Rate the Song: Crumbs from Your Table

[digitize]

Now let's move onto the second round of voting for Hutdab.

Please rate Crumbs from Your Table on a scale from 0 to 10, using whatever criteria you feel allows you to best evaluate the song as a whole. I will not set criteria for people to based on, but if you feel like your best evaluation of the merits of a song comes from voting only based on, say, the studio version, go right ahead and vote that way. Full information on the Rate The Song series may be found in this thread.

Have fun! This poll will close in 96 hours.

 

[prbiker15]

CFYT has grown on me significantly, though it's another song on HTDAAB that produces nothing special. Still great. 7.

 

[The Panther]

I like this one. Certainly, the track could have done with some subtler textures as it's a bit too full-on start to finish, but I still like the song itself quite a bit.

 

[Nick66]

While it's got its moments musically, this one is ruined by Bono's proselytizing at its very worst. And he's just way too obvious about it here.

2.

 

[The Panther]

While it's got its moments musically, this one is ruined by Bono's prostlitizing at its very worst. And he's just way too obvious about it here.

2.

The word you want is "proselytizing".
Is it really obvious? Nowhere in the song does he mention whom he's addressing or why. Seems pretty subtle to me.

 

[Nick66]

The word you want is "proselytising".
Is it really obvious? Nowhere in the song does he mention whom he's addressing or why. Seems pretty subtle to me.

Well, the first time I heard it I mostly surmised where he was going with it. But then again, I worked in international development for many years.

And actually, I'm in the UK, and the word I'm looking for is "proselytising". But thanks for the spell check.

 

[The Panther]

Well, to me Bono's worst proselytizing (aka: proselytising) is onstage during the Vertigo tour, notably on the Chicago DVD. That is huge over-kill. But I'm never going to have a problem with an opinion or a social consciousness expressed within a song. That is way powerful.

 

[Nick66]

Well, to me Bono's worst proselytizing (aka: proselytising) is onstage during the Vertigo tour, notably on the Chicago DVD. That is huge over-kill. But I'm never going to have a problem with an opinion or a social consciousness expressed within a song. That is way powerful.

It's not that I oppose opinion and social consciousness w/in a song. I am a U2 fan after all, which would be impossible if I felt that way. It comes with the territory.

It just doesn't work for me here. Perhaps I wouldn't mind it so much if the song, particularly lyrically, was better executed.

 

[trevgreg]

I liked this one quite a bit when it came out, but it's been awhile since I last listened to it. Probably a 6 nowadays.

 

[ryancoke71]

A 7, but it was cool to hear it played for the first time live!

 

[trevgreg]

A 7, but it was cool to hear it played for the first time live!

Still bummed I didn't try to make it to that show.

 

[corianderstem]

This one's held up well for me.

 

[Zoo_Fly]

Certainly enjoy the lyrics in the first two verses.

 

[flybabe]

This one has grown on me, I will say, but it still lacks that attention grabbing factor that U2 is well known for. Edge's work here is phenomenal however, but the song as a whole isn't a favorite. 7.

 

[theedgeu2]

Great song! I love Edge's chimey, yet ripping guitar. 8.

 

[nielsgov]

The vocal melody in the verses is nice. The rest is awful. 3

 

[lemonfly]

Definitely within the bottom ten U2 album tracks. Bono is at his most preachy, self-righteous and more than a little annoying, but worse the song is upbeat, chirpy and poppy - so it's impossible to take the subject matter seriously even if you wanted to. Edge's ringing guitar work is grating, and the dreadful mastering makes it seem worse. There are Bono clunkers galore ("Brightest star, blackest hole". "You were pretty as a picture". "Mouth full of teeth you ate all your friends". "Three to a bed"). Just the kind of song that makes you want to pull your hair out. Zero

 

[super fly guy]

Definitely within the bottom ten U2 album tracks. Bono is at his most preachy, self-righteous and more than a little annoying, but worse the song is upbeat, chirpy and poppy - so it's impossible to take the subject matter seriously even if you wanted to. Edge's ringing guitar work is grating, and the dreadful mastering makes it seem worse. There are Bono clunkers galore ("Brightest star, blackest hole". "You were pretty as a picture". "Mouth full of teeth you ate all your friends". "Three to a bed"). Just the kind of song that makes you want to pull your hair out. Zero

lol i enjoyed reading that post! But im giving it a 7!

 

[cobl04]

Pretty maligned on here, this song. I love, love, love Edge's guitar, and the chorus is pretty great, but Bono's verses are horrendous. 7

 

[LemonMelon]

Fuck you guys. They were drunk. I'm drunk. 9.

 

[Galeongirl]

Like it a lot, 8.

 

[OpenG180]

U2's bottom 5. Myth says that they were drunk.

 

[gvox]

Fuck you guys. They were drunk. I'm drunk. 9.

Seconded.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Lovely, beautiful melody, maybe the best on the album, but there's something missing, not sure what.

Some of the lyrics are a bit...well...not too great:
"with a mouthful of teeth, you ate all your friends"
however it is followed by a lovely little thought
"you broke every heart thinking every heart mends". That sums up the song for me, very hit and miss.
7

 

[lazarus]

Fuck you guys. They were drunk. I'm drunk. 9.

This post: 10

The song: 6 + 1 for being drunk and not giving a fuck + 1 extra point for Bono's "HEY!" at the end of the final chorus = 8

 

[Nick66]

A lot of comments are starting to make sense now with all these confessions of drinking while posting.

 

[LemonMelon]

Sober post: terrific melody, great guitar work from Edge, terrific outro that actually builds up energy, Bono's "hey!" near the end of the song all lead me to keep this at a 9.

The lyrics are sometimes terrible. There are individual lines here and there that are undeniably horrible. But then there are some keepers also, so I don't really know how to feel. But that's just one facet of what I feel is an otherwise great song that I like as much as I did the first time I heard HTDAAB. It might very well be the only one.

 

[corianderstem]

Somewhere on this site, someone once said they thought the "three to a bed" line was about a three-way.

 

[popacrobat]

because that's totally what a nun would say.

 

[BlueSilkenSky]

5... don't hurt me! It's just one of the few U2 songs I really don't like... and this is going to sound stupid, but one of the main things that bothers me is the grammatical error in the chorus.

I would believe if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table

That "was" should be "were". I know that not many people would catch that, but it still really bugs me. I'm just a stickler for proper grammar, I guess. Also, the music's boring to me. But I agree with the message of the song.