each new song's lyrics written from a fictional character's perspective

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LyricalDrug

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Whoah, cool:

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Exclusive: 'Boring' Bono admits new U2 album needed a twist

-Jan 10 2009, dailyrecord.co.uk
-by Beverley Lyons and Laura Sutherland

MANY people have been saying it for years, but we never thought we'd see the day Bono admitted he's even bored of himself.

The Dublin-born shade-wearing, anti-poverty campaigner, activist and musician reckons it's a bit of a drag always being himself.

So for his new album he decided to become someone else - just like Beyonce did on her latest release and alter-ego Sasha Fierce.

Bono, 42, [sic] admitted: "I'm bored of Bono and I am him - I'm sick of me."

So he has written all the tracks for their new album, No Line On The Horizon, through the eyes of fictional characters.

Bono added: "I felt it was a little limiting to be in the first person."

One of his characters is a war correspondent in the song Cedars Of Lebanon.

The decision to add a fresh approach to songwriting seems to follow a promise Bono made years ago that U2 would always keep things fresh and exciting.

He said: "There's a certain contour that's expected of a band or an artist. You do your best work early on in your life, and then you kind of burn out.

"With our band, it doesn't feel like we're burning out. And if you were a photographer, or a screenwriter, or a poet, or a film maker, you might just be getting the hang of it. But a lot of rock 'n' roll bands have burned out by our age. And I'm not buying into that."

The new offering is out on March 3 and is already getting rave reviews from critics like Rolling Stone, which called the lead single Get Your Boots On a 'blazing, fuzzed-out rocker' reminiscent of Vertigo from 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

Another track, Magnificent, is described as an instant U2 anthem, and Moment Of Surrender, a sevenminute cut 'merging a Joshua Tree-style gospel feel with a hypnotically loping bassline and a syncopated beat.' The album comes in five different versions, including a two-disc vinyl edition and box set.

The band also told Q magazine that they always wanted to step into the world of musicals, having recently had their dreams realised by writing tunes for the stage version of Spider-Man.

The Edge said: "We've always harboured this sneaky ambition that one day we might try our hand in that area." The show is planned before the end of the year, possibly on Broadway.

Bono may be sick of himself, but it hasn't stopped him taking a job as columnist on The New York Times. Beginning this Sunday, the occasional column will appear on The New York Times Op-Ed page and online at nytimes.com/opinion and will cover a broad range of subjects.

He will also do a podcast of his first column. Bono said: "What an honour. I've never been great with the full stops or commas. Let's see how far we can take this."
 
That's actually supremely cool.

NLOTH is the fourth classic. It's on the books as far as I'm concerned.

Eno's called it "devastatingly brilliant" and the best ever, Edge said it might be the best ever, Bono's writing in the third person, every Beach Clip rocked...

if the first single rocks, it's a done deal.

On. The. Books.
 
He said: "There's a certain contour that's expected of a band or an artist. You do your best work early on in your life, and then you kind of burn out.

"With our band, it doesn't feel like we're burning out. And if you were a photographer, or a screenwriter, or a poet, or a film maker, you might just be getting the hang of it. But a lot of rock 'n' roll bands have burned out by our age. And I'm not buying into that."

:doh: Now now, let's not start with the self hype again, Bono!

But the idea of characters for each song sounds interesting. :up:
 
hmm. Thanks for sharing this, but I don't think it's true that each song is written as a fictional character. It might be, but it seems like this article just spewed up all of the recent articles about No Line on the Horizon and slapped it together.
 
I got the impression from the other write-ups that this was only for a few songs.
Which seems a lot more likely, IMO.

But if it's every song, that will work.

I just want to hear a proper fucking song.
 
hmm. Thanks for sharing this, but I don't think it's true that each song is written as a fictional character. It might be, but it seems like this article just spewed up all of the recent articles about No Line on the Horizon and slapped it together.

It appears that way on the Space Moon as well?

Meaning the Moon in Space, not the one that is not.
 
It appears that way on the Space Moon as well?

Meaning the Moon in Space, not the one that is not.

This is the way Space Moon sees this article, or how the article is written and received on Space Moon.

Either way, the sentiment is echoed that I just want some fucking songs. And that should happen this week. Alright.

Hopefully U2 will Space Moon it, bro.
 
That's actually supremely cool.

NLOTH is the fourth classic. It's on the books as far as I'm concerned.

Eno's called it "devastatingly brilliant" and the best ever, Edge said it might be the best ever, Bono's writing in the third person, every Beach Clip rocked...

if the first single rocks, it's a done deal.

On. The. Books.

If Eno calls it "devastatingly brilliant" and best ever, THEN NLOTH should be the FIFTH classic, after Passengers. ;)
 
Thank you for sharing the article, but I fear this is "Q" & "RS" cooked again, with no new primal source ...A kind of conclusion, that the journalists did – as we did and do here on the forum ...:drool:
 
Yeah, it regurgitates a few other articles, but more importantly, it also adds a few new quotes, and the claim that all -- not just a few -- of the songs are written from a fictional character's perspective.
 
Sounds a little like what they tried with Passengers; rather than songs for sountracks to movies that didn't exist, these are songs from the perspective of characters that could have been wandering the world with Bono on his adventures.

Except this time, the experiment's got one foot in the reality of the mass market, the other in dreamland. That reminds me of AB, and I have high hopes for this release.
 
I'm all for a change in lyrical direction.:hyper:

And, this goes without saying, but the U2 camp always feels that every album they make is the best they've ever done.
 
Yeah, it regurgitates a few other articles, but more importantly, it also adds a few new quotes, and the claim that all -- not just a few -- of the songs are written from a fictional character's perspective.

Yes, but that is more than likely just the journalist's interpretation of the other articles. I follow the online news on the band quite a bit and it is like the game of grapevine that little kids play in school. Ever rewrite puts in some twist that usually is due to misreading or misinterpreting the previous stories or emphasizing different parts of the story. I doubt that this was based on any direct source from the band.

Dana
 
If this is true... wow... I'm excited for the new album. I was really hoping for a cool new lyrical direction, in the same way that AB branched out from the 80s lyrics. Let's hope it adds up to a good emotional whole as an album, though, like AB.

Actually, it's kind of making me think 'Quadrophenia'.
 
Yes, but that is more than likely just the journalist's interpretation of the other articles. I follow the online news on the band quite a bit and it is like the game of grapevine that little kids play in school. Ever rewrite puts in some twist that usually is due to misreading or misinterpreting the previous stories or emphasizing different parts of the story. I doubt that this was based on any direct source from the band.

Dana

I echo this sentiment. Journalism requires an angle or an emphasis, and if a journalist sees a quote saying that Bono's bored of himself, and another saying that a few songs have 3rd person lyrics, its easy to write an article like this, saying that everything is in 3rd person and using an "insert quote here" approach.

It was much the same when the album was postponed... many outside sources jumped to the conclusion that they scrapped everything from the Lanois/Eno Fez sessions just because Edge said, and I paraphrase, "now it's time for us to get serious..." Obviously he was saying that they were taking what they'd done and were in the process of putting it toward a new album effort... it's easy for these journalists to get carried away with quote-spinning.
 
If this is true... wow... I'm excited for the new album. I was really hoping for a cool new lyrical direction, in the same way that AB branched out from the 80s lyrics. Let's hope it adds up to a good emotional whole as an album, though, like AB.

Actually, it's kind of making me think 'Quadrophenia'.

It's great that Bono's taking risks and trying something he's never done before. :yes:
 
Sounds like a cool idea to me, but let's remember, fictional characters can backfire.

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