Songs of Ascent - Part II

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IMHO Mercy's lyrics are breath-taking....shockingly good! I always knew Bono had this in him...

Winter's lyrics are actually pretty good like this too...but that butter on toast line has to go!!!!!! :doh:

He totally stole that line from Bilbo Baggins you know :wink:
 
Nice selective representation there.

I disagree. Are there better lines in Mercy? Yes. The lines in the verses are pretty hit or miss though. I think the one I used is representative of those lines. Winter however stays consistently good and on point outside the toast line.

All that said, I think Mercy is the better song and lyrics are a complete matter of opinion.
 
^ see the toast line doesnt bother me. It is a similie you never hear, so it has originality, it also describes exactly what is going on.

It may sound superficially clunky, but at least it isnt generic hyperbole, it is original writing, and gutsy to put something that could so easily be interpreted as a garbage line into the song
 
Mercy:
I was drinking some wine... and it turned to blood
What's the use of religion... if you're any good
I know i'm weedkiller honey... and you're sugar
If you're the prosecution... i get away with murder
If you were ice... i'm water
And with your telescope... i can see further
We're binary code... a one and a zero
You wanted violins... and you got Nero
You're gravity... searching for the ground
You're silence... searching for a sound
Your heart is aching... your heart is my home
It's fascinating... i know i'll never be alone
When I was ripping the stitches
Without two cents to rub
I'm digging the ditches
Of someone else's luck
Love is when i lie
Love puts the blue back in my eye
Love will come again
I'll be gone again... again
If you're hunger... baby let me feed it
If your heart is full... baby let me bleed it
And happiness is for... those who don't really need it
You love me... too much
You always loved me... too much
When I was ripping the stitches
Without two cents to rub
I'm in the ditches
Of someone else's luck
Love is when i lie
Love puts the blue back in my eye
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love's got to be with the weak
Only then love gets a chance to speak
Love will come again
I'll be gone again... again
I... i can't escape myself
I hear you talk
Feeling nothing
I fear nothing
Feel....
I can hear so much
Fear nothing
I feel so much
Fear... nothing
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love is the end of history
The enemy of misery
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love is justice, not charity
Love brings with it a clarity
Love has come again
I'm alive again
Alive...
I am alive, baby i'm born again and again
And again, and again and again and again
Again

vs.

Winter:
The yellow sun
Well, it took the hand
Of a country boy
To a city in a far-off land

We made no mark
No shadow at all
On the ancient, holy streets
Where I learned to crawl

The broken and the bruised
The young and the used
The sure and confused
All here

Words will then land on me
Then abandon me
Mangle, untangle me
Leave me on the floor
Rhymes, they sprang in me
Summer sang in me
But summer sings in me no more

Now I'm twenty-five
And trying to stay alive
In a corner of the world
With no clear enemies to fight

It's hot as hell
We're like butter on toast
But there's no army in this world
That can fight a ghost

The broken and the bruised
The young and the used
The sure and confused
All here

Words will then land on me
Then abandon me
Leave me stranded
In guard of the door
Rhymes began in me
Summer sang in me
But summer sings in me no more

Listening to the cries
The strangers
The silence of the foreign grave
Listening to the thunder
The sky is strange
Stretched over everyone
Listening to the tales
The child sings
That goes for days and days
Listening to the calls
Shouts, frustration

At twenty-one
I was born a son
And on that day I knew
I could kill

To protect the ones
We put bullets in guns
Or anything it takes
To take a life until it's still

Winter has better lyrics ? O-kay...
 
i think arguing over lyrics is pretty fucking dumb, personally.

:up:

I dream of SOA opening with the bridge to Winter, as an instrumental. A quiet, haunting opening to the album, that would set the stage for the overall mood.
 
Am i the only one who likes both lots of lyrics??

Let's all be thankful that neither set of lyrics contain anything as bad as 'intellectual tortoise':wink:
 
Am i the only one who likes both lots of lyrics??

Let's all be thankful that neither set of lyrics contain anything as bad as 'intellectual tortoise':wink:


:up: Like them both as well...favorite part of Mercy is

When I was ripping the stitches
Without two cents to rub
I'm digging the ditches
Of someone else's luck
 
Both songs are fucking great. That they were both left off the last 2 albums is a shame. They better make it on SOA in 2020 or whenever it comes out.
 
so ANYWAY.... songs of ascent... :drool:

i really think we'll be twiddling our thumbs until around January, then it will be the breaking point. if by the end of January, we don't know any more than we do now, then i'm afraid we're probably waiting a couple years.
 
true, just funny that ANOTHER thread in WTAHAN has degenerated into a Mercy arguement. Maybe from now on it will twist and each of these threads will turn into Mercy vs Winter threads
 
Both songs hold out hope of being reworked later, ergo they are relevant. That said, both are way too similar musically, so only one would be released... if ever.
 
The other could be released as a b-side on a remastered Bomb or NLOTH (Mercy or Winter respectively). This will be in over 10-15 years, though.
 
And to think, we almost hit 1000 posts without having a Mercy discussion. Almost dropped the ball on that one..:doh:

And to think we've almost reached our second 1,000 post limit, with not a lot to go by. Can you tell we're obsessed?
 
I haven't listened to Kingdom for quite a few months, but everytime I do listen I am amazed at how U2 still have the desire to pull something like that out of the hat. You'd think they're becoming sluggish, lazy and fat and only feel like writing pub rock songs but I suppose not. :up:
 
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