Last song is a throw-away

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GibsonGirl said:


It irks me too. I used to like Coldplay... but that was mainly when I was going through the awful Lack of U2 Slump of 2003. Coldplay were simply a good substitute for the band they mimicked.

Bingo! I like Coldplay too but I got into them mainly because they provided a U2 sounding fix in the absence of U2. But please let's not forget where they came from.

My baby brother likes Coldplay but is not into U2 all that much simply because they are in their 40's. He's missing out. I think a lot of the younger folks can't get themselves to admit that the four old men from Ireland are pretty damn good so Coldplay is a good compromise for them I guess.
 
wolfwill23 said:
Since AB, the last song on U2 records has been throw-aways, which I find disappointing. I'm talking songs that have very little chance to be played live and just aren't that good. You've got:

2. Wake Up Dead Man on Pop


:ohmy: :crazy:
 
I still think it sounds too much like One Tree Hill. I loved OTH but I don't need another song like it. I guess it fits the album though. Should become a better song live. Thats my 2 cents...
 
Hi guys,

Have a look at my nickname and it will tell you if i like Yahweh......

Definetely the best song of the album, so fresh, they could have written it in 1981..... hope it closes the upcoming tour.

Third masterpiece after AB and JT.....even though i can't get into OSC and COBL......

Peace
 
wolfwill23 said:
Since AB, the last song on U2 records has been throw-aways, which I find disappointing. I'm talking songs that have very little chance to be played live and just aren't that good. You've got:

1. The Wanderer on Zooropa
2. Wake Up Dead Man on Pop
3. Grace on ATYCLB
4. Yahweh on Bomb

What happened to great closers like Love is Blindness? And no, Yahweh is nowhere near Love is Blindness. It's really an awful song.

b*ll*cks- it's fantastic, although One Step.. (weakest track) s/be the closer IMO

Mike
 
mkjc said:
I think a lot of the younger folks can't get themselves to admit that the four old men from Ireland are pretty damn good so Coldplay is a good compromise for them I guess.

I can't stand that! I sometimes visit the Coldplay message board and just about explode when I see Coldplay fans writing off U2. If it weren't for U2, Coldlplay wouldn't exist! The saddest, though, is when they say that U2 copied Coldplay. It's as though they can't accept the fact that their favourite band was influenced by a group of middle-aged men. Either that, or they're just idiots.
 
IMO Yahweh is a great great song. As people have said previously it leaves you with an immense feeling of joy. In that respect it is different from other closers (Grace; The Wanderer; Love is Blindness). It is a nice change for a closer.

Robert
 
To me, when i hear this song i visualize Bono making a triumphant horseback ride into the sunset of the old west ......probably all those cowboy hats he's been wearing lately. Perfect closer for Bomb.
 
I especially love this part:

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

The more and more I think about it I realize that this is song my favorite on the album (although it changes everytime I listen to a different song:))!

Robert
 
GibsonGirl said:


I can't stand that! I sometimes visit the Coldplay message board and just about explode when I see Coldplay fans writing off U2. If it weren't for U2, Coldlplay wouldn't exist! The saddest, though, is when they say that U2 copied Coldplay. It's as though they can't accept the fact that their favourite band was influenced by a group of middle-aged men. Either that, or they're just idiots.

Ahhh, don't worry about the Coldplay message board. It skews very young and fairly unknowledgable about music in general.

What matters is that Coldplay knows who paved the way for them. Who cares what a bunch of kids think anyway?
 
teebee said:


What matters is that Coldplay knows who paved the way for them. Who cares what a bunch of kids think anyway?

I do agree not to get worked up too much about it; but ignorance always hurts a society.
 
Back to the regular Grace and Yahweh bashing. It's not surprising considering many here are unaware of the beauty of Christianity and how these songs connect to us Christians. Coming from the Philippines which is Asia's biggest Catholic country, I can fully appreciate the lyrical content of both Grace and Yahweh. And guess what? The music of Grace perfectly fits the message it conveys - that the concept of grace is so exclusively Christian that other religions don't have a similar concept (for example, the hindus have karma). Grace is so subtle and ever-present - thus the song is doesn't need to be upbeat or flashy. Even in HTDAAB, Bono still uses the lyric grace. As for Yahweh, Bono is calling out to God. Bono is trying to be like King David the Psalmist - singing aloud the his Lord offering him everything. Normally, when you give your everything to God - there is a loss and some hesitation. But if you fully give yourself then you will enter the kingdom and get eternal happiness. This happiness may be reflected in the upbeat nature of Yaweh. Perhaps now that U2 are in their 40's - celebrity and fame and lust for money is not taking over them. It is like U2's last prayer - that they are happy where they are and that they offer all their success to God ("take this..."), and are ready to call it quits anytime if it is God's will ("still waiting for the dawn"). I think Yaweh is perhaps the best closer ever, not just for this album but even for U2's career. It is a great prayer.

