Earnie Shavers said:
Well, it still has the same lyrics, and that alone is enough to kick pretty much all of the Bomb tracks around the block. However, many of the things I don't like about Mary J's One vs the original pretty much line up with many of the things I don't like about Bomb-era U2. I have no beef with the genre they've taken the song to, or Mary J who has done some really excellent stuff and has a great voice. The concept is fine with me, but the execution is really poor. The life of the song is just sucked out of it. It's a song that is supposed to be sort of pleading and hopeful at the same time, but she makes it sound aggressive. The original U2 version stirs up all sorts of stories and imagery in your mind based around this kinda groundbreaking conversation in a relationship between two people - partners, father/son, many things. But the Mary J one, all I can picture is her banging her fist on the table. I really hate it.
Mary J is a talented singer, but what she is delivering to this song doesn't 'fit' the mood of the song. She forces the lyrics, while Bono tries to equally reflect and plead - but he can't quite do that because Mary J is basically screaming beside him. The video just made it worse. How can you be taken seriously if you are aggressively pleading for help, when you show up (and make a big show of it) with bodyguards, a limo, diamonds, fur, etc.??
The idea to bring this sort of song to a different genre is a good one, but it really needs to be a new song with this same message. I'm hoping that U2 feels that they've accomplished what they intended to with this release. And I hope they continue trying to reach out to different genres.