Iris (Hold Me Close) - Song Discussion

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The only thing that bothers me about Iris is not the Coldplay comparisons but the first few seconds of the song. It's ripped right from the Titanic soundtrack. Seriously, go watch the movie and you'll see it's the same ambient music they use repeatedly. :ohmy:
 
^ Oddly enough, when I heard the familiarity of the opening of the song, I immediately thought of Pure Reason Revolution!
 
gvox said:
What part is Chris Martin on, so I can skip it?

#ruined4me


Sent from my ass crack
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Really?

You would dislike a song cause of a vocal that you cant even make out who's singing in it.

I still cant make out chris martins bit,i thought it was just edge and bono
 
rennowba said:
Really?

You would dislike a song cause of a vocal that you cant even make out who's singing in it.

I still cant make out chris martins bit,i thought it was just edge and bono
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I wasn't being serious here. If you had seen my track ranking you'd see how much I like this song. Some vague background vocals that could have been sung by pretty much anyone won't actually ruin that for me.


Sent from my ass crack
 
still trying to get into it :reject: i don't know if it's the placement of the song in the record (I'm listening to the whole thing straight still as to me there isn't one BAD track on here), but it's still not doing that much for me.

Adam's bass playing on this record :drool::drool:
 
I thought of Titanic also that's funny. I love the intro though. The lyric and base remind me of Exit and Edge's playing sounds like Streets. The Iris part with the ooh oohs sounds like COBL (the only part of the song I don't love but its growing on me). Later in the song I get UV as others have mentioned. This is the most JT sounding song I can recall in the past 20 years but I'm sure I could be missing 1 or 2. The lyrics are so emotional, so powerful. I've listened 10 times or so and want to discover more. Deep layers comes to mind when thinking about this track. Best song on the album, should be 3rd on the track listing.
 
Nick66 said:
I haven't heard Ghost Stories.



Actually, I don't mind Coldplay at all either, and I'm fine with Martin being on the record. Just think it's kind of funny considering how they seem to be regarded around here.

Anyway, it's hardly surprising, we heard the Martin rumours from last year, so it makes sense. Besides, the whole record sounds like Coldplay anyway, right? :reject:
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i don't think Chris Martin is on the song? he's not mentioned in the notes at least (other additional vocals are)... i thought the quote was more the "coldplayers" :)eyebrow: LMFAO - twats!) making a snarky comment as they think it sounds like a coldplay song? (and how anyone could think Chris Martin and Bono sound remotely similar in any way is beyond me, and i actually love coldplay)
 
My only gripe with this song is that he shouldn't have tacked on the whole "free yourself be yourself" coda...just because the "it was not me" is so heart-wrenching, I feel like the song is so personal it doesn't need some sing-along at the end.
 
ozeeko said:
My only gripe with this song is that he shouldn't have tacked on the whole "free yourself be yourself" coda...just because the "it was not me" is so heart-wrenching, I feel like the song is so personal it doesn't need some sing-along at the end.
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That's exactly how I feel about 'a hear that is broken / is a heart that is open', but I really like this one...

I think it's because it's less 'platitude shout' and more 'platitude chant', but also because of the name 'Iris' in particular -- it's a very fanboy reading, I guess, but the 'if only you could see yourself' from the perspective of his mom, especially as her name is 'iris'... it really works for me. That idea of imagining yourself looked at by loving eyes, and that imagining bringing with it a sense of freedom to do what you really love, because that's what someone who loves you would want you to do, rather than do what any less loving pressure would have you do... it's a really affecting one for me, anyway.

It ties in with album themes too, I think... that creepy 'somebody stepped inside your soul... someone else was in control' chant is kind of a mirror image, I think, describing the terrors of the kind of 'possession' that comes from acting based on how you think you might look in the eyes of someone whose love you're less sure of...

long-winded and scattered, I guess, but it does work for me. Feels very U2 in the best way.
 
Gilead12 said:
That's exactly how I feel about 'a hear that is broken / is a heart that is open', but I really like this one...

I think it's because it's less 'platitude shout' and more 'platitude chant', but also because of the name 'Iris' in particular -- it's a very fanboy reading, I guess, but the 'if only you could see yourself' from the perspective of his mom, especially as her name is 'iris'... it really works for me. That idea of imagining yourself looked at by loving eyes, and that imagining bringing with it a sense of freedom to do what you really love, because that's what someone who loves you would want you to do, rather than do what any less loving pressure would have you do... it's a really affecting one for me, anyway.

