ou’re going to play me your new music on your phone? This is going to be awkward. But, sure, give it a shot. Yeah! It’s called “The Bard’s Last Breath.” We have almost finished this album called “Songs of Ascent,” which we’re not putting out. We’re going to put out a rock ’n’ roll album. So we’re not putting this out, but I’m telling you it’s awesome. [Bono plays the music from his phone, singing along with his own recorded vocals.] “It’s a matter of degrees, but the bard was never pleased to wake up in the morning/And he said, ‘Rise, rise, the sun will rise and will set/It will rise, rise, and it hurries to forget.’/He said, ‘Rise! Rise! All are leaving just not yet.’/He said, ‘Rise! Rise! With his very last breath.’” There’s pure joy. I’ll play one more. It’s amazing. It’s called “Smile.”
Is it telling about your personality that I asked you a semi-skeptical question about inspiration and your response somehow involves unabashedly playing me your new music while you sing along? No, not abashed! This is called “Smile.” It’s a very cool, Beatle-y thing. [Bono again plays the music from his phone, singing along with his own recorded vocals.] “You make me smile,/It’s been a while,/You put a smile/Back on my face, back on my face.” [A guitar part enters.] Edge! It’s a ridiculous pop sort of “Rubber Soul,” isn’t it?
They sound like U2 songs. Do they sound like U2 songs? But the songwriting is there, you see.
So you had a whole U2 album that you scrapped? Didn’t scrap it, just held it. It’s called “Songs of Ascent.”
And you decided an angrier album made more sense? A noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album. In among that unreasonableness, it is likely that I will put the part of me, the anger that hasn’t been managed, to good use. While I am, with this book, trying to make peace with myself and my maker, I have no intentions of making peace with the world. That’s not on the agenda. I like to think I have the freedom to be whatever I want. My anger at inequality became focused on a community far away from home. You know, you have to pick your fights.
