Rate the Song: Wake Up Dead Man

[digitize]

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

Please rate Wake Up Dead Man 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.

 

[Globo14]

10. So haunting, so beautiful.

 

[The_acrobat]

Awesome, would've loved to hear a full band version live sometime. 1% chance of that happening now, though.

 

[An Cat Gav]

U2 are masters when it comes to closing songs on albums, MOTD, The Wanderer, Cedars, AIWIY and LIB amongst others , but this may be the best. Like a wild west showdown between man and God.
10

 

[Nick66]

One of four decent songs on Pop. It's really a 6, though live it gets an 8 (especially the well-placed Elevation version)...so here it gets a 7.

 

[prbiker15]

Great album closer, has grown on me tremendously, but it still has it's flaws. Love the "acoustic" versions on Popmart, it closed the show beautifully (judging from the Mexico City DVD). 7.

 

[flybabe]

I like this one. The lyrics are barbed but are trying to find comfort in a sense. 8.

 

[nielsgov]

This song is another 10 for me. One of U2's darkest songs. It's desperate, but in a good way.

 

[lemonfly]

Glorious. A rock n roll spaghetti western, you can imagine the narrator in a desolate landscape howling at the night sky. One of their bleakest, windswept songs - and coming at the end of the album it marked the end of 90's U2. 10

 

[trevgreg]

I listened to this song maybe a handful of times in the years after buying Pop. Then out of nowhere a few years ago, I started listening to it and it hit me hardcore out of the blue. The riff, the vocal delivery, the ending, etc. 9.

 

[LemonMelon]

Passionate, eloquent, vaguely frightening.

Um. 10 billion.

 

[GopherMacPhisto]

Bono's white flag that maybe he's tired of this whole pop-mockery phase.

Much like Staring at the Sun, it works a lot better stripped down.

Not quite a 10, but definitely 9.

 

[theedgeu2]

I don't quite get everyone's massive love for WUDM. It's a good closer but I just never got into this one. 5.

 

[The Panther]

I had a hard time evaluating this one... had no very strong feeling about the song. I had to go back and listen to it just now to get a sense of it again.

Some of the lyrics in this song are a bit dodgy (the "boss" / "for us" rhyme; "he's in charge of heaven", etc.), but the quiet bit in the middle is awesome, and the whole song has a nice, creepy, desperate, vibe. I do find the chorus a bit too in-your-face and lacking in subtlety, but then this is U2.

Overall, it's a good song. Quite an album-ending contrast with "Yahweh" seven-and-a-half years later -- from total desperation to spiritual joy.

 

[Galeongirl]

7. Pretty good song, but a bit too slow for an 8.

 

[lazarus]

The final verse, so explicitly about his mother and wanting to reverse time to get her back, is one of the most heartbreaking things Bono has ever written, and the vocal is delivered with such a surprising amount of vulnerability.

And this somehow makes me really resent Grace, as it represents such an unfortunate attitude shift, musically and thematically.

 

[Aardvark747]

9.

 

[gvox]

Never liked it much back then, but over the last few years it really grew on me.

 

[popacrobat]

The final verse, so explicitly about his mother and wanting to reverse time to get her back, is one of the most heartbreaking things Bono has ever written, and the vocal is delivered with such a surprising amount of vulnerability.

And this somehow makes me really resent Grace, as it represents such an unfortunate attitude shift, musically and thematically.

See, this actually makes me appreciate Grace more. I think Wake Up Dead Man is a much better song, don't get me wrong. But in terms of attitude, I like that grace is eventually found out of despair.