HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
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By annj
Director- Wim Wenders
Producer -Debbie Mason
1993
U2?s videos relay perceptions of the band's music for our eyes to feast on. They can be great talking points for discussion, conjuring up a spectrum of reactions and responses from viewers. This column takes a look at some of U2's videos, analyzing the visual, lyrical and historical context of each to glean a better understanding of what these small films are communicating.
This installment is dedicated to "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" from ?Zooropa.? This video stands out for me because unlike so many others from U2's catalog where the songs come first for me and the video is secondary, in this case it was the video that brought the song to my attention. The first time I saw the clip for "Stay," I was easily drawn to the images before my eyes.
The video and song are connected with Wim Wenders? 1987 film ?Wings of Desire,? with a plot centering on angels in trench coats who attempt to give solace to world-weary souls in war torn Berlin; a city U2 became familiar with after recording part of ?Achtung Baby? there in 1991 just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which gives the video added significance. Understanding the film?s theme of angels helps us to contextually unite it with the video of ?Stay.? Wenders and U2 have collaborated many times, and this video or short movie is a fine example of how well they work together. So much so that the song was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Original Song for Motion Picture from the film of the same name. According to U2.com, the final soundtrack version of ?Stay,? ?contained extra ad-libs and a few extra lines, plus a remixed instrumental track.?
(Image: U2.com)
Like ?Wings of Desire? which was shot in both black and white and color, ?Stay? opens with crisp, clear black and white shots of the members of U2 with passengers on a public transportation bus in Berlin. The opening moments of the song blend so well with the movement of the video, I could just picture sitting in a bus feeling a little weary after a tiring day and the music with Bono's mellow intonations as his singing just fits right in. Another notable observation is that ?Stay? seems to show the members of U2 in what could be considered their first acting role as angels observing humans on the bus, such as Edge playing with the tiny musical toy and listening to it with an expression of fascination, an action carried on throughout the video.
The next scene picks up at a shack or warehouse where a group of young musicians are practicing. We see the members of U2 with them there and decide to go in to investigate the jam session. I love that you see the unknown band and the members of U2 joining them -- Larry picking up the drumstick and beating in time with the drummer, Edge with the guitar player tuning it up as he is playing, Adam watching over the bass player, Bono singing along with the female singer; you can feel the connection there, though they are not visible to the unknown band, they are urging them on and encouraging them, their guardian angels who have an interest in their music.
Through the video we see a shot of a large wingspan, as well as the other members of U2 sitting on the high statue of the angel. The panorama has a haunting beautiful quality about it that fits so well with the song (which is mainly about angels interacting with humans on earth, as in the Wenders film), and is also underlining what I believe is the song's central message of not giving up, that there are unseen forces there backing you up and helping you along. Upon further inspection of the lyrics, it is possible to infer that Bono might be singing in character as the fallen angel who is, "So close but faraway," deciding he wants to remain on earth so he can be with humans and become one of them, just like the character in ?Wings of Desire.?
This connection to the film's theme brings deeper meaning to both the lyrics, "And if you look/You look through me/And when you talk/You talk at me/And when I touch you/You don't feel a thing," and the video. As Bono sings these words you get a new understanding of the scene where he is standing next to the female singer of the unknown group, perhaps realising he wants to be seen and touched and feel as a human does and wishes to explore the gift of making music.
In ?Wings of Desire,? one of the angels falls in love with a woman and wishes to become mortal. At the end of the video, we see Bono leaping from the high statue to land on the ground in the middle of the road with the words, "Just the bang and the clatter/As an angel hits the ground." The exuberance of his new mortality shows as he happily runs off down the road to his new human life on earth and perhaps as a brilliant musician.
By annj
Director- Wim Wenders
Producer -Debbie Mason
1993
U2?s videos relay perceptions of the band's music for our eyes to feast on. They can be great talking points for discussion, conjuring up a spectrum of reactions and responses from viewers. This column takes a look at some of U2's videos, analyzing the visual, lyrical and historical context of each to glean a better understanding of what these small films are communicating.
