5 Of My Favorite Tunes

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MrBrau1 said:
In God's Country: The running acoustic intro, Edge's high pitch lead riff, Bono in fine voice. I love the imagery of the lyrics.
I feel like I'm in the American Southwest. Nice solo from Edge (how does he make his guitar sound like birds?)
Did anyone else notice Larry doesn't hit 1 cymbal in the tune? Just bass drum, snare drum, and floor tom. Weird in the good way.
Click to expand...

:up:

This song is quite possibly 2 minutes and 57 seconds of perfection. The intro alone is one of my favorite things they've ever done.
 
MrBrau1 said:
In God's Country: The running acoustic intro, Edge's high pitch lead riff, Bono in fine voice. I love the imagery of the lyrics.
I feel like I'm in the American Southwest. Nice solo from Edge (how does he make his guitar sound like birds?)
Did anyone else notice Larry doesn't hit 1 cymbal in the tune? Just bass drum, snare drum, and floor tom. Weird in the good way.
Click to expand...

Great post, I really did not notice that but awesome to point that out.

In God's Country I believe is very underrated around here. That song is just stunning. A short song, but the intro is just magnificent, and The Edge's solo is just perfection.

Of course many people have seen the Rattle and Hum version, but if you look closely, it's a difficult song to play, and the band members work very hard playing this song - just look at Larry!

Which is interesting, because it is such a short song - and a fantastic one at that - I was wondering why U2 doesn't play it live much anymore. And someone said that it is a hard song to play, and Bono doesn't like singing all those high notes. (I take it, it's one of those "Ultra-rare" live songs nowadays).

Either way, and exceptional song, and one of my favorites.
 
MrBrau1 said:
All Because Of You: U2 in full floorboard shaking mode. It starts in 5th gear, and never drops. Larry lays down that
Charlie Watts beat and Edge and Adam just drive like motherfuckers. It's Visceral. Bono's double track vocal and
the beat give the song a real 60's flavor, and I get 2 solos from Edge. The ambiguous lyric (God? Ali? Us?) makes it
all the more enjoyable.
Click to expand...


:up:
 
This thread has kept me busy reading for a couple of days now. You all give such great reasoning for your songs, it even made me look at some of the songs again and try and listen through your ears! I'm gonna work on my top five, and hopefully explain my love for them as eloquently as you.
 
PopDaisy said:
Pride- I always knew I loved this song, no matter how much grief Bono had been receiving recently for his vocals. But even I was surprised at my one concert this year to find major goosebumps popping up all over during its performance. Passion, respect, equality, it's amazing. It will never get old for me.
Click to expand...

Bono deserved grief about Pride during the Popmart and Elevation tours, it just sounded bad. But so far on the Vertigo tour it's been pretty great again.
 
When I look At The World

This is one of my favourite tunes of ATYCLB. It's basically because of the lyrics but I find the music itself quite good too... The guitar in the begining is captivating... and when the first verses come along it takes me to a new dimension and I imagine all the people that I admire and try to dedicate this song to them... It shows me that I still have a lot to learn from the others. But sometimes it just get difficult because "i can't see what you see".
Than there is one of those little guitar solos that only Edge knows how to do and then the explosion of "I can't wait any longer..."
 
Until The End Of The World: I used to fight with my brother about the intro. Was it a voice, or a guitar? I say it's a voice.
Anyhow, It's the perfect lead-in to those hand drums by Lanois. Larry and Adam are locked in, and that simple 1 chord riff
hits. It's a most even tempered U2 rock song, just riding that bass line that stretches your speakers, leading into each
signature riff. The vocal is understated, and I love the biblical reference in the lyric. Solo! Who doesn't love this solo? And
they end by jamming out with everyone showing off. A total powerhouse.
 
Hallelujah Here She Comes : Probably U2's 2nd most realised gospel experiment (next to ISHFWILF).
The joyous little ditty about death. Riding along on that acoustic strum and organ, it begs to be sung with.
Larry pounds the floor tom, and Edge plays some of the most restrained electric guitar under the whole thing.
The vocals bursts are great, reminding me very much of "Three Sunrises."
 
