mr.edge
The Fly
the question is very difficult u2 have written a lot of lyrical masterpieces. its hard to fit just into 10
Dirty Day - Should be in the top five of everybody and anybody, in my opinion. Bono is not often this poetic while at the same time being so economical and clear in his meaning. I mean, I get why some people would say something like "A Sort of Homecoming," but a lot of the lyrics in that song boil down to college-aged-kid-wannabe poet-mumbo-jumbo - as Bono himself has more or less admitted.
Running to Stand Still is far and away my favourite, i'm still amazed by it to this day. i wrote a short story based on it. "if you don't like the world you're living in, see it through different eyes..." i love that.
I'm a little confused. Is this a line from your short story?
Ok, that makes sense...
i'm assuming that because there was no there you weren't being sarcastic?
i've always been fascinated by songs which give an objective view of drug use.
This isolating pop-lyrics from the music thing is tricky -- it only started in the mid- to late-60s when white people started writing non-"moon/June/spoon" lyrics for the first time.
If our standard is analyzing the lyrics as written/printed/read-orally poetry, then, as with any group, U2's lyrics are largely awful. There are a few that would more-or-less work on the printed page and not be laughable, such as "Stay (Faraway So Close!)" or maybe "One Tree Hill" although it has some of those JT-clichés with stars, seas, etc. (effective, but perhaps slightly overdone on the JT album).
In the 70s or 80s, people started calling this sort of thing "pop poetry", and then treating it (not only song lyrics) as its own genre. In that capacity, U2 are very good of course.
But as far as lyrics that work on the printed page, U2 are not in the league of someone like Joni Mitchell -- but then again, they never wanted to be, nor asked for their lyrics to be separated from the music.
We are talking about lyrics, this is a subgenre and they are never isolated from the music
Why are you comparing them to poetry? that's not a fair comparison
No sarcasm. I just hadn't heard the quote before, and I agree it's fascinating...
Well, no. Clearly, this post is talking about lyrics, not music. If we were talking about music as well as lyrics, that would be the best "songs". By identifying lyrics, we are logically separating them from the music.
I agree (though a lot of people disagree with you -- for example, some of my university professors, who taught song lyrics from the printed page). Which is why I said that as pop poetry, or within their own genre, U2 are very good. I'm just pointing out some of the different ways people can interpret "song lyrics" -- written poetry, oral poetry, pop poetry, melodic singing, whatever. For me, though, they are inseparable from the music. Nevertheless, there are some rare examples of popular songs whose lyrics still work well on the printed page, although I don't think U2 are a group that have a lot of such songs.
I think you've misunderstood my post -- we actually agree here.