Vertigo: Book of Matthew!

[swissair135]

Vertigo is such an amazing spiritual song (contrary to popular belief).

In Matthew 4:9 Satan says "All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me".

Matthew 4 talks about how Satan tempted Jesus in the desert. The Vertigo video shows U2 in the desert.

Despite being tempted, the redemption part of this song satisfies all."Your love is teaching me how to kneel"

What an amazing song!

Mark

 

[swissair135]

*bump*

 

[bonosloveslave]

I picked up on this as well

 

[BostonAnne]

That's great Mark! Something else I noticed in Matthew - but not sure if it's been discussed already:

Matthew 1:17

1) all of the generations from Abraham to David are 14
2) from David until the carrying away into Babylon - 14
3) from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14

Unos dos tres catorce!

 

[scottyT]

dude that's pretty random and interesting Boston.

 

[SWlondnr]

Yeah U2 have always given fans cryptic/subtle clues about religion
You know the airport sign on the ATYCLB cover "J 33-3" telling people to read Jeremiah 33:3

 

[BostonAnne]

dude that's pretty random and interesting Boston.

Why thank you. I think.

 

[*sofia*]

On the lyrics you´re probably right, as you all know Bono has used the Bible as an inspiration even when he was in highschool.. But the desert-thing doesn´t necessarily mean anything religious--or then it does.
So many U2 songs can be understood in so many ways, one song can be about God/drugs/sex/politics and it all depends how you feel the lyrics yourself. And that´s what I love about Bono´s lyrics. In a couple of songs, I´ve recently discovered some new meanings in the lyrics that have never occured to me, but now when I think about it, it´s almost obvious. The man is an artist with words.

"all our songs are about God or women. And very often we get the two mixed up." -Bono

 

[Klink]

That's true, sofia. The beauty of U2's music is that most of it can be interpreted by the listner who can draw his/her own meaning from it. I wish to point out that Vertigo, while certainly written with Biblical lyrical inspiration, is not necessarily about religion. There's a difference between using the bible as a lyrical inspiration and writing about the bible. Even these songs, while depicted with biblical lyrics, often have real life events as backdrops.

If you consider U2 since The Joshua, their music declined in religious profession and took on a more critical, post-modern form (ie. Zoo Station). I think ATYCLB was a little more religious than the previous three, but I think the lyrics of Vertigo actually undermine concrete beliefs in a lot of ways. Consider the song's title..."Vertigo". It would be really tough to argue that a song who's title implies uncertainty and confusion actually professes a self-righteous, concrete belief. To me, if Bono's saying anything religious in this song, I think he's talking about his personal choice to believe, despite the confusion produced by the debate around God's existence.

"Hello Hello I'm at a place called vertigo" -confusion produced by the debate?

"It's everything I wish I didn't know" - The arguments against the existence of God.

"But you give me something I can feel" - Maybe Bono feels Jesus' presence so despite his inner confusion, he's professing his will to believe.

Of course, these lines all have 2 or 3 other conceivable interpretations, political and social.

I happen to think Vertigo is a political song in one way, meant to relax people about their beliefs, both political and social. Given that knowledge is a tricky thing, simple right and wrong statements are dangerous and maybe not a simple as the speaker believes. Thus to me, Bono is trying to get across the message that we shouldn't be so self-righteous and sure of ourselves even if we make certain choices. I also think it's partly meant to undermine the fundamentalist Christian movement in the US, whose actions and concrete beliefs have long been a target of U2s criticism. This would, in fact, be consistent with the theme of the album, because some other songs like fast cars and Crumbs carry similar messages.

I don't disagree with any of the interpretations presented so far but I think Vertigo is a very complex song that cannot be reduced down to one element. I feel the post-modern remnants from the good old Achtung days.

Jon

 

[swissair135]

Jon,

You make a good case.

But I would tend to side with the view, that "sin" of temptation, is what Bono describes as Vertigo.

1.) "though your soul, it can't be bought, your mind can wander"

-Postmodernism in itself, can you distance your relantionship with god.

2.) " can sell the beats, I'm asking for the check"

-Temptation of money

3.) "the girl with crimson nails has Jesus around her neck"

-Temptation of Lust

4.) "All of this can be yours, just gimme want a want and no one gets hurt"

-Believing in Satan's ways. This lyrical part, is too close for coincidence. This lyrical part, pretty much is, what satan tells Jesus in the desert.. in the famous temptation scene.


5.) "Its everything I wish I didnt know, but you give me something I can feel"

-pretty self-explanatory.

In the HTDAAB, there are a lot of "yous",

You in ABOY
You in Crums
You in Original of the species
You in Fast Cars

Who is this "you"..

In response to Sofia

"But the desert-thing doesn´t necessarily mean anything religious--or then it does."

-Well its hard to know 100%. Thats the beauty of U2. They are one of the only bands that mix sexual, intellectual, and religious innuendos, in one song.

Frankly, I think its amazing.

Their songs are so complex, that it really takes a lot of investigation and scrutiny to come close to the real meaning.

 

[boriel]

i found this quote from Bono about Vertigo and thought it was quite interesting..its from U2.com

Bono

'Fear, paranoia, these are the type of things we wanted from 'Vertigo'. The album ends in quite an ecstatic place and, so we wanted to start off with a little bit of electric shock treatment. It's a club maybe, and you're supposed to be having the time of your life, but you want to kill yourself (laughs)….it's a light little ditty. These are nervous times, they really are, you turn on the news, you think 'Wow, who's next? My brother, my sister, my uncle, my aunt …nervous times.'
'It's a dizzy feeling, vertigo, a sort of sick feeling, when you get up to the top of something and there's only one way to go - that's not a dictionary definition, that's mine. And in my head I create a club, called Vertigo, with all these people in it, and the music is just not the music you want to hear, the people are not the people you want to be with. And then you just see somebody, she's got a cross round her neck, and you kind of focus on it because you can't focus on anything else, and you find a little, tiny, fragment of salvation there.'

i like his idea of going from Vertigo to Yahweh - from a dark place to an ecstatic place. And the bit: All of this, all of this can be yours...instantly reminded me of Christ and being tempted by Satan in the desert as well, and when i saw the video (in the desert) and that particular part played, it was pretty cool. The vertigo rings climb high above the band's heads and block the light from the sky....then they all crash, and Bono drops to his knees. i think this album is one of the most spiritual since the early years.