U2's most profound songs

[U2democrat]

Right now I'm watching the Slane performance of "Wake Up Dead Man" and can't help but thinking how straigtforward it is, yet very profound. It's very touching to me.


What do y'all think are some of U2's more profound songs?

 

[starsgoblue]

That's a toughie....

1)October
2) 40
3) Bad
4)Red Hill Mining Town
5) Stay
6)If You Wear That Velvet Dress
7)If God Would Send His Angels
8) Staring At The Sun
9)In A Little While
10) Walk To The Water
11) Dreaming With Tears In Her Eyes

These are in no order and I reserve the right to add or delete songs....

 

[hiphop]

Wake Up Dead Man is one of my favourites.

Bad.
God Part II.

If the new album´s lyrics live up to the quality of the lyrics of God Part II, I will be satisfied.

 

[U2democrat]

I also have to say Kite. Who isn't moved by this song?

 

[starsgoblue]

I forgot...eep


Ohh, I also need to add:

Miserere with Pavaroti
Miss Sarajevo with Pavorati too (what a jackass I am to forget that)

 

[ultraviolet7]

It depends on the interpretation you give to the lyrics. As we know, Bono has the rare gift of writing songs that can be read on multiple levels and therefore be given different interpretations.

In my own interpretation most of Pop is dramatically deep in meaning as it delves into the intricacies of the soul and lays bare in more than one song the torment of having to come to terms with oneself - but then that's my reading because I find myself reflected in many of the situations Bono describes. Mofo and Gone and also Staring At The Sun and Please have an incredibly deep meaning to me. I could also mention Walk On, Elevation or Kite on ATYCLB or The Fly, Ultraviolet (Light My Way) or Acrobat on AB.

 

[hiphop]

Oh yeah, Kite, most definitely. I love that song. Guess where I heard it last time.. near to San Juan del Sur.. at the Pacific Ocean.. it has and always will remind me of the sea and the past.

I should probably give it a listen right now. Arguably, it´s the best song on the last album.

 

[starsgoblue]

More than a few of my songs I picked make me tear up....very close songs to my heart...

 

[U2democrat]

More than a few of my songs I picked make me tear up....very close songs to my heart...

that's how kite and wake up dead man are for me.

 

[starsgoblue]

Dreaming With Tears In Her Eyes really gets me sometimes...same with Miss Sarajevo

 

[starsgoblue]

Bono's performance of "Kite" on the Slane DVD...priceless. Bono's extra verse on that DVD's rendition of "One" gets me too.

 

[Inner El Guapo]

One Tree Hill, the song is basically a eulogy, right?

I think HTDAAB might have a few on it.

 

[BonoFox1]

All the above mentioned songs are very profound!! and Yes I also
get teary with certain songs...I soo LOVE Kite and Please..also
Dreaming with tears in my eyes...oh and there is One Tree Hill or Springhill Mining Disaster..Wild Irish Rose is among those that are deep..Bono does have a Godly gift with words...

 

[starsgoblue]

One Tree Hill, the song is basically a eulogy, right?

I think HTDAAB might have a few on it.

Well I bawled after hearing the version of COBL that's floating around....I mean bawled. This album is going to be something..

 

[xana dew]

Running to Stand Still

Gone

 

[U2democrat]

i don't believe i've heard 'Dreaming with tears in my eyes' is it a b-side?

 

[Needle_Chill]

Running To Stand Still
Bad
All I Want Is You
MLK
In A Little While
Wake Up Dead Man
Where The Streets Have No Name
October
With Or Without You
Exit
40
Kite
4th Of July (Even without lyrics...)

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Running to Stand Still
North and South of the River
Please
Wake up Dead Man
One
One Tree Hill
Where the Streets Have no Name
Acrobat
The Wanderer
Grace (shoot me, I think it's profound in it's simplicity)
Miss Sarajevo
Gone
So Cruel
October

 

[reggiethedawg]

That's a good question.

Pretty much every song thats coming to me as I reply to this has a certain level of profoundness.

I can barely think of any non-profound or throwaway U2 song at the minute, although I'm sure there are a couple somewhere along the lines, hmmm maybe 'Big Girls Are Best' can pass as one!

