Songs of _________________; New album discussion #7

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I've preordered the book and plan on reading it before listening to the audio. The problem is that Surrender is released on the same day as Ian Rankin's new book. It's going to be hard to decode what to read first.
 
U2Songs has the following to say about the track listing for Songs of Surrender:

The forty songs being done run the entirety of U2s career. Songs have been recorded from U2’s earliest album Boy right up to 2018’s Songs of Experience. There are a total of 11 songs from the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience era included with these new recordings. (27.5%) But every studio album except for Zooropa is represented.

From the 1980s there will be three songs from Boy, one from October, two songs from War, two songs from The Unforgettable Fire, four songs from The Joshua Tree and one from Rattle and Hum. Additionally there’s a non-album track included from this era. There are 14 songs in total from this era. (35%) From the 1990s, there are six songs from Achtung Baby and one song from Pop. That’s a total of seven songs from the 90s or 17.5% of the songs redone. From the 2000s, there will be two songs from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, four songs from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and two songs from No Line on the Horizon. (20%)


Quite surprised they're doing tracks from SoI or SoE, given how recent they are.

What songs do you guys think we'll get from NLOTH or Pop?

I'm guessing Moment of Surrender and Breathe from NLOTH, and feels like Staring at the Sun is the obvious choice from Pop.
 
U2Songs has the following to say about the track listing for Songs of Surrender:

The forty songs being done run the entirety of U2s career. Songs have been recorded from U2’s earliest album Boy right up to 2018’s Songs of Experience. There are a total of 11 songs from the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience era included with these new recordings. (27.5%) But every studio album except for Zooropa is represented.

From the 1980s there will be three songs from Boy, one from October, two songs from War, two songs from The Unforgettable Fire, four songs from The Joshua Tree and one from Rattle and Hum. Additionally there’s a non-album track included from this era. There are 14 songs in total from this era. (35%) From the 1990s, there are six songs from Achtung Baby and one song from Pop. That’s a total of seven songs from the 90s or 17.5% of the songs redone. From the 2000s, there will be two songs from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, four songs from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and two songs from No Line on the Horizon. (20%)


Quite surprised they're doing tracks from SoI or SoE, given how recent they are.

What songs do you guys think we'll get from NLOTH or Pop?

I'm guessing Moment of Surrender and Breathe from NLOTH, and feels like Staring at the Sun is the obvious choice from Pop.

That's pretty cool. So they know the setlist for sure now. NLOTH is very interesting because those songs were written 3rd person. Wouldn't be surprised if it's Magnificent and Moment Of Surrender.
 
Moment of surrender and breathe are my predictions from NLOTH. He’s quoted breathe at least once or twice in recent weeks. From pop I’m also going for staring at the sun, hopefully with a good strings arrangement.
 
Yeah, it would have been acoustic Stay anyway, and I don’t need to hear another version of that. Plus we already have the Craig Armstrong version with strings, which wouldn’t be topped.
 
any bets on the non-album song?

Sounds like Luminous Times made the cut, given we've seen that title referenced in book art work
 
I’d gladly take an old man Bono “The First Time” or an Edge falsetto lead on “Lemon.” The 2018 version of Dirty Day is too talky for a record but would be perfect in the audiobook.
 
before anyone draws conclusions based on where the songs come from... remember, all of the songs on this album deal with a chapter in the book - whether that's because of the subject matter of the song, or because the title happens to fit the subject matter of the chapter.

soi/soe had a LOT of very personal songs, more than usual - so its not a surprise to see those two albums over represented.

it's also something else to think about it when trying to guess what songs from which albums. while i certainly think we'll see a lot of "the hits," i also don't think it's a guarantee that all of the songs chosen from a particular album are just "the hits"
 
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Confirmed songs so far

11 o’clock tick tock
Stories for boys
Out of control
October
Two hearts beat as one
Bad
One
Beautiful day
The miracle
Iris
Cedarwood road
Song for someone

There was a very brief bit of I will follow in the same video as song for someone, similarly the showman appeared in the video with Cedarwood road I think it was, Sunday Bloody Sunday has been referenced, streets is rumoured to be the first single and WOWY was played in New York a part of promoting the book. Vertigo and city of blinding lights also played.
 
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Quite surprised they're doing tracks from SoI or SoE, given how recent they are.

.

Since the songs are chapter titles, some SOI songs make perfect sense to be included for chapters about Bono's early life. Cedarwood Road & Iris seem like obvious choices. We already know from yesterday's excerpt that Schlong for Someone is in there.
And some SOE titles certainly would fit thematically.

I don't think the songs are chosen necessarily for their music or how great they are compared to other U2 songs, but more for their title and how it fits into his story.
 
I get the reasoning behind the SOI/SOE songs, but that many so soon after their original release waters this down for me a bit.



