Songs We Never Talk About

[DevilsShoes]

There are lots of U2 songs we hardly ever discuss on here (sometimes for good reason) but I feel many are overlooked and deserve a bit more praise. Here's some of my favourites.

I Fall Down: Great early number, lovely little piano melody, Bono in good voice, breezy on the verses, dramatic on the choruses, great echo repitition at the start from Edge, big climax, before the whole thing literally falls down and disperses. Really like it.

The Playboy Mansion: The lyrics are a bit dated now, but I like its mournful feel, Bono sounds pretty weary by the end. All the imagery of casinoes, plastic surgery and driving in that pool work well. Favourite line: 'Its who you know that gets you through the gates of the playboy mansion'. Apparently there was another much more emotional set of lyrics for this song that Bono passed up in favour of the final version. A shame, I'd be really interested in hearing them, I think even Bono regrets it now.

New York: Quite a strange and eerie one this. Love Bono's quiet confessions before the big chorus, the band sound massive, plus the 'Come away now' bit at the end indicates the singers decision to choose responsibility over being lead astray by the temptations of the city (thats my interpretation anyway). Like all the stuff about icebergs and the titanic too.

Any songs you feel are overlooked and deserve a bit more attention?

 

[gman]

Seconds.....I love the groove to this song. And is just live!

A Day without me....A song that has remained one of my top faves for over 25 years, and is one of the songs that got me hooked on u2

Like a Song......Always liked the upbeat tempo of this song. Dont think I have witnessed it getting mentioned on this site

Love rescue me..needs more love in this forum, as seems to get slated a lot when mentioned.

October........a real gem of a song. Again............not sure I can say I have seen it mentioned in here. Soon be the time of year to dig the album out and giv it a listen from start to finish.

 

[pepokiss]

twilight...

think about this...


vertigo tour, san diego, first night

COBL
Vertigo

"thank you for being here... this is a new ride on old foundations"

starts TWILIGHT
then THE ELECTRIC CO





Bono talking during Twilight's intro

 

[U2One]

The Playboy Mansion: The lyrics are a bit dated now, but I like its mournful feel, Bono sounds pretty weary by the end. All the imagery of casinoes, plastic surgery and driving in that pool work well. Favourite line: 'Its who you know that gets you through the gates of the playboy mansion'. Apparently there was another much more emotional set of lyrics for this song that Bono passed up in favour of the final version. A shame, I'd be really interested in hearing them, I think even Bono regrets it now.
[/B]

I actually love the lyric of this song, in I believe that PoP has some of Bono's finest lyrics. I also love Bono's vocal on this song. Again, I'm sure a lot of people might disagree but I love Bono's vocals on all of PoP...

 

[LemonMelon]

Red Hill Mining Town. It's one of the finest songs U2 has ever recorded, and no one even talks about it.

 

[gman]

Totally agree wi LemonMelon on RHMT

 

[flowerchildH]

I really love the refugee off War. i have it on vinyl, and it sounds pretty awesome turned all the way up. edge did the main vocals on the song, so it just mixes it up a bit. plus this was their second album, so the youthfulness and bitterness i guess were still there. i think that the songs on the early albums are over looked most of the time. I like tryin' to throw your arms around the world, a lot too.

 

[cdisantis83]

Drowning Man is possibly their single most underappreciated song. Love Comes Tumbling and October are also unfairly neglected.

 

[EdgeIsTooSexy]

I fall down=love it
red hill mining town
tomorrow
new york

 

[Axver]

The following are hideously neglected: Treasure, Bass Trap, Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come, the two Boomerangs, Indian Summer Sky.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Red Hill Mining Town
Playboy Mansion

 

[ahittle]

Wow. A second set of Playboy Mansion lyrics? That would've sealed the deal for me.

I'd vote for:

Promenade
Indian Summer Sky
Tomorrow

There's a ton of good Passengers stuff that just gets lumped together.

Other than that, it seems like Interferencers do a pretty good job of talking about the entire canon!

 

[flybabe]

The following are hideously neglected: Treasure, Bass Trap, Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come, the two Boomerangs, Indian Summer Sky.

OmG,man I love thoes

along with Like A Song


1.With a Shout
2.Wake up dead man
and A sort of Homecoming

 

[MsMofoGone]

Originally posted by cdisantis83
Drowning Man is possibly their single most underappreciated song.

Agreed

It's such a heartfelt emotional song, that fills Bono's vocal with a passionate intrigue.

Why it continues to NOT get the recognition it so undoubtly deserves, is beyond me.

 

[Mr. V]

I Fall Down tbh... that's begging to be remade by either a modern indie band or U2 themselves.

 

[Axver]

There's a ton of good Passengers stuff that just gets lumped together.

That's for sure. United Colours, Slug, Always Forever Now, Beach Sequence, One Minute Warning - they should never be overlooked. Anyone who isn't familiar with those tracks is missing out in a big way.

I'm surprised at some mentions, e.g. Tomorrow is usually praised as October's second best song, and Promenade and Drowning Man have many fans around here, myself included. And personally, I'm glad we don't talk about I Fall Down much as it strikes me as one of the most boring songs in U2's entire catalogue.

I think far too many b-sides get neglected. Apart from those I've already mentioned, where's the love for Alex Descends Into Hell, Touch, Hallelujah Here She Comes, Endless Deep, Where Did It All Go Wrong? Endless Deep in particular seems very forgotten. Out of more recent stock, I've never been able to understand the lack of love for Smile; I think it's one of the top four or five songs U2 has recorded post-Pop, and for it to be overlooked in favour of songs like Vertigo, Mercy, and Beautiful Day is tragic.

