Speechless...

[Rob33]

Alright, well..I've been listening to Mercy and Window in the Skies for the last 2 and a half hours on continuous repeat...

what can I say?

Mercy is not far from becoming a masterpiece- in the end where Bono says "again and again...." I think the song would feel better if it exploded into something that winds down....has anyone else felt this way?

hopefully they'll cut the song down just a tad and add a better ending...

sorry if this has been discussed already, I know we've talked about Mercy before, but I dont' think I've appreciated these songs enough up until now

 

[Rosebud]

Totally agree. Truly AMAZING song, and has such potential. Does need to become a bit more cohesive, lyrically and musically I think though. I can't wait to see what they do with it!

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but where can I get the download? I want to put it on my pod, but I haven't been able to find it...

Thanks for bringing this lovely song to the table Rob!

 

[coolian2]

By the way, i freaking love Window In The Skies right now.

 

[PookaMacP]

Window in the Skies is just a great song. Great melody, great sound, and one of my favourites. Just a pity it got buried on 18 Singles.

 

[shaun vox]

i dont know!
for a pop song WITS does nothing for me.
i think it needs more work.

 

[digitize]

Totally agree. Truly AMAZING song, and has such potential. Does need to become a bit more cohesive, lyrically and musically I think though. I can't wait to see what they do with it!

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but where can I get the download? I want to put it on my pod, but I haven't been able to find it...

Thanks for bringing this lovely song to the table Rob!

*cough*searchyoutube*cough*

Both songs are amazing, and, I think, are some of the best that U2 have ever released.

 

[BVS]

*cough*searchyoutube*cough*

How do you download off of youtube?

 

[Justin24]

How do you download off of youtube?

www.vixy.net

 

[zuropa_fit]

Alright, well..I've been listening to Mercy and Window in the Skies for the last 2 and a half hours on continuous repeat...

You must not have roommates.

 

[BVS]

www.vixy.net

Interesting... hadn't heard of this. No wonder some people are removing their official videos.

 

[Rob33]

yeah youtube = convenient

WITS has an unbelievable ending..the lyrics are great! so smooth

It would really be a shame if they ended up leaving Mercy off the next album...

btw how did Mercy get leaked? it just came out of nowhere haha, I didn't know about it until I signed up to interference...

U2 PLEASE PUT IT ON!!!

 

[ramblin rose]

yeah youtube = convenient

WITS has an unbelievable ending..the lyrics are great! so smooth

It would really be a shame if they ended up leaving Mercy off the next album...

btw how did Mercy get leaked? it just came out of nowhere haha, I didn't know about it until I signed up to interference...

U2 PLEASE PUT IT ON!!!

The story is an interference legend:

http://forum.interference.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102136

 

[Peterrrrr]

I think Mercy is perfect as it is now, I don't want the band to do more work on it. I think it will be overproduced if they contunie to work on the song.

 

[Utoo]

The story is an interference legend:

http://forum.interference.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102136

Here's the cliff's notes:

-An Interference member, U2SJ, saw Bono at a hotel or someplace several weeks before HTDAAB was released. She asked about the album, and he said something along the lines of: "Watch out for Mercy--it's my favorite track."

-Another Interference member, skott100, a member of a U2 tribute band and who said he has connections with a guy at Interscope, got a copy of HTDAAB a week and a half before its release. The copy was on cassette and included Mercy tacked onto the end after Yahweh. He & his bandmates converted it to digital so they could start practicing the songs.

-skott100 was friends with U2SJ and gave the converted cd to her.

-U2SJ uploaded Mercy to Interference

-One of the biggest elements of Interference mythology was born.

 

[Diemen]

Am I the only one who thinks Mercy is probably the most over-hyped U2 song on this forum?

I'm sure people are going to say I "just don't get it," but it sounds like a bunch of lyrics that just kind of got cobbled together without ever really being fleshed out. The music doesn't seem to go anywhere. The lyrics are inconsistent both thematically and in how effective they are - one line might be quite clever and strong, the next line awkward and not related to the previous line at all. It get's a little more consistent about halfway through, but it's almost as if Bono is just throwing together lines that weren't used in any of the other songs, and then tagging on an overriding theme for the chorus.