Part of me wanted to credit U2’s recency bias but then I remember how many Pop and NLOTH songs were still played after their respective tours…
 
Confirmed songs so far

11 o’clock tick tock
Stories for boys
Out of control
October
Two hearts beat as one
Bad
One
Beautiful day
The miracle
Iris
Cedarwood road
Song for someone

There was a very brief bit of I will follow in the same video as song for someone, similarly the showman appeared in the video with Cedarwood road I think it was, Sunday Bloody Sunday has been referenced, streets is rumoured to be the first single and WOWY was played in New York a part of promoting the book. Vertigo and city of blinding lights also played.

so it makes sense that the videos they've used in the promos would also be chapters in the book and, thus, appear on Songs of Surrender... and you're probably right, but it hasn't actually been officially confirmed.

"likely" would be a better way of putting it.

there's one review out there already that confirms three chapter titles...

The U2 frontman considers his life through the lenses of faith, family, activism, and, occasionally, music.

It’s not that Bono avoids discussing his world-famous band. He writes wittily about meeting future band mates (and wife) in school in Dublin and how he first encountered guitarist The Edge watching him play music from Yes’ album Close to the Edge. “Progressive rock remains one of the few things that divide us,” he writes. Bono is candid about the band’s missteps, both musical (the 1997 album, Pop) and ethical (force-feeding its 2014 album, Songs of Innocence, to every Apple iTunes customer). At nearly every turn, the author spends less time on band details than he does wrestling with the ethical implications of his successes and failures. Dedicating each of the book’s 40 chapters to a U2 song gives him a useful framing device for such ruminations: “Bad” deals with the loss of a friend to heroin, “Iris (Hold Me Close)” with the death of his mother when he was 14, “One” about the band’s own struggles. Considering Bono’s onstage penchant for sanctimony, his tone is usually more self-deprecating, especially when discussing his efforts to address AIDS in Africa and find the “top-line melodies” that would persuade politicians to release funding. He concedes being imperfect at the job; after a weak negotiation with then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, he recalls being berated by George Soros, who tells him he “sold out for a plate of lentils.” There’s little in the way of band gossip, and the author has a lyricist’s knack for leaving matters open to interpretation, which at times feels more evasive and frustrating than revealing. But he also evades the standard-issue rock-star confessional mode, and his story reveals a lifelong effort of stumbling toward integrity, “to overcome myself, to get beyond who I have been, to renew myself. I’m not sure I can make it.”

Chatty and self-regarding but pleasantly free of outright narcissism. A no-brainer for U2’s legions of fans.
 
so it makes sense that the videos they've used in the promos would also be chapters in the book and, thus, appear on Songs of Surrender... and you're probably right, but it hasn't actually been officially confirmed.

"likely" would be a better way of putting it.

there's one review out there already that confirms three chapter titles...
Most of them have been confirmed as
Out of Control, two hearts, song for someone and 11 o’clock tick tick are all confirmed as opposed to just likely as well as the 3 you mentioned. Beautiful day was also confirmed as a chapter. October, Cedarwood road, the miracle and stories for boys are just in the likely category then. They’ll all be on there though.
 
U2Songs has the following to say about the track listing for Songs of Surrender:



The forty songs being done run the entirety of U2s career. Songs have been recorded from U2’s earliest album Boy right up to 2018’s Songs of Experience. There are a total of 11 songs from the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience era included with these new recordings. (27.5%) But every studio album except for Zooropa is represented.



From the 1980s there will be three songs from Boy, one from October, two songs from War, two songs from The Unforgettable Fire, four songs from The Joshua Tree and one from Rattle and Hum. Additionally there’s a non-album track included from this era. There are 14 songs in total from this era. (35%) From the 1990s, there are six songs from Achtung Baby and one song from Pop. That’s a total of seven songs from the 90s or 17.5% of the songs redone. From the 2000s, there will be two songs from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, four songs from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and two songs from No Line on the Horizon. (20%)




Quite surprised they're doing tracks from SoI or SoE, given how recent they are.



What songs do you guys think we'll get from NLOTH or Pop?



I'm guessing Moment of Surrender and Breathe from NLOTH, and feels like Staring at the Sun is the obvious choice from Pop.
Would assume the Luminous Times is the non album track as I seem to recall seeing that referenced as a chapter.
 
Prediction

11 o’clock tick tock
Stories for boys
Out of control
I will follow
October
Two hearts beat as one
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bad
Pride
Streets
ISHFWILF
WOWY
Running to stand still
Angel of Harlem
Zoo station
The fly
One
Until the end of the world
So cruel
Ultraviolet
Staring at the sun
Beautiful day
Stuck in a moment
Vertigo
City of blinding lights
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
Original of the species
Moment of surrender
Breathe
The miracle
Every breaking wave
Iris
Cedarwood road
Song for someone
Raised by wolves
Lights of home
Get out of your own way
Best thing
The showman
Love is bigger
 
Just heard from one of my trusted sources that the band has decided to steer away from using Streets as the lead single for SOS.

Due to Bono’s recent infatuation with EDM, it’s going to be an EDM version of Get Out Of Your Own Way, with a heavy emphasis on the chorus and the “ahh ahh ahh ahh” after the title of the song is sung.

Single will come with 8 different remixes with full album released 4 months after. The band really feels strong about this new version and thinks this can be the hit they’ve desperately wanted for the last 15 years.
 
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