U2: read this! (it may hurt but it's the truth!)

[Evalicious]

Great thread

LOL post of the year!

 

[darbyZ]

Why you people don't get it that every single fan has the right to express his/hers own view on U2 work,songs,lyrics...............Diversity is beautiful,appreciate it! THERE IS A SUBTLE LINE THAT DIFFERS A FAN FROM FANATIC!

 

[Zoots]

To me,

It's NOT about the lack of experimentation!

It's NOT about pop music and lack of guitars!

It's NOT about selling out, whatever that means. I have no problem with them promoting the ipod!


The only real problem I have with the last 2 albums is the lyrics! I think the lyrics seriously went down the freaking drain with ATYCLB! I mean, look at the last few verses (fragrant/basement) of Kite! Or the stupid rhymes of Elevation! Or everything except the 'scatter of light' verse in IALW! Or parts of New York! The terrible terrible rhymes of Grace! Moving on to HTDAAB... The weak chorus of COBL! The cringeworthy 'all of this could be yours' line in Vertigo! The weak 'where is the love' of LAPOE!

Okay, I won't go on because I don't wanna come off as an ATYCLB/HTDAAB hater, because I'm not. I do like other things about these albums and they still sound better than 90% of what's out there!

But compared to EVERYTHING from Boy to Pop.... yes, everything!, the afore-mentioned lyrics sound much too inferior and uninspired to me.

 

[BVS]

The cringeworthy 'all of this could be yours' line in Vertigo!

Why would this line standout as cringeworthy?

I can think of a lot of pre Bomb lyrics a lot worse than this.

 

[Zoots]

Why would this line standout as cringeworthy?

All of this could be yours... just gimme what I want and no one gets hurt???

I mean... WTF? It's like Bono just pulled this pseudo-cool sounding line out of his ass and just put it there in the middle of this song. The line doesn't seem to have anything to do with the subject at hand, the main lyrics of Vertigo that is.

It just sounds dumb! just my opinion.

 

[xaviMF22]

I agree with Zootlesque, the lyrics have really gone downhill.

 

[thelaj]

My personal most hated BOMB lyric is
"I'll give you everything you want, except the thing that you want"

I understand why its done (and was discussed a few posts up) but I still think it sounds awkward. Unless you knew what he was singing about (ie the fans) you would think "man that guy can't write a lyric " (ie the radio listeners)

 

[xaviMF22]

My most hated lyric on Bomb is
"Freedom has a scent
Like the top of a new born baby’s head"

 

[IrishDawg]

My most hated lyric on Bomb is
"Freedom has a scent
Like the top of a new born baby’s head"

If anyone would like to tell me what these lyrics mean, I would love to know.

Other than these lyrics I think HTDAAB had great lyrics, Mercy being the greatist lyrical song of all time

 

[Zoots]

Mercy being the greatist lyrical song of all time

See, they did a great job with Mercy!

...and The Ground Beneath Her Feet!

and Stateless!

and Fast Cars!


Then they go and leave these songs out of the albums!

So, what I'm saying is that they definitely still have it in them! They still got potential! But why don't they pick the good ones for the album? Why???

 

[BVS]

All of this could be yours... just gimme what I want and no one gets hurt???

I mean... WTF? It's like Bono just pulled this pseudo-cool sounding line out of his ass and just put it there in the middle of this song. The line doesn't seem to have anything to do with the subject at hand, the main lyrics of Vertigo that is.

It just sounds dumb! just my opinion.

The song is about temptation. During that bridge he takes on the role of the temptor. The line I imagine would be very similar to when satan said when he tempted Eve. I think it fits very well.

I mean there are some bad ones I agree, but I wouldn't call that one cringeworthy.

 

[Zoots]

The song is about temptation. During that bridge he takes on the role of the temptor. The line I imagine would be very similar to when satan said when he tempted Eve. I think it fits very well.

If you say so! I mean, I just always considered it as this fun rocking opener that doesn't necessarily mean anything, kinda like Discotheque. That's why on first listen, that line stood out like a sore thumb, trying hard to be cool but really sounding dumb! But if you've studied the lyrics and think it fits in with the meaning then more power to ya!

 

[LMP]

I always felt Elevation was just supposed to be catchy and fun, so the lyrical content doesn't matter to me

but yes, The "babies head" line in MD
some of the lines of Vertigo
and half of ATYCLB have very simple lyrics that are extremely un-Bono like

maybe he felt he had to simplify everything after being so "deep" with the AB-Zoo-Pop trilogy?

I don't know, but if it weren't for those sketchy lyrics, I'd be sold and everything post-2000

 

[MrBrau1]

If anyone would like to tell me what these lyrics mean, I would love to know.

"Freedom has a scent
Like the top of a new born baby’s head"

Those lyrics are about endless possibilities and all that could be.

I love that lyric. It's completly uncool.

 

[Zoots]

and half of ATYCLB have very simple lyrics that are extremely un-Bono like

Exactly!!! Thank you! The first time I heard that album, I was like.. is this the same guy? Is this the same band?


Btw, I don't see anything wrong with the 'Freedom has a scent' line! I like it in Levitate and I like it in Miracle Drug!

 

[popacrobat]

The song is about temptation. During that bridge he takes on the role of the temptor. The line I imagine would be very similar to when satan said when he tempted Eve. I think it fits very well.

I mean there are some bad ones I agree, but I wouldn't call that one cringeworthy.

i always thought of it as when satan tempted jesus in the desert.

 

[BVS]

If you say so! I mean, I just always considered it as this fun rocking opener that doesn't necessarily mean anything, kinda like Discotheque.

