Some great questions!
Of course my friend and I do not claim to know what Bono was thinking or that we've 100% summed up the themes and there's no other alternatives. It's just one viewpoint that we formulated in an essay format.
marik said:
1) when does the betrayal initially start? when zoo station starts, has the character already started his betrayal? has he already met the 'other' woman? is he just tempted at this point, but not quite acting on it yet? according to you when does the betrayal happen/start on the album?
The last piece U2 did prior to AB was Rattle and Hum. Funny enough, the final song off RandH is "AIWIY". However, I do not think that there is correlation between the character in R&H and AB. I think that the AB character wasn't seen in the music before AB (although I haven't thought about each previous song in that context, off the top of my head I'd think that was right). Therefore I'd say we get the betrayl during Achtung Baby. We overtly hear about the "other woman" during The Fly ("I don't see when you she walks in the room"). Zoostation certainly hints that he's ready to explore and "lift up skirts" and wants to be hypnotized by another world. Even Better Than The Real Thing would be my guess when the betrayal starts. "Well my heart is where it's always been / My head is somewhere in between." The song is lighthearted and he sees no consequences and feels no guilt about his betrayal. He's wooing her and enjoying it.
marik said:
2) i really love the analysis of 'velvet dress'. so much that i've never thought of before. i'll never hear that song the same way again (a good thing) Also, you made alot of sense out of the 'The Fly' for me.
Thank you. Something interesting to point out is the version of Velvet Dress that Bono does with Jools Holland. We said in our piece:
He wonders "who'll catch the star when it falls?" Here a third entity is introduced: a star. It is plainly obvious that he is the star. He is a rock and roll star, and he is also a satellite of these two larger powers. And he is falling, but we do not know who will catch him. In an amazing action, he manages to yet again push his fate into the hands of these two women, drifting along in surrender to wherever the tides pull him.
Bono, in the Jools Holland version, actually
changes the line to "who'll catch the star when HE falls."
marik said:
3) One thing i'll argue is "so Cruel" the references in the song that you attribute as being directed to the sun/wife, i always heard them directed towards the moon/other woman.
"You disappeared from me,"
"I gave you everything you ever wanted / It wasn't what you wanted."
"it doesn't matter to you, it matters to me."
Great points. The moon certainly is elusive to him. They seem to want each other more when the other is being indifferent, and here Bono could easily be singing to her and accusing her of "disappearing" and not appreciating everything he gave her.
marik said:
One last question for you if you will,
according to you, does the album end, love is blindness, end without forgivence from the sun/wife? are you left hanging for this answer? do you know it will never be the same again for them? is it over for them? or does she accept him back with all his faults?
Hmm.. the song is pretty self-centered around the character, who is trying to shut out the world completely. Even if she wanted in we might not see it since the character might not acknowledge it at this point. However... my guess is she isn't at the point of forgiveness. (That'd almost be too easy for the character if she were.) If WUDM's lines of "Is it like a tape recorder / Can we rewind it just once more?" relate we see great regret from the character.. perhaps she never fully forgave him? Or perhaps his guilt over what he did never left him. This seems to indicate that things won't ever be exactly the same as before.
Great question and it would require some investigation into ATYCLB to see if our character is the same man there.
marik said:
just picking your brain on this..... if i have more time, i will give a lenghter summary on how i hear the whole journey happen song by song.
I would love to hear it.
Olive
