FACT: Bono and his lyric writing is ruining U2

[Mirror Ball Man]

I think HTDAAB was a huge step down, and at NLOTH they did a little better, but the lyrics on NLOTH would still have been a step down from ATYCLB.

In my humble opinion AB and TJT are untouchable, I don't think you can even compare any other of their work to that.

HTDAAB
Very alike ATYCLB, but it has a little more "rock" to it, in a bad way. Personally I HATE Vertigo, just everything about it. If you skip Vertigo I like the beginning of the album. MD-COBL. Then the album just gets terrible. I like the end though, Original of the species and yaweh. I loved the Vertigo tour.

NLOTH
A huge disappointment. But actually anything sounds ok after HTDAAB.
No song on that album is a favorite of mine, and it doesn't look like that's gonna change. And the tour is too much of a show, the stage, the lights, the lazer jacket. Even though all of this I have mentioned is EXTREMELY cool, I still crave for just a normal stage, Edge, Adam, Larry with their instruments, and a Bono just with a fucking mic (and perhaps a guitar if he gets bored ). In my opinion they don't need anything else.

 

[Salome]

while Bono is not my favourite lyricist
I think he might be the best at having the lyrics match the music

 

[iota]

JT through Zooropa was Bono's peak. Pop was a decent effort but on the last 3 he hasn't really been trying. High water marks: White As Snow & Flowerchild.

Low points: "These tears are going nowhere baby" - "Heavy as a truck" - "new born baby's head" UGH

I prefer Bongloese to those turds.

 

[pop marter]

To me he's written some of the best lyrics ever in songs like One, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own and Running To Stand Still - let's not forget that.

But Bono's lyrics can be clunky - what sticks it my head is 'Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady'. you would almost think Larry would step in and say 'For Feck's sake Bono, no!!'

 

[doctorwho]

Wow, the half-joking nature of this thread has gone over some heads.

While NLOTH is an improvement, it's still no comparison to most of the other albums, especially Unforgettable Fire through Pop.

All joking aside (just for a moment) - WOW! I can think of tons of songs off of all those albums with some majorly bad lyrics. And that includes the "holy grails" of JT and AB.

For example:

• Lyrically, "One" is perhaps Bono's best. But "Ultraviolet"? It has one good line ("opera in my head"), but the rest - eh. And don't get me started on those "babies".
• "Pride" is one of my favorite U2 songs - perhaps because it was THE song that converted me from a fan to a die-hard. But read the lyrics - and just the lyrics. Don't play the music. Don't listen to Bono's passionate singing. As much as I adore the song, lyrically it is very weak.
• WOWY has some good metaphors, but is lyrically rather weak. It's Bono's impassioned singing and the song's structure (no true refrain) along with some great music that carry it.
• For all the brilliance of "The First Time", we have a song like "Some Days...".
• The sheer geinus of "Wake Up Dead Man" is wonderfully countered by "you know you're chewing bubblegum".

I know some of you may take issue with my examples. So all of the above is "in my opinion". However, I love NLOTH's lryics. Yeah, there are some weak songs on the album, but that's true of all U2's albums as I wrote above. However, when taken collectively, Bono is one of the best singers and songwriters in rock/pop music. And that's one reason why I've remained a fan.

Of course, if Bono is kicked out, I think Neil McCormick or Chris Martin can step in.

low points - "Heavy as a truck" .

I don't want to pick on just poor Iota here, but I've always taken issue with this "example". The couplet "The air is heavy, heavy as a truck/Need the rain to wash away our bad luck" is a touch weak, but it's not this lyrical disaster either. The rest of the song is so masterfully written, that it seems people ignore the good for this one semi-weak spot. The opening lines of:

The sea it swells like a sore head
And the night it is aching
Two lovers lie with no sheets on their bed
And the day it is breaking

are fascinating to me. The concept of an "aching night" is a powerful metaphor. Just brilliant.

I'm not some mega-fan of this song. I just think this "heavy as a truck" line is a horrible example when people argue about "weak lyrics". Need I remind anyone of:

Baby, baby, baby...light my way
Oh, come on...
Baby, baby, baby...light my way

Oooh...ultraviolet...
Oooh...ultraviolet...
Oooh...ultraviolet...
Oooh...ultraviolet...

Baby, baby, baby...
Baby, baby, baby...
Baby, baby, baby...light my way

Baby, baby, baby...
Baby, baby, baby...
Baby, baby, baby...light my way

Baby, baby, baby...
Baby, baby, baby...light my way

 

[ozeeko]

Come on, you can't take "baby,baby,baby, light my way" too seriously as a lyric. It's supposed to be throwaway.

It's like picking on the "doo-doo-doo-doos" in Sweetest Thing, or the "Hey hey sha la la"s from Wild Horses.

"You know you're chewing bubblegum" is a deceptively simple lyric. It goes much deeper than the physical act of chewing gum.