The beauty of Bono. Everyone once in awhile he can really slip one past you. You think you are just listening to some pop surface song but then it's actually pretty dark or heavy. Even Disco, if you take away the "boom chas", and the discotheques" is pretty great.

 

[BVS]

i always thought of it as when satan tempted jesus in the desert.

That's probably closer to what he meant.

 

[LMP]

Exactly!!! Thank you! The first time I heard that album, I was like.. is this the same guy? Is this the same band?


Btw, I don't see anything wrong with the 'Freedom has a scent' line! I like it in Levitate and I like it in Miracle Drug!

compare The Unforgetable Fire (the song) to anything from HTDAAB

and it completely blows it out of the water lyrically

so in closing, Bono needs another mullet

 

[doctorwho]

If you say so! I mean, I just always considered it as this fun rocking opener that doesn't necessarily mean anything, kinda like Discotheque. That's why on first listen, that line stood out like a sore thumb, trying hard to be cool but really sounding dumb! But if you've studied the lyrics and think it fits in with the meaning then more power to ya!

IMO, "Vertigo" has a lot more depth than "Discotheque". "Vertigo" deals with temptation, exhaustion and possibly a life spiralling out of control. Yet, as always, there's redemption.

"Discotheque" deals with superficiality, especially of night-life. Well, duh. As if we didn't know that. Sure, the song is deeper than that, but really, that's the main focus of the song - losing one's self in this superficial world where a song becomes the focus of one's life.

But really, lyrics are what you make of them. For example, I've enjoyed "With or Without You" because of Bono's passion, Edge's haunting guitar and Adam's steady beat. But the lyrics, IMO, are some of Bono's worst. It's like he bought "Analogies for Dummies" or "Similies 101" book and used whatever he could find on broken love. JT has some great lyrics - some of Bono's best - but not in that song. However, I'm positive tons would disagree. My point, though, is that trying to state that the lyrics in more recent work are "weaker" is ridiculously subjective - I'd argue about the lyrics on a lot of older work being far worse, such as in WoWY.

 

[BVS]

Bono's had some dodgy lyrics since the beginning, but almost every song had at least one redeemable line or two. I think Zooropa was the first time I found a song that lyrically had nothing of value for me. Some Days...

Then we had Miami, there are lines from Playboy that just kill me, New York, and then we had the tortuise line...

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

6. forget the down-to-earth thing: get the passion and the poetry back

It seems to me that perhaps you haven't listened to HTDAAB closely enough, because I think it's as strong lyrically as any of the albums you praise. Sure, there are lines that fall flat, but I think lyrically it's a much stronger album than ATYCLB (the lyrics were a big reason it took me a long time to even mildly like that album, and even now it's not one of my favorites). The album is a unified whole; there's an arc from beginning to end that I haven't seen in a U2 album since Achtung Baby.

 

[LMP]

I always felt WOWY is a song that's whole is stronger than the sum of its parts

the simplicity of the lyrics, and music complement each other so that it doesn't sound forced and fake

some of the newer songs sound like they're FORCING that "U2-sound", and the work suffers for it

I still love everything they've done though, it's just my minor gripes

 

[Zoots]

compare The Unforgetable Fire (the song) to anything from HTDAAB

and it completely blows it out of the water lyrically

Amen!

The Unforgettable Fire (song) is musical sex!

 

[financeguy]

Yeah but that's taking just one song from UF.

I prefer UF as an album to HTDAAB but its lyrics are not really its strength.

 

[LMP]

I know when Bono wrote most of his more memorable lyrics, he had some sort of poetic inspiration

like Yeats, Whitman, Frost, etc.

does anyone know if he's still using those kind of poets as stepping stones for lyrical or thematic ideas?

because if he isn't, it would explain alot for me

 

[Zoots]

Then we had Miami, there are lines from Playboy that just kill me, New York, and then we had the tortuise line...

Yeah, but at least Pop had so much going on with the sound! To say that the album is sonically interesting would be the understatement of the century! Furthermore, it had killer lyrics in Gone, Please, WUDM, SATS, IGWSHA, DYFL, Mofo, Velvet Dress etc. And personally I don't think there's anything wrong with the lyrics of Miami. Sure, the 'my mammy' part is a WTF moment but the sheer coolness of the song and the sonics more than make up for it! Of course, you'd probably narrow that down to subjectivity, my opinion only, etc.

I do agree that the beginning of Playboy Mansion is pretty bad lyrically! The rest of the song is awesome though!

 

[MrBrau1]

Bono's had some dodgy lyrics since the beginning, but almost every song had at least one redeemable line or two. I think Zooropa was the first time I found a song that lyrically had nothing of value for me. Some Days...

Then we had Miami, there are lines from Playboy that just kill me, New York, and then we had the tortuise line...

While this is true, the laser beam of scrutiny seems to be firmly fixed on recent recordings.

Crap lines in AB or War are forgotten or conviently ignored.

 

[Zoots]

Yeah but that's taking just one song from UF.

I prefer UF as an album to HTDAAB but its lyrics are not really its strength.

Are you kidding? Lyrics of songs like A Sort Of Homecoming, Promenade, Bad, Pride, UF, MLK etc. totally blow HTDAAB out of the water! I agree with LemonMacphisto!

 

[BVS]

Yeah, but at least Pop had so much going on with the sound! To say that the album is sonically interesting would be the understatement of the century!

I'm one of the rare one's that likes both periods of U2, there were songs then I didn't like, there are songs now I don't like.

But I don't agree with "at least Pop had so much going on ..."

I would much rather have LAPOE over Miami or Playboy anyday. But I would take WUDM over One Step anyday.

I would rather look at it song by song rather than decade vs decade.