kiwilad
Refugee
If you look closely you'll hear my jealousy
SOE 31: Yes, we have no bananas
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If you look closely you'll hear my jealousy
This is a song
A song for synesthetes
Maybe it's a clumsy homage to A Hazy Shade of Winter, we know Bono's been into Paul Simon of late.
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Aardvark747
Blue Crack Addict
I'm enjoying the studio version of Blackout more than the others right now, it's sounding totally different to anything I would've expected from the band at this point. GOOYOW and TBT are more along the lines of what I thought we'd be hearing. Best Thing I suppose I am already a little bored of now but that'll probably change after Dec 1 and I'll start listening to it again, however the Kygo mix is still sounding great.
Really hoping that Little Things is as good on record as we're hoping! The Fallon version was really great.
Really hoping that Little Things is as good on record as we're hoping! The Fallon version was really great.
kiwilad
Refugee
You're right. Paul Simon went off to look for America. Now Bono's found it. It was a sound. All this time. Poor old Paul. He was going about it the wrong way.
patternshirt170
Acrobat
Yep I mean what was wrong with say...
look around, it's a hound or
look around, it's a pound or
look around, it's a mound
At least they tangible and you can pat, spend and sit on them.
Aardvark747
Blue Crack Addict
Oh, and American Soul was a total 
when first hearing the Volcano lines, but after a few more listens it's really growing on me in the same way Blackout did. A great sound. The refu-jesus line isn't bugging me...
when first hearing the Volcano lines, but after a few more listens it's really growing on me in the same way Blackout did. A great sound. The refu-jesus line isn't bugging me...
chrissybaby
Refugee
Is that Bono, or satire? I don't know anymore
One of the funniest things about "refu-Jesus", is that you can tell Bono LOVES it. It's gonna be on a t-shirt, isn't it?
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I was thinking about this the other day. I think it's almost a guarantee that #RefuJesus ends up on a tour t-shirt, if for no other reason than to piss off Axver.Is that Bono, or satire? I don't know anymore
One of the funniest things about "refu-Jesus", is that you can tell Bono LOVES it. It's gonna be on a t-shirt, isn't it?
Marko
War Child
There is this point going through the interference that a rock song is expected to have inferior lyrics.
I don't think this was the case before we got elevation.
Bullet, fly, electric Co, UTEOTW, etc. All rock songs...but lyrics don't suffer for it.
It's inferior songwriting I'm afraid [emoji3]
I seriously hope you're not holding up Electric Co as lyrical genius...
I agree with that too. I am not saying that rock songs HAVE to have inferior lyrics, but that the quality of lyrics is not as important (sometimes I would argue not important at all, like in songs like Satisfaction), as how the whole song works in terms of the groove, how the delivery resonates with the beat,etc.
HansaTonImbiss
Acrobat
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2008
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- 401
Oh, and American Soul was a total
Yeah, I'm here. Still don't love it, could easily be a B side, but I put "Refu-jesus" in the "I lost it in the/duty free" (SATS) camp of "oh cute, I see what you did there." It's not candy floss ice cream or Michael Jackson....HiStory. It's also, at least to me, not as jarring to me as hearing "love" uttered at least 10-20 times in the songs weve heard this far. At this rate it's going to blow kneel/feel/steal/heart on Bomb out of the water.
I mean... It's all a difference between a good solid song vs a great one.
Plenty of good rock songs that have questionable lyrics. But the great ones have both.
Plenty of good rock songs that have questionable lyrics. But the great ones have both.
TheUnknownCalle
The Fly
Honestly the most surprising thing about Refu-Jesus to me at this point is that Bono hasn't been using it in a million interviews. Usually the trite 'Oh God Bono thinks this is clever, doesn't he?' attempted wordplay gets kicked around for a while before it finds its permanent home in a song.
Marko
War Child
[emoji3]
Well not genius
But since elevation the level of our expectations definitely lowered.
And it's not only about one line in a song. There were duds before in a single song as well. But the overall feel of the songs they push forward is somehow different.
Of course it's all personal and it's more about the feeling. It's hard to describe it.
I'll try to do it this way.
Previous rock songs were songs for alternative radio. Rock songs since 2000 (singles mostly) are made for pop radio, although they have a rock sound. If that makes sense. And usually they suffer lyrically as well.
On the other hand they have rock songs since 2000 that are never singles, and that don't have a pop structure (for instance breathe). So they have the capacity they did before, it's just that they don't promote these songs.
This is why I don't like Blackout as much as others do here. Too simple, predictable, in your face chorus etc. But I'm heavily biased and measure everything by the 90s output and that maybe distorts my judgment heavily.
Hollow Island
New Yorker
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2011
- Messages
- 2,947
i'm not going to go back and look through credits but hasn't Edge been more involved in writing lyrics over the last few albums than in the 80s and 90s? If so, he might be partially to blame for the weaker lyrics.
I mean... here's the thing.