MrBrau1 said:
Until The End Of The World: I used to fight with my brother about the intro. Was it a voice, or a guitar? I say it's a voice.
Click to expand...

I think it's both. Voice=thru a guitar

I'll add 4 other songs later, seems everyone is covering the bases



Lemon-(probably fails the song) a description:

Bono walks the line between irony/parody and being absolutely heart breakingly sincere. His heart aches for his mother, he's not angry like Mofo, he's sentimental for her. His voice is magnificent, his words are the perfect balance between overwrought overemotional drivel and just some flippant lines that sound good when sung in melody on a "dance track".

"A man takes a picture, a moving picture, thru the light projected he can see himself up close, a man captures color, a man likes to stare, he turns his money into light to look for her."

If you know what it means, has Bono ever REALLY been better?
No. That verse is simply majestic. Perfect. It's not pretentious wordplay, it's elegant. The subject matter, the fact that Edge and Eno sing it as an offset to Bono's broken hearted narrarator, it is a perfect offset musically.

I would guess they didn't spend much time mastering the ideas, it just clicked, it worked like magic. You have to get lucky sometimes.

It was just parts of the whole experience. Yes, it's a sonic journey for a band like U2, but it's grounded in the very things that make them great, without cliche. No token Edge delay, or heavy Bonoisms, it's as outside of the box as you could expect w/o dropping the ball in some way.

Adam sounds as good on Lemon as just about anything else. Larry playing a very underrated part, complimenting the loops. Edge is minimalist, the main melody line is among U2's best, easily. The actual 'sound' of that melody is something they haven't tried since (thank goodness)and don't forget a gorgeous synth segment played probably by Eno.

All things conisdered, time and effort or objective, among many facets that makes songs either work or completely not, this is among U2's 10 best songs. Right in the middle of the 'chopping down of the Joshua Tree' and POPmart's supposed debacle, U2 made a song that really transcended their own intentions and their own conventions. I think they were going for something interesting sonically and thematically and they made magic, made it even better. In U2's catalog they have great and interesting sonic moments and then great, interesting thematic moments, but to blend them in a fairly simplistic, faux-dance number, just add more points to the awesome pile!!

I think this was just one of those situations where God not only walked thru the room, he stopped in and listened and then added something, whatever intangible it is that I can't articulate, that's what it is. Indescribable. It's the whole of the parts being better than the sum. It's magic and it's hard to get.

Live, Bono really brought it up a notch, the "midnight...." verses, he has simply never sounded better. Overall, the song isn't a incredible feat in terms of live musicianship, but if we are talking about songs, just songs that transcend, I think Lemon can hold it's own with almost anything else.

A lot to see in a song, maybe. But it's these moments in song, where you fall in love with not only the music, but the people making the music "they are capable of this?". I always already a big fan before Zooropa, after it I was long gone.

/End of my pathetic description
 
Last edited:
U2DMfan said:


I think it's both. Voice=thru a guitar

I'll add 4 other songs later, seems everyone is covering the bases



Lemon-(probably fails the song) a description:

Bono walks the line between irony/parody and being absolutely heart breakingly sincere. His heart aches for his mother, he's not angry like Mofo, he's sentimental for her. His voice is magnificent, his words are the perfect balance between overwrought overemotional drivel and just some flippant lines that sound good when sung in melody on a "dance track".

"A man takes a picture, a moving picture, thru the light projected he can see himself up close, a man captures color, a man likes to stare, he turns his money into light to look for her."

If you know what it means, has Bono ever REALLY been better?
No. That verse is simply majestic. Perfect. It's not pretentious wordplay, it's elegant. The subject matter, the fact that Edge and Eno sing it as an offset to Bono's broken hearted narrarator, it is a perfect offset musically.

I would guess they didn't spend much time mastering the ideas, it just clicked, it worked like magic. You have to get lucky sometimes.