"Heavy as a truck" while being weak, doesn't derail the song or anything. Would work better if it was "heavy as a drug"...just slightly better I guess. I agree the first stanza in the song is great, one of Bono's best 00's moments as a writer.

I think Some Days only has a couple clunkers (sight of a puppy, bit of a baby) but the rest of the lyrics are strangely thought-provoking: "Some days are bouncers that won't let you in", and at times funny "skin is white but you think you're a brother".

While WOWY isn't the great piece of poetry ever written, it does, like most JT and AB songs, avoid obvious embarrassing lyrics. I'd much rather have "you give it all but i want more" over "they twinkle as the boys play rock and roll".

 

[AGirlLikeTheSea]

If I have to complain about the dude's lyrics it has to be that he loves the word "love" too much for my taste. It's kind of strange that I'm a fan because his lyrics differs a lot from the usual lyrics I like, I'm also listening to Sparks and Morrissey who's lyrics cracks me up because of their pessimistic and cynical humour. Also Bowie has written some disturbing stuff (no surprise since his nose were filled with stuff).

There's not really much from Bono that makes me cringe, as an atheist I struggle a bit though.

There is one lyric I can't stand:

Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace...
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that, changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma, karma
She travels outside... of karma

When she goes to work, you can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace...
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings...
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty in everything

 

[UAME]

If I have to complain about the dude's lyrics it has to be that he loves the word "love" too much for my taste. It's kind of strange that I'm a fan because his lyrics differs a lot from the usual lyrics I like, I'm also listening to Sparks and Morrissey who's lyrics cracks me up because of their pessimistic and cynical humour. Also Bowie has written some disturbing stuff (no surprise since his nose were filled with stuff).

There's not really much from Bono that makes me cringe, as an atheist I struggle a bit though.

Being an atheist, you might not care to hear this, but if you review the band's catalogue from the past 3+ decades, you will see a recurring theme of the word "love" used in places that could just as easily be "God." This is founded in the Christian idea that God is Love. It's a pretty transparent way for Bono & the boys to construct their hymns so that they are less overt, yet maintain the spirit of worship. It's not like a secret decoder ring that you should use 100% of the time, but if you substitute "God" in songs where you hear the wording of "love," the meaning takes on a different dimension.

 

[AGirlLikeTheSea]

Being an atheist, you might not care to hear this, but if you review the band's catalogue from the past 3+ decades, you will see a recurring theme of the word "love" used in places that could just as easily be "God." This is founded in the Christian idea that God is Love. It's a pretty transparent way for Bono & the boys to construct their hymns so that they are less overt, yet maintain the spirit of worship. It's not like a secret decoder ring that you should use 100% of the time, but if you substitute "God" in songs where you hear the wording of "love," the meaning takes on a different dimension.

Yes I know, I've been listening to U2 since 1992 and reading through the lyrics it was early obvious to me that Bono is a Christian and his use of the word "Love" mean also God. Also some of their arrangements and choice of instruments reminds me hymns/gospels. I do think they handle this theme tastefully and often cleverly, Until the End of the World being one of my favourite examples of subtle, non-converting, non-preachy lyrics.
I've read that some Christians U2 fans appreciate that the lyrics are not solely Hallelujah doing nothing but praise but also question God/Jesus and religious institutions.

 

[UAME]

Yes I know, I've been listening to U2 since 1992 and reading through the lyrics it was early obvious to me that Bono is a Christian and his use of the word "Love" mean also God. Also some of their arrangements and choice of instruments reminds me hymns/gospels. I do think they handle this theme tastefully and often cleverly, Until the End of the World being one of my favourite examples of subtle, non-converting, non-preachy lyrics.
I've read that some Christians U2 fans appreciate that the lyrics are not solely Hallelujah doing nothing but praise but also question God/Jesus and religious institutions.

Absolutely. As CS Lewis (a former atheist who became one of the most gifted Christian apologetics of modern times) wrote: Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable; but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.

Bono is able to capture the essence of these moods in a very real way. It is this vein of honesty that so many Christians like myself appreciate in U2's music.

 

[AGirlLikeTheSea]

Absolutely. As CS Lewis (a former atheist who became one of the most gifted Christian apologetics of modern times) wrote: Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable; but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.

Bono is able to capture the essence of these moods in a very real way. It is this vein of honesty that so many Christians like myself appreciate in U2's music.

The last sentence of the CS Lewis quote makes me think of an agnostic, not a atheist really.
Of what I read Bono seems to me that he is what we in Norway calls a private Christian, he doesn't belong to a church or call himself religious. U2 isn't a band a I think of as a religious group because even-though they refer to the bible and Christ I can't find any proclaims.

Apropos many of those who dislike Bono says it's because his preachy but it must be to overly sensitive minds.

This makes me think of a line in the Cedars of Lebanon lyric I'm fond of: "Choose your enemies carefully ‘cos they will define you"