Rate the Song: Please

[digitize]

Today we shall begin voting on the second half of Pop.

Please rate Please 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.

 

[The_acrobat]

Album version did very little for me upon the album's release, and remained one of my least favorite tracks for awhile. Then that fall I bought the Popheart live EP, and fell in love with the live version of this song, as well as the single version. Eventually, I grew to appreciate the album version as well. This song should still be played live... the fact that they never play it is poor judgement on their parts.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I really like this song, very subtle and low key, but still menacingly powerful in it's own way.
Didn't like it so much live and I really hated that sort of speaking in tongues chanting thing Bono did two thirds way through, almost as embarrasing as Bono flirting with the crowd on the Milan DVD.
9

 

[prbiker15]

One of my favorites on Pop. While the album version is quite calm, the live version is just mind-blowing, especially from the Rotterdam show on the Please EP. Heaven.

Great song, nonetheless. 9.

 

[Nick66]

Like so much of Pop, decent lyrics can't save this mess. 2.

 

[flybabe]

Another favorite, it just has that certain likeability about it. 9. The USA edit is awful though.

 

[lemonfly]

Powerful song, one of U2's most pointed. How Bono went from Please to dreck like POE in the space of a few short years illustrates how drastically he lost his songwriting edge (and subtlety). But he was absolutely on top of his game here, this is an easy 10.

 

[nielsgov]

One of my favourite U2 songs. Live > album > single. I'd give the live version an 11. On Pop, it's still a 10 though.

 

[digitize]

Like so much of Pop, decent lyrics can't save this mess. 2.

Wha-wha-wha-wha-whaaaaaaaaaaat?

 

[the tourist]

One of the few songs people absolutely love which I just don't understand.

 

[coolian2]

better than one anyway

 

[Alisaura]

I got the Hasta La Vista CD before I'd even listened to Pop... and Please/Streets blew my tiny little n00bie mind. 10.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

The album version is one of my favorite things U2 has ever done, and I've even gone on record in the past saying it is my favorite U2 song. Right now, it would certainly be in my top 5 or 10. Such a powerful track, and I have a lot of great memories associated with it.

 

[Scorpionac]

This isn't my favourite U2 song, but it's in a different sphere than any of their others.

The only thing that bugs me is how Bono skips the "s" sound most of the song. Plea, plea, get up off your knees.

 

[corianderstem]

Like so much of Pop, decent lyrics can't save this mess. 2.

Wha-wha-wha-wha-whaaaaaaaaaaat?

Wait, wait! I got this:

 

[GopherMacPhisto]

When I was first running through the Popmart DVD, I thought this was going to be a muzak-y type thing that was used as filler to get to Streets. But when I saw it played out and listened to the lyrics, wow! It does indeed have a musak-y start, but it takes a dark, almost sinister turn. And it's an amazing transition into Streets.

Dark, dark, dark, dark song that remains criminally under-appreciated. For that matter, this whole album contains songs that are much darker than what you hear at first glance, and it remains criminally under-appreciated.

And as for this? Another 10.

 

[theedgeu2]

Album version: 8. Live version: 10 (especially if you add in that transition to WTSHNN, gorgeous)

 

[LadySpinHead]

One of a few songs I never paid much attention to until I heard the chatter about it here on IF. Once I did, WWWOWWW. A very ambitious 9.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

me giving it less than a ten? please.

Spoiler

see what i did thar?

 

[The Panther]

Back in '97, I had lost interest in U2 (whom I'd been crazy for in the early 90s), and I ignored Pop when it was released. My roommates at the time played it, though, and this song sort of caught my ear. Then I saw them play it on that MTV awards show, and it was pretty great. Although not the best airing of the song from the technical point of view, I love that performance because it's like the 1st time U2 seemed a bit old, a bit behind the times, and a bit passé, but they attack the song there, seeming a bit pissed off with the US audience and their faltering album in general. The slightly pissed off U2, doing their thing against the grain, is the U2 I sort of miss in this era of Bono's mutual backslapping with celebrities who are, frankly, beneath him, and of their incessant need to connect with the mainstream at all costs.

Anyhoo...

"Please" is obviously a superior song and ranks high amongst U2 classics. Along with "One" and a few others, it's in the very best of the entire post-80s part of their career.

 

[digitize]

Back in '97, I had lost interest in U2 (whom I'd been crazy for in the early 90s), and I ignored Pop when it was released. My roommates at the time played it, though, and this song sort of caught my ear. Then I saw them play it on that MTV awards show, and it was pretty great. Although not the best airing of the song from the technical point of view, I love that performance because it's like the 1st time U2 seemed a bit old, a bit behind the times, and a bit passé, but they attack the song there, seeming a bit pissed off with the US audience and their faltering album in general. The slightly pissed off U2, doing their thing against the grain, is the U2 I sort of miss in this era of Bono's mutual backslapping with celebrities who are, frankly, beneath him, and of their incessant need to connect with the mainstream at all costs.

Anyhoo...

"Please" is obviously a superior song and ranks high amongst U2 classics. Along with "One" and a few others, it's in the very best of the entire post-80s part of their career.

That MTV performance was spectacular. Really, really gutsy, and I really wouldn't have been surprised if it was in direct reaction to the state of their US fanbase... either to challenge them or to criticize them. Their 2009 SNL performance (where they played Breathe, MOS, and Ultraviolet) reminds me a bit of this, actually.

 

[iron yuppie]

The album version is one of my favorite things U2 has ever done, and I've even gone on record in the past saying it is my favorite U2 song. Right now, it would certainly be in my top 5 or 10. Such a powerful track, and I have a lot of great memories associated with it.

In agreement here. I see it as a synthesis of everything powerful about the band: incisive, brooding, unapologetic, atmospheric. One of the true standouts in their catalogue and a primer on how to write an effective, moving political message.

 

[Galeongirl]

9. Fuckin' spectacular song. Especially the vocals are haunting.

 

[RioRhodes]

Wonderful, smooth, lush, perfect. 10.

 

[gman]

I scored Please a 10. I love this song. Probs in my top 5 fave ever u2 songs

 

[Cactus Annie]

please get up off your knees

 

[gvox]

100