Was 'Cry' ever supposed to be a separate song in its own right?

[financeguy]

On the inlay card of my ageing and well worn cassette tape for Under a Blood Red Sky, 'Cry/The Electric Co' is described simply as 'The Electric Co.', but usually the song is referred to as Cry/The Electric Co.

Was Cry originally supposed to be a separate song in its own right or what is the story here?

 

[impy13]

And what is the connection with Is That All? The beginning is the exact same as Cry

 

[gareth brown]

well, they used the Cry riff for 'Is That All?' later on, didn't they, so I'm guessing probably not.
perhaps they ran out of tunes while recording October and thought they might as well use that riff? I still think they should have played 'Is That All?' live then segued it into The Electric Co.

 

[financeguy]

Connection with Is that All? Sorry I don't understand you.

 

[gareth brown]

the final song on 'October'.

 

[financeguy]

The beginning is the exact same as Cry

Ah right.

 

[gareth brown]

I heard 'Is That All?' before hearing 'Under a Blood Red Sky' and this was before I started nerding up on U2 trivia so was unaware of which came first and so on. I personally think 'Is That All?' is better as a whole song rather than wasting the riff for around 20 seconds

 

[financeguy]

I personally think 'Is That All?' is better as a whole song rather than wasting the riff for around 20 seconds

I think I'd probably agree. On a somewhat similar note, seeing as they're playing a fair number of older songs this tour it might be nice if they would do the title track of October during the tour, maybe as an excerpt somewhere. But I digress.

 

[Axver]

I do have some bootlegs from the Boy/October Tour days where Bono introduces the song as The Cry, and sometimes The Electric Co. Seems he considered it at least a song name. Not a damn clue if they ever really intended for it to be a separate song, though. My guess is that they were working on new material and realised this "mini-song" would work well at the start of The Electric Co., and then on October they were out of material and recycled the riff for Is That All?.

 

[financeguy]

^ Ah ok. Thanks.