Cheers,

J
 
I would have to disagree about the throwaway closers. Wake Up Dead Man fits very well with the whole theme of Pop, and I find it very comforting in the times when the world just generally sucks. Also, Grace is a beautiful closer that encompasses all of the themes on ATYCLB and kind of ties them up. On Zooropa, I think the Wanderer also emphasizes the main theme of that album.


And, since I see no point in downloading a song that I will get in two weeks, I can't comment on Yahweh.
 
Wow...I don't know how to respond. Yahweh is my favourite song on the album. It is proof that no one else can do what U2's music does for me. Sure, it may be very U2, but I don't care, because it is U2 BEING themselves, not TRYING to be (as in Walk On, IMO). Everything is perfect here - the singing suits the meaning, Larry's brushes, the dense sound, and the lyrics...where do I begin? How Bono managed to express the same sentiment with 2 wholly different lines ('Why the dark before the dawn"/ "Always pain before the child is born")? How, apart from the chorus, the song remains secular and universal? The last line, "take this heart, and make it break" - it would be so much easier to say "brave" (which btw many people think it is, which is false).

I don't know - maybe you have never felt the need to be healed, and that is why the song doesn't speak to you? You are battered, bruised, weary, feel totally and utterly alone, lost, that no one is on your side, not even some man-with-a-white-beard-in-the-sky God, because you don't believe in God (as in my case). But still, you call out, in the dark, in the hope that there is something bigger than yourself, something nameless, formless - to pick you up off the ground, gently dust your clothes off, and show you something that makes all this worthwhile. To show you something that really IS pure, that IS holy, that gives meaning to the word religion (or spirituality, if you will), even if you don't believe in "God". To show you that love (not romance) is not some pretty fiction we made up and milk for all its worth, in art and commerce. To take this heart, which through years of disrepair, delusion, and disillusionment, has become hardened and numb, and to make it innocent, sensitive, vulnerable again, because it's worth it, because love really DOES exist. To make it believe again.
 
jick said:
Back to the regular Grace and Yahweh bashing. It's not surprising considering many here are unaware of the beauty of Christianity and how these songs connect to us Christians. Coming from the Philippines which is Asia's biggest Catholic country, I can fully appreciate the lyrical content of both Grace and Yahweh. And guess what? The music of Grace perfectly fits the message it conveys - that the concept of grace is so exclusively Christian that other religions don't have a similar concept (for example, the hindus have karma). Grace is so subtle and ever-present - thus the song is doesn't need to be upbeat or flashy. Even in HTDAAB, Bono still uses the lyric grace. As for Yahweh, Bono is calling out to God. Bono is trying to be like King David the Psalmist - singing aloud the his Lord offering him everything. Normally, when you give your everything to God - there is a loss and some hesitation. But if you fully give yourself then you will enter the kingdom and get eternal happiness. This happiness may be reflected in the upbeat nature of Yaweh. Perhaps now that U2 are in their 40's - celebrity and fame and lust for money is not taking over them. It is like U2's last prayer - that they are happy where they are and that they offer all their success to God ("take this..."), and are ready to call it quits anytime if it is God's will ("still waiting for the dawn"). I think Yaweh is perhaps the best closer ever, not just for this album but even for U2's career. It is a great prayer.

Cheers,

J

Every now and then you say the perfect thing. :wink:

Great post. :up:
 
tomtom said:

I don't know - maybe you have never felt the need to be healed, and that is why the song doesn't speak to you? You are battered, bruised, weary, feel totally and utterly alone, lost, that no one is on your side, not even some man-with-a-white-beard-in-the-sky God, because you don't believe in God (as in my case). But still, you call out, in the dark, in the hope that there is something bigger than yourself, something nameless, formless - to pick you up off the ground, gently dust your clothes off, and show you something that makes all this worthwhile. To show you something that really IS pure, that IS holy, that gives meaning to the word religion (or spirituality, if you will), even if you don't believe in "God". To show you that love (not romance) is not some pretty fiction we made up and milk for all its worth, in art and commerce. To take this heart, which through years of disrepair, delusion, and disillusionment, has become hardened and numb, and to make it innocent, sensitive, vulnerable again, because it's worth it, because love really DOES exist. To make it believe again.

My feelings exactly. This song made me reconsider my faith, something I lost almost two years ago. If Yahweh can make me believe in God again, even if just for a moment, I'd say it's a decent closer to an album :wink:

Wake Up Dead Man is also a brilliant closer. If you're in the right mood especially it can be very, VERY powerful. I'm kinda lukewarm on The Wanderer and Grace, but they did fit their respective albums well.