I dunno, I just don't see the "genius" of it. The overall theme is nice and all, but.... meh.

Flame away.

WITS, on the other hand, I love. Perfectly crafted little pop song.

 

[VintagePunk]

Am I the only one who thinks Mercy is probably the most over-hyped U2 song on this forum?

No, you're not.

 

[Rob33]

No, you're not.

You guys are just on a very small island.

 

[Zoots]

I think I like certain parts of Mercy more than the others, like the guitar at the end sounds pretty cool even though it's not really a solo or anything. I like how the lyric "love is justice, a charity.. love brings with it a clarity" flows! I think I like the lyrics overall more than most songs released this decade. So what if it has a bunch of similes? At least there are no cheesy cliches or plain stupid lines like "soul in a strip tease, hate brought to it's knees".

 

[ahittle]

Am I the only one who thinks Mercy is probably the most over-hyped U2 song on this forum?

I'm sure people are going to say I "just don't get it," but it sounds like a bunch of lyrics that just kind of got cobbled together without ever really being fleshed out. The music doesn't seem to go anywhere. The lyrics are inconsistent both thematically and in how effective they are - one line might be quite clever and strong, the next line awkward and not related to the previous line at all. It get's a little more consistent about halfway through, but it's almost as if Bono is just throwing together lines that weren't used in any of the other songs, and then tagging on an overriding theme for the chorus.

I dunno, I just don't see the "genius" of it. The overall theme is nice and all, but.... meh.

Flame away.

WITS, on the other hand, I love. Perfectly crafted little pop song.

I agree. While they do contain some nice lines, the verses seem a little clumsy - a series of metaphors strung together. Unless you're Smokey Robinson 45 years ago, it's hard to do without sounding trite. It's just that the verses are so long in Mercy that you really notice Bono reaching for stuff to fill them up.

I get the notion that the verses could've been "Bad"-esque - lots of space and time for Bono to work some lyrical and melodic magic, but the version that exists sounds like it has lyrical place-holders to me.

And the melody is just not that great that it bears so much repetition. One would think that if they ever finished it, they would lop a good two minutes off.

Now, the chorus is pretty sweet. I'll admit that.

I love WITS. That "every broken heart" bit at the end gets me every time.

 

[U2SJ]

I Mercy!

 

[Rob33]

I agree. While they do contain some nice lines, the verses seem a little clumsy - a series of metaphors strung together. Unless you're Smokey Robinson 45 years ago, it's hard to do without sounding trite. It's just that the verses are so long in Mercy that you really notice Bono reaching for stuff to fill them up.

I get the notion that the verses could've been "Bad"-esque - lots of space and time for Bono to work some lyrical and melodic magic, but the version that exists sounds like it has lyrical place-holders to me.

And the melody is just not that great that it bears so much repetition. One would think that if they ever finished it, they would lop a good two minutes off.

Now, the chorus is pretty sweet. I'll admit that.

I love WITS. That "every broken heart" bit at the end gets me every time.

yeah, and I absolutely love this entire verse:

"Oh I know I hurt you and I made you cry
Did everything but murder but you and I
But love left a window in the skies
And to love I rhapsodize"

As far as mercy is concerned, pretty much everything you said in your post is evidence of a song that for one, wasn't meant to be released, and two, is unfinished regardless....in my mind, the song right now is in perfect condition to rework..

there are unnecessary lines, like you said..and the song is probably a little too long and they could probably add some more variation into the song but as far as I'm concerned, it's an excellent song for being unfinished...

 

[bram]

What makes you think its unfinished? It was very close to being on the album...dropped at such a late stage that all signs point to it being the final version (at least as it would have shown up on HTDAAB). The quality of the recording just isn't great, which makes it sound "unfinished".

Now, the fact that they didn't release it as a bside suggest that U2 has other plans for it, and so they may end up reworking it. But considering how the song surfaced, how could you explain that the first 11 songs were done, but track 12 was unfinished?