One of my favourite quotes from the main man himself, '...there is blood in our music...'.

I think the main one's that hit me like a brick are...

* Kite
(how moving to see so many people totally reduced to a 'blubbering wreck' including myself on the last tour)
* One
* Tomorrow
* Where The Streets Have No Name
* Beautiful Day
(I'm sure a lot of casual listeners might think its just about the sunshine! Nothing too wrong with that I suppose. I prefer to go with Bono's description of what its about though! Like many of U2's songs it works on many different levels.)
* Mofo
* Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
* Wake Up A Dead Man
(from the Achtung Baby demos, despite it being the song that later became The Fly/Ultra Violet/LWTSH, and sung in 'Bongolese', the words that do come through along with the sonically apocalyptic ending have always implied to me that this is another ditty about suicide.)
* Dirty Day
* Acrobat
* Bad
* 40
* Until The End Of The World
* Love Is Blindness

There are so many more too. One or two of the above songs hit such a raw nerve, that I find them slightly difficult to listen to.

City Of Blinding Lights has managed to make me teary-eyed within a couple of listens also, quite an astonishing song. I think all of us U2'ies are in for an amazing year or two once again.

 

[u2valleygirl]

Kite. Brings a tear to my husband's eye. My husband who never cries.

 

[ADecentMelody]

Kite's excellent. I remember when the song titles were first announced for ATYCLB and saw the title Kite. I thought...why is Bono writing about kites??? I want something profound and deep. Then, I heard the snippet with the lyrics, "who's to say where the wind will take you, who's to say what it is will break you, I don't know where the wind will blow."

Then I knew this was going to be an awesome song.

Others...

*Tomorrow - still remember finding out it's about Bono's mother's death and really loving this song with its haunting imagery and Bono's surrender to God's love and purpose

*Red Hill Mining Town - very deep in the way Bono let's his voice bring out the desperation of those miners who are trapped in their profession

*One Tree Hill - the additional ad-libbed, one-take lyrics at the end to finally say goodbye to his friend, Greg Carrol

*So Cruel - the struggle between lovers who's relationship has long been over yet neither one wants to let go

*Love is Blindness - Bono's interpretation of The Edge's divorce set to music. Love the way The Edge added a blistering 4-part solo during the live version. The imagery of things falling apart is sung and played at the same time.

*Dirty Day - Bono takes a chunk in the middle of the song to pay homage to his then new relationship with his father. Also acknowledging lost time as the days run away like horses over the hills (taken from a Bukowski poem).

There's tons more but those definitely come to mind.

 

[vivaSA]

Kite
One
Miss Sarajevo
Gone
40

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Bono's performance of "Kite" on the Slane DVD...priceless.

When I had only heard Kite on the album I thought it was 'nice' but musicaly a little forced. When I heard the live version it really came into it's own. And then finally that Slane DVD, Bono's Goodbye's are an amazing thing, I mean there's a man saying a final farewell to his father in front of 100,000 people, but it's so intimate. So it went from filler to absolute thriller for me.

But that doesn't answer the original question.
I think there are plenty on Achtung. Like I said in another thread, That album is 13 years old, I've owned it that long and I've listened to it that much that I'm onto my third copy, but I still have moments where something dawns on me. It's so intricate, there's so much in it, and all those little awakenings you get from it are all these profound little moments that just haven't clicked before.

 

[PowerSurge]

Bass Trap




seriously....Streets. If you disagree, then I submit exhibit A: Every U2 concert since Joshua Tree tour when the screens go red...

 

[u2bonogirl]

isnt u2 profound in just about every song? well to me anyway.
lyrically there are too many
musically too many
hmmmm
i really do think so cruel is profound
maybe because it kinda describes me sometimes...

 

[ADecentMelody]

Then you're obviously a profound creature.

 

[xana dew]

Mofo packs a punch. Bono lays himself wide open in that one.

 

[Cute Irish Bono]

I say Tomorrow, A Day Without Me, Seconds, Exit, Wake Up Dead Man, Kite.

 

[Cute Irish Bono]

God part II too!

 

[starsgoblue]

*Tomorrow - still remember finding out it's about Bono's mother's death and really loving this song with its haunting imagery and Bono's surrender to God's love and purpose

Amazing song...