It was just parts of the whole experience. Yes, it's a sonic journey for a band like U2, but it's grounded in the very things that make them great, without cliche. No token Edge delay, or heavy Bonoisms, it's as outside of the box as you could expect w/o dropping the ball in some way.

Adam sounds as good on Lemon as just about anything else. Larry playing a very underrated part, complimenting the loops. Edge is minimalist, the main melody line is among U2's best, easily. The actual 'sound' of that melody is something they haven't tried since (thank goodness)and don't forget a gorgeous synth segment played probably by Eno.

All things conisdered, time and effort or objective, among many facets that makes songs either work or completely not, this is among U2's 10 best songs. Right in the middle of the 'chopping down of the Joshua Tree' and POPmart's supposed debacle, U2 made a song that really transcended their own intentions and their own conventions. I think they were going for something interesting sonically and thematically and they made magic, made it even better. In U2's catalog they have great and interesting sonic moments and then great, interesting thematic moments, but to blend them in a fairly simplistic, faux-dance number, just add more points to the awesome pile!!

I think this was just one of those situations where God not only walked thru the room, he stopped in and listened and then added something, whatever intangible it is that I can't articulate, that's what it is. Indescribable. It's the whole of the parts being better than the sum. It's magic and it's hard to get.

Live, Bono really brought it up a notch, the "midnight...." verses, he has simply never sounded better. Overall, the song isn't a incredible feat in terms of live musicianship, but if we are talking about songs, just songs that transcend, I think Lemon can hold it's own with almost anything else.

A lot to see in a song, maybe. But it's these moments in song, where you fall in love with not only the music, but the people making the music "they are capable of this?". I always already a big fan before Zooropa, after it I was long gone.

/End of my pathetic description
Click to expand...

Whoa. Excellent. That just made me listen to Lemon.
 
Stay (Faraway, So Close!) : The Velvet Underground strum, the "almost walking" bass and stately beat,
Bono's voice big and reverbed out and we're off into the perfect U2 ballad. Things get really interesting in
the prechorus, where Edge's guitar shimmers and Bono cranks up the "emo." Then we fly. Edges guitar
sounds like silk. He's playing distorted riffs right to the edge of decay, and pulling them back, and the
vocal soars. The heavens sing in the background (very reminiscent of Drowning Man), as the song
hits an emotional peak. We get the nice ending from Larry to coincide with the vocal imagery.
 
MrBrau1 said:
Stay (Faraway, So Close!) : The Velvet Underground strum, the "almost walking" bass and stately beat,
Bono's voice big and reverbed out and we're off into the perfect U2 ballad. Things get really interesting in
the prechorus, where Edge's guitar shimmers and Bono cranks up the "emo." Then we fly. Edges guitar
sounds like silk. He's playing distorted riffs right to the edge of decay, and pulling them back, and the
vocal soars. The heavens sing in the background (very reminiscent of Drowning Man), as the song
hits an emotional peak. We get the nice ending from Larry to coincide with the vocal imagery.
Click to expand...

whoa:drool: that was most excellent :up:
 
MrBrau1 said:
Things get really interesting in
the prechorus, where Edge's guitar shimmers and Bono cranks up the "emo." Then we fly.
Click to expand...


Among their greatest musical achievements =
that Stay pre-chorus, awesomeness maximus!!

Funny thing, I was a little bored by the song for years, but I rediscovered it in the last 5. Love the atmospherics of that song, the reverb sounds exquisite, better than your normal reverb, somehow.

The guitar throughout Smile is reminiscent of that sound.
Maybe that's why I really like that song.
 
U2DMfan said:


I think it's both. Voice=thru a guitar

I'll add 4 other songs later, seems everyone is covering the bases



Lemon-(probably fails the song) a description:

Bono walks the line between irony/parody and being absolutely heart breakingly sincere. His heart aches for his mother, he's not angry like Mofo, he's sentimental for her. His voice is magnificent, his words are the perfect balance between overwrought overemotional drivel and just some flippant lines that sound good when sung in melody on a "dance track".

