The greatest moment on SOE

[J_Frank_Parnell]

The Little Things ... every second of it.
"When all you've left is leaving. And all you've got is grieving ..." section of 13. That one stings, but beautifully.
"I will win and call it losing if the prize is not for you"- Landlady, that whole bit really
Nooooo-oh-oh-oh-oooo. Red Flag Day.
If the moonlight ... Love is Bigger
Chorus of Lights of Home

 

[hasin73]

Little Things.......... even my wife, who is not into U2 , said today that this is an amazing song !!!

 

[Fumbleitis]

First half of Book of Your Heart- Bono's low register and Edge's haunting guitar- sheer beauty.

Little Things gets better every time I hear it.

 

[wolbersu2]

The last chorus of 13.... with the haunting backing vocals....

 

[RoKKeR]

2nd half of Little Things, no contest.

 

[kiwilad]

The highest point I think is the Killiney Bay line. Like heaven dropping down into my ears.
But Little Things from 'sometimes' onwards... yeah.
Landlady...
Some of those verses in 13
Strings version of Lights of Home ... all of it.
Some really high highs on this one!

 

[Montrose]

Killiney Bay.

You know how SOE is full of callbacks and 're-purposed' parts of SOI?

'Free yourself to be yourself', "13", 'you are rock 'n roll', and all that?

When you hear those parts, you're reminded of the original songs. Those 'interpolations' as they're sometimes known, they sometimes pull you out of the current tune, make you want to go back and compare it to the original, see what's the same, what's changed, which you liked better.

When I first heard Love is Bigger break out into the Killiney Bay line, my first gut response was, "Wow. This is perfect, just perfect. It fits right it, like it's always been there, but new, and lovely and.."

And I almost felt that it could have been pulled from some other, older, perfect song U2 wrote in the past, but nope.. it's sitting right there, a shining new gem of a song.

I remember how U2 once (if we want to go back to the 'evolution of their creative process.. I don't think we do) described their writing process of sort of getting together, jamming ideas out, and *listening* for the songs to emerge. The feeling was that the songs were out there, and U2 were sort of archaeologists, with their instruments being their digging tools. They'd chip and shovel and dust away in their improvisational sessions, and look for the bones of songs to appear, and then 'god' - I guess they're creationists in that respect - would walk through the room and they'd suddenly get a vision of what the final version would be of the song they just unearthed. Then they'd try to capture it on tape with their producers.

Since U2 moved to challenge themselves to a more traditional song-writing approach, you could sort of feel the songs became more constructed than unearthed. There were blueprints and schematics, then the building materials and assembly. Beautiful songs, but you got fewer of those moments where I''d listen to a new U2 song and think, "Wow, how'd they come up with that.. it's like it was always there. I'm surprised it hadn't been written already."

The Killiney Bay section of Love is Bigger - and I'm tempted to say the whole song - feels a lot more like god walked through the room for them one more time.

 

[Iggy Fizz]

If you listen you can hear the silence say
When you think you’re done, you’ve just begun.

that's a wow moment.

 

[kiwilad]

Killiney Bay.

You know how SOE is full of callbacks and 're-purposed' parts of SOI?

'Free yourself to be yourself', "13", 'you are rock 'n roll', and all that?

When you hear those parts, you're reminded of the original songs. Those 'interpolations' as they're sometimes known, they sometimes pull you out of the current tune, make you want to go back and compare it to the original, see what's the same, what's changed, which you liked better.

When I first heard Love is Bigger break out into the Killiney Bay line, my first gut response was, "Wow. This is perfect, just perfect. It fits right it, like it's always been there, but new, and lovely and.."

And I almost felt that it could have been pulled from some other, older, perfect song U2 wrote in the past, but nope.. it's sitting right there, a shining new gem of a song.

I remember how U2 once (if we want to go back to the 'evolution of their creative process.. I don't think we do) described their writing process of sort of getting together, jamming ideas out, and *listening* for the songs to emerge. The feeling was that the songs were out there, and U2 were sort of archaeologists, with their instruments being their digging tools. They'd chip and shovel and dust away in their improvisational sessions, and look for the bones of songs to appear, and then 'god' - I guess they're creationists in that respect - would walk through the room and they'd suddenly get a vision of what the final version would be of the song they just unearthed. Then they'd try to capture it on tape with their producers.

Since U2 moved to challenge themselves to a more traditional song-writing approach, you could sort of feel the songs became more constructed than unearthed. There were blueprints and schematics, then the building materials and assembly. Beautiful songs, but you got fewer of those moments where I''d listen to a new U2 song and think, "Wow, how'd they come up with that.. it's like it was always there. I'm surprised it hadn't been written already."

The Killiney Bay section of Love is Bigger - and I'm tempted to say the whole song - feels a lot more like god walked through the room for them one more time.

That's a beautifully written post

 

[youarenotimmune]

Killiney Bay. Bono likes talking about joy being impossible to contrive, and how rarely it is found in music. This is one of those rare moments. So, so powerful.