 

[Rob33]

What makes you think its unfinished? It was very close to being on the album...dropped at such a late stage that all signs point to it being the final version (at least as it would have shown up on HTDAAB). The quality of the recording just isn't great, which makes it sound "unfinished".

I'm not sure I understand what you mean...the very fact that it was dropped, regardless of any time frame, makes it unfinished in one way or another...

and yes, i agree, the fact that it is not a bside does suggest other plans

 

[mysterious_jen]

mercy its all in the guitar. would have loved to hear mercy on HTDAAB
and i am a huge fan of WITS .

thanks for this thread, made me revisit a few things mmmmmm...

 

[mysterious_jen]

makes me hungry for new u2.

 

[U2girl]

At least there are no cheesy cliches or plain stupid lines like "soul in a strip tease, hate brought to it's knees".

Yes..."we're a binary code - a one and a zero" is genius. Thanks for the Maths for dummies Bono.

I like WITS for what it is; a single and a nicely crafted pop song. Mercy is overrated, but deserves to be on an album, and considering Bono's initial "best B-side you ever heard" comment I assume they are keeping it.

 

[ahittle]

Didn't someone corner Edge about Mercy at the WITS video shoot? I thought he said, "It's not finished!"

 

[The_Edge89]

Didn't someone corner Edge about Mercy at the WITS video shoot? I thought he said, "It's not finished!"

I posted a summary of the conversation in this thread:
http://forum.interference.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=173929&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

Mercy
According to a fan in Melbourne that spoke to Edge during the shooting of the first video for "Window in the Skies"
http://forum.interference.com/showthread.php?s=&tthreadid=170434

Fan: Edge whats the story with Mercy?
Edge: Mercy?!
Fan: Yes, Mercy.
Edge: It's not finished yet.
Fan: Not finished?? Its 6:15 min long and that good but not finished?
Edge: Yes, not finished there are still some parts of it we are working on.

Also the Italian fan website U2place reported in May this year that Bono said that Mercy would be on the new U2 album, although he was confused about how it leaked:
http://www.u2place.com/newsdett.asp?idN=3038

And I'm more a fan of Mercy than Window In The Skies, although I think that Mercy will not be the same song we have heard if they choose to release it.

The track was leaked about three years ago prior to the release of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and since then fans have spoke to The Edge and Bono about it, so they must know that people have heard it already.
Edge said that they were still working on it (which probably means rearrange it and making it different in some way).

It is quite possible that they worked on it in Dublin this May since Daniel Lanois was also spotted and that was probably the Dublin Passengers session or something.

Then came the summer holidays when we got the '06 beach clips, it's possible that they have worked on the song in their studio in France without letting the people on the beach hear any of it.

After that they've had the Fez Sessions where they came up with lots of stuff and I don't doubt that Mercy would have been worked on if they really expect it to be on the next studio album.
The six musicians - or perhaps the band on it's own, but Lanois says they have been working three times together so far - have also been heard working in France this summer, however no recordings have surfaced yet.
Now there's a week or two until their next regrouping together and the band is already writing on their own as well.

I'm just pointing out that a lot of time has passed since they recorded that song which at the time was probably more than a demo since it was considered to be put on the last album. And I'm sure that if what they say is true, and if they want the next album to be a departure from the sound of the last two records then they might have to tweak it a little bit. I love it the way it is, but it's also exciting to imagine what U2 could bring out of the track with the help of their, in my opinion, best collaborators.

And I know that it sounds like it's going to be a Passengers release but since Eno/Lanois are close friends of U2 it is still likely that the band has discussed the track with them. We still don't know who will actually produce the U2 album so Eno/Lanois might be in charge of that.

 

[last unicorn]

Wow, another MERCY discussion. I so love that song. They should keep it as it is, maybe make it a little shorter, but please guys, don't mess around with it much more, don't overproduce it. It's a great song. I love the lyrics, the guitar, Edge's solo is amazing. I really hope they will do something with this song, put it on the album. B-side wouldn't do it justice.

 

[waynetravis]

Mercy

Window in the Skies