"A man takes a picture, a moving picture, thru the light projected he can see himself up close, a man captures color, a man likes to stare, he turns his money into light to look for her."

If you know what it means, has Bono ever REALLY been better?
No. That verse is simply majestic. Perfect. It's not pretentious wordplay, it's elegant. The subject matter, the fact that Edge and Eno sing it as an offset to Bono's broken hearted narrarator, it is a perfect offset musically.

I would guess they didn't spend much time mastering the ideas, it just clicked, it worked like magic. You have to get lucky sometimes.

It was just parts of the whole experience. Yes, it's a sonic journey for a band like U2, but it's grounded in the very things that make them great, without cliche. No token Edge delay, or heavy Bonoisms, it's as outside of the box as you could expect w/o dropping the ball in some way.

Adam sounds as good on Lemon as just about anything else. Larry playing a very underrated part, complimenting the loops. Edge is minimalist, the main melody line is among U2's best, easily. The actual 'sound' of that melody is something they haven't tried since (thank goodness)and don't forget a gorgeous synth segment played probably by Eno.

All things conisdered, time and effort or objective, among many facets that makes songs either work or completely not, this is among U2's 10 best songs. Right in the middle of the 'chopping down of the Joshua Tree' and POPmart's supposed debacle, U2 made a song that really transcended their own intentions and their own conventions. I think they were going for something interesting sonically and thematically and they made magic, made it even better. In U2's catalog they have great and interesting sonic moments and then great, interesting thematic moments, but to blend them in a fairly simplistic, faux-dance number, just add more points to the awesome pile!!

I think this was just one of those situations where God not only walked thru the room, he stopped in and listened and then added something, whatever intangible it is that I can't articulate, that's what it is. Indescribable. It's the whole of the parts being better than the sum. It's magic and it's hard to get.

Live, Bono really brought it up a notch, the "midnight...." verses, he has simply never sounded better. Overall, the song isn't a incredible feat in terms of live musicianship, but if we are talking about songs, just songs that transcend, I think Lemon can hold it's own with almost anything else.

A lot to see in a song, maybe. But it's these moments in song, where you fall in love with not only the music, but the people making the music "they are capable of this?". I always already a big fan before Zooropa, after it I was long gone.

/End of my pathetic description
Click to expand...

:applaud: :
 
Exit

talk about allowing a song to breathe and build.
the crickets, some of the newer fans are annoyed by both the volume levels and the "crickets", in the sense of how the song builds.

Well folks, I am here to tell you that is exactly how that song should have been pulled off. It's supposed to be the song that reaches up and kicks you in the bizness.

Edge has never sounded more 'metal', more lunatic-fringe hard rock, and the bass line is simple, dramatic and powerful, when Adam is at his best, he's playing like this. Larry, well he sounds so important to the song it might make you forget what he can actually sound like after all these years.

Bono is frantic, energized and yet still restrained enough not to sound ridiculous, the ebb and flow of this song is an absolute highlight in the U2 catalog, it's U2 metal, and it fucking rocks.
 
Out Of Control : Adam's low skill level on bass has long been a U2 sore point. Especially in the early days.
But listening to this tune, his basic playing makes the tune. Yes, Larry is on fire, and Edge mixes giant chords
with shimmery arpeggios, but Adam's simple playing just thunders through this tune and give it real guts and
pulls it back from "just a pop song" status. The song is better for it. Great teen angst, with wide eyed enthusiasm.

18 year old kids made that.
 