When you're a younger band, or a band in your prime, you can get away easier with some corn ball lyrics.
As you advance, and your fan base grows older, they expect a little more from your new material, while ignoring past lyrical I. Memba?
There are plenty of examples of awful lyrics by U2 from their glory days.
Imagine if they wrote a song today where the first half is nothing but Bono reciting advertising slogans?
When you're a younger band, or a band in your prime, you can get away easier with some corn ball lyrics.
As you advance, and your fan base grows older, they expect a little more from your new material, while ignoring past lyrical I. Memba?
There are plenty of examples of awful lyrics by U2 from their glory days.
Imagine if they wrote a song today where the first half is nothing but Bono reciting advertising slogans?
travelleru2
Acrobat
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 355
I think the lyrics on all these tracks except the little things are pretty meh compared to SOI (which musically I dont like, but lyric wise its pretty good)
Marko
War Child
Yeah. Maybe you are right. I definitely ate up a lot of bs before, making it something much more than it was.
It's probably about perspective as well. And nostalgia also makes it hard to be objective.
Regarding zooropa - I still think that it's perfect. It fits the time, the theme, the concept. So perfect. It is what it is, it's not trying to be deep and it sends the message it wants to send. Maybe I would look at it differently today, but we'll never know.
I have more beef with the song structure and "feel" than with lyrics anyway. It's just too abstract to point to one thing and say - here it is, this is what is bugging me
But out of the new songs I enjoy more tbt and get out as they feel somehow more sincere - here it is. It's pop and nothing more. I can appreciate that.
ozeeko
Refugee
Is "be a winner, eat to get slimmer" a sublime piece of poetry? No, but in the context of that song, mood, arrangement, melody, etc. it works. Also, Bono's vox just used to be mixed better. In Zooropa's title track, his singing fits perfectly; there's dynamics; it jumps out at the right moments; some echo here and there; some crooning there; more attitude here. Why must every song lately have his vocals so up front? The corny lyrics have nowhere to hide. Give Edge a chance to fill out the track.
chrissybaby
Refugee
Zooropa lyrics are gorgeous. The "have no compass..." part on SOI Tour was great. Conceptually, that whole record is on the money.
It was only a question of time before Bono's obsession with "America being an idea" made it's way onto a record as the thematic centrepiece. I would imagine that he's very stubborn with these things!
Marko
War Child
And maybe it only shows that there are no real new ideas. Or at least not those which would be better than that old one
Tim Wallach
The Fly
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2008
- Messages
- 267
The more I listen, the more I think Get Out is a near perfectly executed song. You may find it too poppy or light or whatever, but the song construction and layout is spot on if you ask me. The way the chorus breaks into the bridge and verse is just brilliant.
Oh, and I have to say the Kendrick Lamar outro actually works really well into the Blackout. Perhaps better than into American Soul.
Oh, and I have to say the Kendrick Lamar outro actually works really well into the Blackout. Perhaps better than into American Soul.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I think in the big scheme of things - They are doing a pop record. In that way it is a departure for them. Even SOI with EBW and California and SFS, was not an overly pop record. This is an album it seems they've been wanting to make for a while. One that maybe a lot of us may not want them to make, or at least makes us a little wary.
That said, it was interesting - on Facebook last week, Rivers Cuomo hit back at Weezer fans a little on Twitter who were being critical of their last couple albums. Essentially hearing a lot of what is said here about things being too pop and it's "not the Weezer i love" type of stuff.
He responded very simply
Weezer Fans: Be Yourself!
Weezer Fans: NO, Not like that!
We've all seen it here. I'm guilty as well. If only they would stop trying to be everything to everyone. If only they would stop chasing a hit! Why the rawk song?!?! These producers are messing it all up!
But in the end, sometimes it may just be what the band is actually wanting to do. And that can suck sometimes when it doesn't line up with your expectations.
That said, it was interesting - on Facebook last week, Rivers Cuomo hit back at Weezer fans a little on Twitter who were being critical of their last couple albums. Essentially hearing a lot of what is said here about things being too pop and it's "not the Weezer i love" type of stuff.
He responded very simply
Weezer Fans: Be Yourself!
Weezer Fans: NO, Not like that!
We've all seen it here. I'm guilty as well. If only they would stop trying to be everything to everyone. If only they would stop chasing a hit! Why the rawk song?!?! These producers are messing it all up!
But in the end, sometimes it may just be what the band is actually wanting to do. And that can suck sometimes when it doesn't line up with your expectations.
I agree with this. Not only have recent lyrics been clunky and literal, but Bono's voice dominates the songs. It's overbearing. The "depth" in these new songs amounts to gadgets chirping in the background as opposed to nuanced layers of aural wonderment. Yeah that's right.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
This is very true. He has co-credit on most of the SOI tracks, some of No Line, and even a couple on Bomb IIRC.
trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
I saw that too. Nail on the head. Sort of like how the comments saying "I just wish they would make the music they want to make" can be translated as "... the music I want them to make."
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