Jick is right - U2 closers are almost always religious in nature, because the fact is U2 are very strong in their faith. I don't nessecarily share their views but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate them and understand why such songs are so meaningful and powerful...but, it's just a personal taste thing.

As for Coldplay - what can I say, I love them, and I love their U2-ness. One of my favourite songs from them is Moses which just screams U2, especially the lead guitar part. It makes me sad that some Coldplay fans refuse to acknowledge U2's influence on the band... I mean, c'mon, Chris Martin is a total U2 fanboy, he's made it pretty bloody obvious (and good for him I say :up: ). If Coldplay fans like Coldplay better than U2 that's fine with me, it's a matter of personal taste... but to say something blatantly ignorant like "U2 is copying Coldplay's style!" is NOT cool. U2 doesn't sound like Coldplay; Coldplay sounds like U2. End of story.
 
My only knock on Yahweh is it does have some similarity to One Tree Hill. Otherwise, I actually sort of like it better than One Tree Hill (have to listen to it again though).

I can't see them playing this song on tour... too many things going on in this song, which a 3 pc + the lead singer cannot make up for, otherwise they weaken the song IMO. What makes this song great to me is the "wall of sound" they've created.
 
Well, maybe Larry can learn to play mandolin and drums at the same time. In fact, thats likelier than Bono learning the guitar parts :D
 
wolfwill23 said:
Since AB, the last song on U2 records has been throw-aways, which I find disappointing. I'm talking songs that have very little chance to be played live and just aren't that good. You've got:

1. The Wanderer on Zooropa
2. Wake Up Dead Man on Pop
3. Grace on ATYCLB
4. Yahweh on Bomb

What happened to great closers like Love is Blindness? And no, Yahweh is nowhere near Love is Blindness. It's really an awful song.

No way! Yahweh may not be as immediate as some of the other songs on the CD, but it's a song I like more with every listen. After listening for like 4 or 5 days, that tune is on my head more than a lot of the others i first found catchy.

If you want to argue these closers are more like poems that song lyrics -- i.e. their strength draws from their words more than the melody, i guess i can agree. They all seem to be the philosophic centerpiece of a lot of the albums. (though i actually do think Grace is pretty weak)
 
Re: Re: Last song is a throw-away

xovonob now! said:


They all seem to be the philosophic centerpiece of a lot of the albums. (though i actually do think Grace is pretty weak)

Wow, now that I think of it, you are dead right, atleast about the last 4 albums. The closing tracks seem to epitomise the work as a whole in each case IMO.
 
Not to digress from the subject of the thread, but let's do so, anyway: Forget Yahweh, I think even something as simple as ABOY is going to be a bitch to play live, because both guitars are very important to the song. It's not like, say, Walk On, where oftentimes Bono wouldnt play the chords, but Edge's fills made up for it. So I predict one of 2 things-

1. Bono will kick ass with the axe.
2. They will use sequencers extensively for the live versions.

I think 2 is more likely, which is really disappointing, because it really takes a minimum amount of effort to learn the backing parts.
 
jick said:
Back to the regular Grace and Yahweh bashing. It's not surprising considering many here are unaware of the beauty of Christianity and how these songs connect to us Christians. Coming from the Philippines which is Asia's biggest Catholic country, I can fully appreciate the lyrical content of both Grace and Yahweh. And guess what? The music of Grace perfectly fits the message it conveys - that the concept of grace is so exclusively Christian that other religions don't have a similar concept (for example, the hindus have karma). Grace is so subtle and ever-present - thus the song is doesn't need to be upbeat or flashy. Even in HTDAAB, Bono still uses the lyric grace. As for Yahweh, Bono is calling out to God. Bono is trying to be like King David the Psalmist - singing aloud the his Lord offering him everything. Normally, when you give your everything to God - there is a loss and some hesitation. But if you fully give yourself then you will enter the kingdom and get eternal happiness. This happiness may be reflected in the upbeat nature of Yaweh. Perhaps now that U2 are in their 40's - celebrity and fame and lust for money is not taking over them. It is like U2's last prayer - that they are happy where they are and that they offer all their success to God ("take this..."), and are ready to call it quits anytime if it is God's will ("still waiting for the dawn"). I think Yaweh is perhaps the best closer ever, not just for this album but even for U2's career. It is a great prayer.

Cheers,

J

Very nicely said
 
Tick... Tick---

Did I just agree with Jick?

Or did hell freeze over!

J/K my fellow offbeat (and often antagonizing) friend.
 
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