And then there are the songs that naturally get overlooked due to their obscurity, many of which have not had an official release. Lost On A Silent Planet (admittedly one of the most popular pre-Boy songs, but that's not saying much!), Cartoon World (once a possibility to be U2's first single!), My Time Hasn't Come, She's A Mystery To Me, and Wild Irish Rose - they are all great songs. Wild Irish Rose is in my top ten U2 tracks.

 

[LemonMelon]

Promenade

^ Agreed with Axver about Hallelujah Here She Comes as well. I love that song.

 

[65980]

Nice topic for a thread. The three (already mentioned) that I would most like to support as unsung songs are:

1) Indian Summer Sky -- I was listening to it a couple of days ago, and it actually occurred to me: 'I have never heard anyone, ever, comment on this song.' It's really quite a nice, driving but somewhat ambient, song.

2) Drowning Man -- I haven't seen this one discussed on here, and I really love this track. It would be my third favorite from War. I recently read some interview with Adam Clayton from about 1983 or 1984 where he said this was his favorite song.

3) Bass Trap -- This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. Why they put the dead boring "4th of July" instead of Bass Trap on Unforgettable Fire is a mystery lost in the band's collective cranium.

 

[last unicorn]

Indian Summer Sky
A Sort of Homecoming
Tomorrow
Love comes tumbling
October
11 O'clock

Wake up dead man
Playboy Mansion

Most of Passengers

 

[An Cat Gav]

That's for sure. United Colours, Slug, Always Forever Now, Beach Sequence, One Minute Warning - they should never be overlooked. Anyone who isn't familiar with those tracks is missing out in a big way.

I'm surprised at some mentions, e.g. Tomorrow is usually praised as October's second best song, and Promenade and Drowning Man have many fans around here, myself included. And personally, I'm glad we don't talk about I Fall Down much as it strikes me as one of the most boring songs in U2's entire catalogue.

I think far too many b-sides get neglected. Apart from those I've already mentioned, where's the love for Alex Descends Into Hell, Touch, Hallelujah Here She Comes, Endless Deep, Where Did It All Go Wrong? Endless Deep in particular seems very forgotten. Out of more recent stock, I've never been able to understand the lack of love for Smile; I think it's one of the top four or five songs U2 has recorded post-Pop, and for it to be overlooked in favour of songs like Vertigo, Mercy, and Beautiful Day is tragic.

And then there are the songs that naturally get overlooked due to their obscurity, many of which have not had an official release. Lost On A Silent Planet (admittedly one of the most popular pre-Boy songs, but that's not saying much!), Cartoon World (once a possibility to be U2's first single!), My Time Hasn't Come, She's A Mystery To Me, and Wild Irish Rose - they are all great songs. Wild Irish Rose is in my top ten U2 tracks.

Wild Irish Rose is one of U2's finest ever songs. It came out during the period between Rattle and Hum and Achtung Baby, Night and Day, U2's greatest ever cover came out around the same time!
Do you know Ax if there is a complete version of WIld Irish Rose on the net? I just have the version from the Tv documentary which has lots of talking through it.

 

[AchtungGirl219]

I edited the version of Wild Irish Rose to cut out the talking but it isn't the same as having a complete version (the cuts in it annoy me more than the talking).

If anyone does know if this is available I'd greatly appreciate it too!

 

[AchtungGirl219]

I LOVE Promenade One of my all time favourite songs... Definitely not talked about enough!

October
Tomorrow
Luminous Times
A Sort of Homecoming (WAIA version)
Shadows and Tall Trees
Another Time Another Place
MOTD

Passengers and Walk to the Water

 

[major_panic]

What I want to know is, why does seemingly everyone on Interference hate Grace? I actually quite like it...

And Is That All. Why does everyone hate it?

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

Walk to the water
Like a song
Twilight
Shadow and tall trees
Indian Summer Sky
MLK

 

[DevilsShoes]

What I want to know is, why does seemingly everyone on Interference hate Grace? I actually quite like it...

And Is That All. Why does everyone hate it?

Oh I like Is That All, great little rocker, really frenetic and the endings great when they really crank it up before finishing with a lonely whistle.

 

[major_panic]

Oh I like Is That All, great little rocker, really frenetic and the endings great when they really crank it up before finishing with a lonely whistle.

The whistle's what does it for me...

 

[The_acrobat]

I just listened to "Stranger in a strange land", probably the U2 album track I'm most umfamiliar with. Obviously thrown together quickly and not much time to perfect it, but after reading U2 by U2 and hearing what Bono wrote the song about (the guards at the East German border patrol who were their age) I really appreciate it a lot more.

Also "Red Light". Obviously a weak track when stacked up against the rest of the War album, but I think it's pretty good. I got into U2 when I was 13 and I would never listen to this song, so it just became implanted in my mind over the last 12 years to skip it. But recently, due to the magic of shuffle in itunes, came across it and was pretty impressed.

 

[Axver]

I edited the version of Wild Irish Rose to cut out the talking but it isn't the same as having a complete version (the cuts in it annoy me more than the talking).

If anyone does know if this is available I'd greatly appreciate it too!

There's an edit someone else on Interference did a few years back (in 2004?) that's absolutely fantastic. You can't pick where the edit is - it sounds like a complete song.

But no, we don't have a full version of the song without the talking.

 

[AchtungGirl219]

Thanks for the info, Axver!

 

[ahittle]

October as a whole has been tragically under-valued as it is wedged in there between an awesome debut and a solidifying classic.

It's unfortunate that the story on October is that it's the "rushed one" or the "one Bono lost the words to." That's about as lazy as dismissing Pop as "the failed experiment" or whatever.

It's not as meticulous as Boy or as insistent as War, but it is a great record.