This installment is dedicated to "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" from ?Zooropa.? This video stands out for me because unlike so many others from U2's catalog where the songs come first for me and the video is secondary, in this case it was the video that brought the song to my attention. The first time I saw the clip for "Stay," I was easily drawn to the images before my eyes.
The video and song are connected with Wim Wenders? 1987 film ?Wings of Desire,? with a plot centering on angels in trench coats who attempt to give solace to world-weary souls in war torn Berlin; a city U2 became familiar with after recording part of ?Achtung Baby? there in 1991 just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which gives the video added significance. Understanding the film?s theme of angels helps us to contextually unite it with the video of ?Stay.? Wenders and U2 have collaborated many times, and this video or short movie is a fine example of how well they work together. So much so that the song was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Original Song for Motion Picture from the film of the same name. According to U2.com, the final soundtrack version of ?Stay,? ?contained extra ad-libs and a few extra lines, plus a remixed instrumental track.?
(Image: U2.com)
Like ?Wings of Desire? which was shot in both black and white and color, ?Stay? opens with crisp, clear black and white shots of the members of U2 with passengers on a public transportation bus in Berlin. The opening moments of the song blend so well with the movement of the video, I could just picture sitting in a bus feeling a little weary after a tiring day and the music with Bono's mellow intonations as his singing just fits right in. Another notable observation is that ?Stay? seems to show the members of U2 in what could be considered their first acting role as angels observing humans on the bus, such as Edge playing with the tiny musical toy and listening to it with an expression of fascination, an action carried on throughout the video.
The next scene picks up at a shack or warehouse where a group of young musicians are practicing. We see the members of U2 with them there and decide to go in to investigate the jam session. I love that you see the unknown band and the members of U2 joining them -- Larry picking up the drumstick and beating in time with the drummer, Edge with the guitar player tuning it up as he is playing, Adam watching over the bass player, Bono singing along with the female singer; you can feel the connection there, though they are not visible to the unknown band, they are urging them on and encouraging them, their guardian angels who have an interest in their music.
Through the video we see a shot of a large wingspan, as well as the other members of U2 sitting on the high statue of the angel. The panorama has a haunting beautiful quality about it that fits so well with the song (which is mainly about angels interacting with humans on earth, as in the Wenders film), and is also underlining what I believe is the song's central message of not giving up, that there are unseen forces there backing you up and helping you along. Upon further inspection of the lyrics, it is possible to infer that Bono might be singing in character as the fallen angel who is, "So close but faraway," deciding he wants to remain on earth so he can be with humans and become one of them, just like the character in ?Wings of Desire.?
This connection to the film's theme brings deeper meaning to both the lyrics, "And if you look/You look through me/And when you talk/You talk at me/And when I touch you/You don't feel a thing," and the video. As Bono sings these words you get a new understanding of the scene where he is standing next to the female singer of the unknown group, perhaps realising he wants to be seen and touched and feel as a human does and wishes to explore the gift of making music.
In ?Wings of Desire,? one of the angels falls in love with a woman and wishes to become mortal. At the end of the video, we see Bono leaping from the high statue to land on the ground in the middle of the road with the words, "Just the bang and the clatter/As an angel hits the ground." The exuberance of his new mortality shows as he happily runs off down the road to his new human life on earth and perhaps as a brilliant musician.
Awesome video, maybe their best. It sure is the first where they act, I like the band moment too, it's all very interesting. The whole Zoo TV era was the most interesting of them all. I was younger and at peak as a U2 fan when I first watched that video and I was very impressed and it just hyphened my curiosity towards U2. At that time I was just coming out of a movie phase, I wanted to be a film director (still want a little bit), I had watched the film first so I was very excited that I recognized the characters of the film on the video and that Wenders dressed U2 as the angel characters. The last part where Bono is running with the armor under his arm and it shows two versions of the sky with a clearer sky and with a darker sky is perfect. 
