you know the less you feel


There are a few other similarities, the ground giving away vs. getting ready to leave the ground,

What's up with this? From below you can see it was at least semi-intentional, and I'm sure bono loves the strength of a more-less or less-more comparison.

U2MOL says, for COBL:
In the October issue of 2004 of Blender Magazine, Adam Clayton comments that this began as an outtake from Pop. To us, it was an homage to Scott Walker. The working title was 'Scott Walker'.

So the song about the changing perception of cities/fame as they (U2) lose their innocence and gain experience has its basis in LNOE, a song that is certainly about a fake world. That makes sense. But what about the speculation that I tend to agree with that LNOE is about a woman committing suicide to get out of that fake world - how does that inform COBL?

 

[lady luck]

As somebody puts it, at times Bono cannibalize himself

I am not sure that there's a REAL connection between the two songs. The subjects are different, even if the words used are more or less the same.

 

[Ellay]

Every poet is a thief.

 

[rjhbonovox]

Yeah its virtually the same lyric but the songs are worlds apart and I know which one is far better. Last Night On Earth is a great song from a great album. COBL is pretty much the same song they were doing in the 80's with the LNOE lyric.

 

[Clawgrabber]

when i first heard HTDAAB, it seemed that U2 was trying to redo pop (whether unintentional or not)

this was one similarity, as well as that between Yahweh and Do You Feel Loved

YAHWEH (SHIRT):
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean

DO YOU FEEL LOVED (SHIRT):
Take my shirt,
Go on take it off me
You can tear it up
If you can tie me down

YAHWEH (FOOTWEAR):
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit

DO YOU FEEL LOVED (FOOTWEAR):
Take these boots
They're going nowhere
You know these boots
Don't want to stray

YAHWEH (HANDS):
Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist

DO YOU FEEL LOVED (HANDS):
Take these hands
They're good for nothing
You know these hands
Never worked a day

 

[Varitek]

I've read here and elsewhere that they at one point before/during/right after the release of HTDAAB were considering going back and reworking Pop because they're still upset that they were rushed. Maybe some of that just came out in the album.

But on the other hand it's interesting to think about, if it was intentional, a possible linked meaning - that a piece of Yahweh's message is in DYFL or vice versa, and the same with LNOE and COBL.

 

[thebicycle]

Do you feel loved also repeats the phrase a man and a woman a lot too