 

[chrissybaby]

Little Things: "Sometimes..."
Book of Your Heart: The whole atmosphere of that song is wonderful.
Landlady: Last versa/coda.
Red Flag Day: "NO!!!!", but the whole rhythm section throughout is amazing.

And one that nobody has mentioned yet:

Love Is All We Have Left: Vocodered telescope line, love it. So beautiful.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

My favorite part of Red Flag Day is actually after the Noooo part that everyone seems to love... the final chorus, into the ending... has that 80s / Police like swagger to it.

 

[Aardvark747]

My favorite part of Red Flag Day is actually after the Noooo part that everyone seems to love... the final chorus, into the ending... has that 80s / Police like swagger to it.

Agree! Looking forward to that bit live.

Aside from that, the whole of Love Is Bigger

 

[dismantlemyfly]

It's a toss up between all of Little Things and the whole guitar solo of Lights of Home (either version).

 

[ImOuttaControl]

And one that nobody has mentioned yet:

Love Is All We Have Left: Vocodered telescope line, love it. So beautiful.

I mentioned that as one of the highlights on the previous page. I agree, it is a beautiful bridge to a beautiful song.

 

[YBORCITY]

For me it's the whole part of Little Things that starts with sometimes. It's everything about my life since last September distilled into lyrics.

This times 100.... Looks like we both have our struggles

Very close second "Every Dawn That Woke Me...." Heck the whole outro to LandLAdy

 

[chrissybaby]

I mentioned that as one of the highlights on the previous page. I agree, it is a beautiful bridge to a beautiful song.

[emoji106]

 

[TheGeekyU2Fan]

Lights of Home (String Version) leading into Bono's first "Hey Now!"

Yes.

 

[AtomicHorizon]

• Love is All to start the album
• Lights of Home, the strings before the "Hey now" and in general
• Edge's part of Best Thing
• Edge's harmonies in Get Out plus the catchy chorus
• Red Flag Day's "No" bridge
• The Showman's chorus, pure joy despite questionable grammar
• Little Things from the "Sometimes" section
• Landlady's "Every" section
• The Blackout's atmosphere plus bridge
• Love is Bigger bridge and overall just pure joy
• 13's "I know the world is done, but you don't have to be"

 

[thisWillPass]

• Love is All to start the album
• Lights of Home, the strings before the "Hey now" and in general
• Edge's part of Best Thing
• Edge's harmonies in Get Out plus the catchy chorus
• Red Flag Day's "No" bridge
• The Showman's chorus, pure joy despite questionable grammar
• Little Things from the "Sometimes" section
• Landlady's "Every" section
• The Blackout's atmosphere plus bridge
• Love is Bigger bridge and overall just pure joy
• 13's "I know the world is done, but you don't have to be"

I did see an interview in which Bono said the lyrics were incorrect in the liner notes - apparently its "I know the world is dumb" a opposed to "done". minor detail, given they both work

 

[ChurchBay]

The sparkling guitar in the first verse of Little Things.

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

The "free yourself" gospel ending of Lights of home.

That must be one of my worst moment of SOE... can t stand it

 

[ChurchBay]

That must be one of my worst moment of SOE... can t stand it

Bollocks!

 

[gvox]

Really glad to see Love Is Bigger and Landlady getting the respect for the magic they truly are.

Killiney Bay moment is one the band should be ultra proud of. Can’t wait to hear it live.

 

[An Cat Gav]

That must be one of my worst moment of SOE... can t stand it

I agree, it's a bit too much of a slogan for my tastes, I don't think the song really needs it either.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I think there are a few songs here that could well be up there with some of U2's finest. I'm thinking of Love is All We Have Left, Red Flag Day, Summer Of Love and Landlady.

Book Of Your Heart is still my favourite tune to emerge from SOE, such a shame it wasn't included instead of AS.

 

[womanfish]

I agree, it's a bit too much of a slogan for my tastes, I don't think the song really needs it either.

While i do think it is a bit too much of a departure from the main part of the song, and is the weaker section for me, i do think that the lyric itself is important, as the song, being about Bono dealing with death and his mortality and then echoing back to Iris which is of course of about the death of his mother. Well thought out, but i think could have been better executed musically.

 

[Rachel D.]

While i do think it is a bit too much of a departure from the main part of the song, and is the weaker section for me, i do think that the lyric itself is important, as the song, being about Bono dealing with death and his mortality and then echoing back to Iris which is of course of about the death of his mother. Well thought out, but i think could have been better executed musically.

When I read the liner notes, I got the impression that the phrase "free yourself to be yourself" has some major significance for Bono. If I remember right, he said something about that phrase coming to him in a moment of despair, from "the still, small voice."

 

[The John Tree]

I have to agree with the general consensus here: the finales of Little Things and Landlady.

I also love Bono's falsetto before the Landlady finale, complemented by Edge's guitar lick.

 

[An Cat Gav]

That must be one of my worst moment of SOE... can t stand it

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