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - I love how this builds and builds to the chorus, with even a sort of decoy 'hey hey sha la la hey hey' that precedes another verse instead of the chorus you think it's leading to. The chorus is one U2's most sing-along-able ever, yet it achieves the task of pocessing that sing-along-abiliy without sounding bubblegummish at all. The middle 8 is my favorite middle 8s ever. It is absolutely gorgeous, musically and lyrically. It is everything that a great middle 8 should be; It takes you on a journey within a song, taking you further and further away from the main melody of the song, until you've almost forgotten about it(somewhere around 'heaven's white rose/these doors you open/I just can't close, with that chilling guitar chord progression in the background), and then slowly building back up to the melody it's strayed from(don't turn around, don't turn around and don't look back) until it just blasts gracefully(weird pairing of words, I know) back into the chorus(come on now love, don't you look baaaaaaack). The lyrics are some of my favorite love lyrics because they speak of true love without getting sappy but without sound old and cynical either(who's gonna ride your wild horses/who's gonna drown in your blue sea/who's gonna taste your saltwater kisses/who's gonna take the place of me/who's gonna ride your wild horses/who's gonna tame the heart of thee). Brilliant song. :drool:
 
Original Of The Species Stately. Effortless. Graceful. OOTS is all of those things.
It's the song I've always wanted U2 to write. Edge plays some amazing "Harrisonesque"
guitar fills, Adam and Larry ground the whole thing, and Bono's just wails with a giant
smile. Cement the whole thing together with a 12 string acoustic, simple piano notes,
and really effective strings. Oh, and those lyrics. 18 year olds couldn't write them.
Cynics couldn't write them. There's a real joy and hope that just matches the music to
perfection.
 
Like A Song This is one sweaty tune. It just flat out rocks. Larry's playing is just so crisp,
and Edge make's the arpeggio an art form. The tune is fast (is this the fastest U2 song?).
Just when you think the tune's all about muscle and angst, those angel voices answer the call
out of "is there nothing left?" Beautiful.
 
Big Girls Are Best The funkiest of all U2 rock songs. It's a great speaker stretcher.
Edge's plays backup to Larry and Adam this time, and Adam and Larry just lay down
groove. I love the vocal play. And there's that complete "Beatles" melody in the
prechorus that just makes me smile. What are they singing in the background?

The whole song is just a good time.
 
MrBrau1 said:
Original Of The Species Stately. Effortless. Graceful. OOTS is all of those things.
It's the song I've always wanted U2 to write. Edge plays some amazing "Harrisonesque"
guitar fills, Adam and Larry ground the whole thing, and Bono's just wails with a giant
smile. Cement the whole thing together with a 12 string acoustic, simple piano notes,
and really effective strings. Oh, and those lyrics. 18 year olds couldn't write them.
Cynics couldn't write them. There's a real joy and hope that just matches the music to
perfection.
Click to expand...

Very nice :up:
 
namkcuR said:
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - I love how this builds and builds to the chorus, with even a sort of decoy 'hey hey sha la la hey hey' that precedes another verse instead of the chorus you think it's leading to. The chorus is one U2's most sing-along-able ever, yet it achieves the task of pocessing that sing-along-abiliy without sounding bubblegummish at all. The middle 8 is my favorite middle 8s ever. It is absolutely gorgeous, musically and lyrically. It is everything that a great middle 8 should be; It takes you on a journey within a song, taking you further and further away from the main melody of the song, until you've almost forgotten about it(somewhere around 'heaven's white rose/these doors you open/I just can't close, with that chilling guitar chord progression in the background), and then slowly building back up to the melody it's strayed from(don't turn around, don't turn around and don't look back) until it just blasts gracefully(weird pairing of words, I know) back into the chorus(come on now love, don't you look baaaaaaack). The lyrics are some of my favorite love lyrics because they speak of true love without getting sappy but without sound old and cynical either(who's gonna ride your wild horses/who's gonna drown in your blue sea/who's gonna taste your saltwater kisses/who's gonna take the place of me/who's gonna ride your wild horses/who's gonna tame the heart of thee). Brilliant song. :drool:
Click to expand...

Excellent Description!!! :bow:

The song is the perfect example of a sing-along mainstream number that's got more genius in it's pinky than ATYCLB and HTDAAB have in the whole album! Same with Mysterious Ways and it's middle 8 too! :drool:
 
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