It ties in with album themes too, I think... that creepy 'somebody stepped inside your soul... someone else was in control' chant is kind of a mirror image, I think, describing the terrors of the kind of 'possession' that comes from acting based on how you think you might look in the eyes of someone whose love you're less sure of...

long-winded and scattered, I guess, but it does work for me. Feels very U2 in the best way.
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Clever tie-in with the title, but I'm just going with the way it sounds in the end. I WANT the "it was not me...iris..iris..." to be the final word on the song. Silence after that means everything, it intensifies what came before. The coda just sounds like a happy hopefull hollywood ending, like the bigwigs at the movie studio didn't want to depress the audience too much.

Doesn't bother me as much in Cedarwood Road, maybe because I don't find the song as emotional, but yea it shouldn't be there either.
 
I agree with some of the other comments. This track strikes me as the counterpart to Ultraviolet, both lyrically and musically. Same ghosts in the beginning, but now, 25 years later, it's a light he can see.

Comparison's aside, it's a wonderful and subtly evocative song, crafted intentionally, I think, to close a chapter.
 
ozeeko said:
The coda just sounds like a happy hopefull hollywood ending, like the bigwigs at the movie studio didn't want to depress the audience too much
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I disagree I took the coda a different way. I think it's a perfect ending and it's quite depressing. Iris is saying "free yourself to be yourself" and Bono is saying "if only you could see yourself" It's him yearning for his mother to see what he's become.

I believe that is the true intention of the words. He also talks about a song they will do on the next album, The Crystal Ballroom which is all about how he wishes his mother could see what he became with U2
 
Dane-Dane said:
I disagree I took the coda a different way. I think it's a perfect ending and it's quite depressing. Iris is saying "free yourself to be yourself" and Bono is saying "if only you could see yourself" It's him yearning for his mother to see what he's become.

I believe that is the true intention of the words. He also talks about a song they will do on the next album, The Crystal Ballroom which is all about how he wishes his mother could see what he became with U2
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But I think he already established everything you're talking about without having to say that at the end. I'm just a fan of restraint. Not everything needs to be spelled out.
 
ozeeko said:
But I think he already established everything you're talking about without having to say that at the end. I'm just a fan of restraint. Not everything needs to be spelled out.
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Got ya but I don't think his intention is to spell anything out to the audience. I think it's a matter of freeing his own personal demons. It's something he probably needed to let go for himself. If you've lost a loved one, especially one that championed you, that sense of regret carries with you forever.
 
Are we perhaps reading a bit far into it?


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
Dane-Dane said:
Got ya but I don't think his intention is to spell anything out to the audience. I think it's a matter of freeing his own personal demons. It's something he probably needed to let go for himself. If you've lost a loved one, especially one that championed you, that sense of regret carries with you forever.
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I'm not disagreeing with anything you're saying regarding the devastating loss of a loved one...I'm just talking about the song and how it's executed. To me, after the "it was not me" line, nothing else needs to be said. That line says more to me than anything Bono has ever said about his true feelings about his mother's death. The coda just sounds like a typical U2 ending, and for me it breaks the spell and makes it too familiar.
 
ozeeko said:
Thank you. THought i was the only one.
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The thing is, I expect cheese from Bono now and again, and I've learnt to not let it bother me too much now. But in this case, given the deeply personal nature of the song, and given what comes right before (literally the most personal lyric Bono has ever written), it just feels completely out of place. I completely agree with you that ending it on, "Iris says that I will be the death of her, it was not me.....Iris, Iris..." would've been extremely powerful. It shouldn't have been followed by that fortune cookie lyric.
 
youarenotimmune said:
The thing is, I expect cheese from Bono now and again, and I've learnt to not let it bother me too much now. But in this case, given the deeply personal nature of the song, and given what comes right before (literally the most personal lyric Bono has ever written), it just feels completely out of place. I completely agree with you that ending it on, "Iris says that I will be the death of her, it was not me.....Iris, Iris..." would've been extremely powerful. It shouldn't have been followed by that fortune cookie lyric.
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Exactly. It is a really beautifully chilling ending without that part.
 
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