I have a theory.

[Irvine511]

Despite the best B-side comment from Bono, it hasn't appeared on any singles yet - I'm thinking it will appear on (one of) the next album(s).

i think this is correct.

i loved Mercy, but mostly because it was so different -- especially in production. it was more low-fi, more flat, more of a headphones song, which would certainly not place it on HutDab. but i could sense, with a little more verve and a little more glossy production, another truly massive song along the lines of "bad" -- starts out in confessional mode, "i was drinking some wine/ then it turned to blood" that builds to what could be a massive, cathartic chorus. i think Mercy is a great, interesting song, but they sense the potential for it to be a great, massive song. and they're all about massive these days.

they'll either rework it, do a bit of a COBL job on it and it will be on the next album, or simply leave this song to be the stuff of legends.

i don't know which i'd prefer.

 

[the tourist]

I don't like the guitar loop that plays throughout the intro and verses.

 

[pepokiss]

first... the epic song in ATYLB is Walk on, not Kite

and second... I hope U2 makes some kind of finish to this song.. an actuall finish, because when it ends you're left like floating... there's no final point...
That, and please, please, don't cut the song down to a 4 minute embarrasment, when at 6 1/2 is a glorius expierence

 

[Aardvark747]

That, and please, please, don't cut the song down to a 4 minute embarrasment, when at 6 1/2 is a glorius expierence

 

[the tourist]

first... the epic song in ATYLB is Walk on, not Kite

It's neither. New York is the epic song.

 

[Clawgrabber]

I just made an itunes playlitst:

Vertigo
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
City of Blinding Lights
Mercy (From How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Sessions)
A Man and a Woman
Fast Cars
Crumbs from Your Table
One Step Closer
All Because of You
Original of the Species
Yahweh
Vertigo (Jacknife Lee 7" Version)

and it only clocks in at 1:02:42

That's really not bad, especially considering that it includes 2 vertigos!!

without that, it takes it right to 59:35

those nerds in u2 cut fast cars and mercy to have the album be shorter than an hour when it already was!!!

 

[Hallucination]

Just thinking about this as I was walking home from school and wanted to know what you guys think.

My theory is as to why Mercy was left off the album. The obvious reason is it probably wasn't finished or refined. But my theory is that you can't have two standout/epic/massive/dramatic songs on one album. In my opinion the standout/epic/massive/dramatic from the albums I own are -

War - Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Unforgettable Fire - Bad
The Joshua Tree - Where The Streets Have No Name
Achtung Baby - One
ATYCLB - Kite
HTDAAB - City of Blinding Lights

Now, you can either have one standout/epic/massive/dramatic on an album or you can have an even album with no standout. This is where JT and AB differ. AB is more even, while JT has the epic Streets.

I think Mercy could have been left off the album because it too is quite standout/epic/massive/dramatic and you already have that track in COBL.

So in conclusion - you either an album with one standout/epic/massive/dramatic track and the rest a fair bit worse or you have an album with no standout/epic/massive/dramatic track and the album has good, even songs.

What do you think?

No. Your theory is basically saying that a band would purposely lower the quality of an album for fear of having TOO MANY standout tracks. There is no logic in that. As a band you would want as many quality tracks on your album as possible. My thinking is that they didn't feel it fit and are likely waiting to release it later on down the road. Possibly on a Best Of 2000-2010 album. That or possibly even the next album, but to assume they left it off becasue it was too good doesn't make sense to me. Who knows, maybe the song will go down as U2 legend and we'll never really know why it nevere saw the light of day on an official release.

 

[AtomicBono]

It's neither. New York is the epic song.

agreed, though I almost feel like addyclub doesn't really HAVE an epic song. Live, however, New York is the clear winner

 

[the tourist]

agreed, though I almost feel like addyclub doesn't really HAVE an epic song. Live, however, New York is the clear winner

If only they still played it live.... But it's lost along with Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, Last Night On Earth, and God Part II....

 

[flangerchorus]

Mercy is a good U2 song, not the great mind blowing song everyone says it is

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Nah its great...I hope its indicative of the "world" of the next album..ie that the whole thing will have that same epic melancholy guitar-driven feel.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

And hopefully they will finally dig out She's Gonna Blow Your House Down, give it a bombastic HMTMKMKM production, and have one of the best u2 rock songs ever fully realised.. I really think the next album has to be massive in scope and sound, ambition, everything, a real juggernaut.