kiwilad
Refugee
You guys are all just refu-jealous
If you look closely you'll hear my jealousy
You guys are all just refu-jealous
'look around, it's a sound'. Well, Bono, i can't see sounds so looking around won't help.
This is a song
A song for synesthetes
Maybe it's a clumsy homage to A Hazy Shade of Winter, we know Bono's been into Paul Simon of late.
'look around, it's a sound'. Well, Bono, i can't see sounds so looking around won't help.?
You're right. Paul Simon went off to look for America. Now Bono's found it. It was a sound. All this time. Poor old Paul. He was going about it the wrong way.
America's not a country
It's a symphony still being composed
I was thinking about this the other day. I think it's almost a guarantee that #RefuJesus ends up on a tour t-shirt, if for no other reason than to piss off Axver.Is that Bono, or satire? I don't know anymore
One of the funniest things about "refu-Jesus", is that you can tell Bono LOVES it. It's gonna be on a t-shirt, isn't it?
I
American Soul, from the start I knew that the song was a rocker and your lyrical expectations are kind of tempered with that realisation; it's more about what sounds good and flows with the music. From then on, it's pretty consistent. I guess that is what I look for in any song, that the lyrical and musical world it inhabits is consistent. 'Sexy Boots', meanwhile, does not belong in any U2 song (don't hate GOYB, but that is shameful).
I seriously hope you're not holding up Electric Co as lyrical genius...There is this point going through the interference that a rock song is expected to have inferior lyrics.
I don't think this was the case before we got elevation.
Bullet, fly, electric Co, UTEOTW, etc. All rock songs...but lyrics don't suffer for it.
It's inferior songwriting I'm afraid [emoji3]
Oh, and American Soul was a total when first hearing the Volcano lines, but after a few more listens it's really growing on me in the same way Blackout did. A great sound. The refu-jesus line isn't bugging me...
I seriously hope you're not holding up Electric Co as lyrical genius...
I mean... here's the thing.
When you're a younger band, or a band in your prime, you can get away easier with some corn ball lyrics.
As you advance, and your fan base grows older, they expect a little more from your new material, while ignoring past lyrical I. Memba?
There are plenty of examples of awful lyrics by U2 from their glory days.
Imagine if they wrote a song today where the first half is nothing but Bono reciting advertising slogans?
Yeah. Maybe you are right. I definitely ate up a lot of bs before, making it something much more than it was.
It's probably about perspective as well. And nostalgia also makes it hard to be objective.
Regarding zooropa - I still think that it's perfect. It fits the time, the theme, the concept. So perfect. It is what it is, it's not trying to be deep and it sends the message it wants to send. Maybe I would look at it differently today, but we'll never know.
I have more beef with the song structure and "feel" than with lyrics anyway. It's just too abstract to point to one thing and say - here it is, this is what is bugging me
But out of the new songs I enjoy more tbt and get out as they feel somehow more sincere - here it is. It's pop and nothing more. I can appreciate that.
Zooropa lyrics are gorgeous. The "have no compass..." part on SOI Tour was great. Conceptually, that whole record is on the money.
It was only a question of time before Bono's obsession with "America being an idea" made it's way onto a record as the thematic centrepiece. I would imagine that he's very stubborn with these things!
The refu-jesus line isn't bugging me...
I was thinking about this the other day. I think it's almost a guarantee that #RefuJesus ends up on a tour t-shirt, if for no other reason than to piss off Axver.
Is "be a winner, eat to get slimmer" a sublime piece of poetry? No, but in the context of that song, mood, arrangement, melody, etc. it works. Also, Bono's vox just used to be mixed better. In Zooropa's title track, his singing fits perfectly; there's dynamics; it jumps out at the right moments; some echo here and there; some crooning there; more attitude here. Why must every song lately have his vocals so up front? The corny lyrics have nowhere to hide. Give Edge a chance to fill out the track.
If only they would stop trying to be everything to everyone. If only they would stop chasing a hit! Why the rawk song?!?!
i'm not going to go back and look through credits but hasn't Edge been more involved in writing lyrics over the last few albums than in the 80s and 90s? If so, he might be partially to blame for the weaker lyrics.
I think in the big scheme of things - They are doing a pop record. In that way it is a departure for them. Even SOI with EBW and California and SFS, was not an overly pop record. This is an album it seems they've been wanting to make for a while. One that maybe a lot of us may not want them to make, or at least makes us a little wary.
That said, it was interesting - on Facebook last week, Rivers Cuomo hit back at Weezer fans a little on Twitter who were being critical of their last couple albums. Essentially hearing a lot of what is said here about things being too pop and it's "not the Weezer i love" type of stuff.
He responded very simply
Weezer Fans: Be Yourself!
Weezer Fans: NO, Not like that!
We've all seen it here. I'm guilty as well. If only they would stop trying to be everything to everyone. If only they would stop chasing a hit! Why the rawk song?!?! These producers are messing it all up!
But in the end, sometimes it may just be what the band is actually wanting to do. And that can suck sometimes when it doesn't line up with your expectations.