Super Amazing One Reversal Go!

[The Panther]

To say that One is no more popular than Discothèque in the US is, quite honestly, ridiculous.

Except I didn't say that.

 

[gvox]

Except I didn't say that.

Good grief. You trotted out peak chart placement to construct some sort of comparison of One's radio popularity to those two tracks.

You compared it to Discotechque and WLCTT. In a discussion of radio popularity and airplay, those two songs don't even belong in the same sentence as One. That's absurd.

 

[OpenG180]

Ridiculous isn't the word. One still plays on adult contemporary radio in Canada and the USA, regularly. On some stations, daily even or at worst every other day. Discotechque and When Love Comes To Town are long forgotten. Even in it's prime, WLCTT was largely eclipsed on mainstream radio by Desire. Even a station playing a retro set/format, will play Desire...and, ironically, One, long before either of those two tracks.

Nipplers was in Phuket getting "massages" between 1992 and 2004, also, so that also might explain his..perspective.

So the panther is nipples. Another mystery solved.

 

[Nick66]

Are personal attacks on someone expressing a dissenting viewpoint really necessary?

I think we've had quite enough of that on these pages.

 

[gvox]

 

[nielsgov]

I didn't really like One, until I heard the remastered version.

 

[gvox]

 

[Nick66]

I didn't really like One, until I heard the remastered version.

I felt the exact same way about Vertigo.

 

[Diemen]

Remember this post next time you click the report button.

 

[The Sad Punk]

And if this is not a trick, may you weep for the death of my innocent heart..

It's not a trick.

 

[gvox]

It's not a trick.

Well then! I wholeheartedly endorse your original post! One is an absolutely beautiful song.

 

[Nick66]

I adored the "Hear me knocking" coda added to "One" in the live performances. That really made the song shine.

Pun intended?

I agree...that coda, along with the "Shine like stars", always gets to me, no matter how many time I've heard it. And yeah, it kind of renewed "One" for me when I heard it at Elevation the first time. Just as "Shine Like Stars" elevates WOWY into outer space.

Great thread!

 

[digitize]

Shine Like Stars and Hear Us Coming are gorgeous.

 

[lazarus]

Shine like stars doesn't deserve to be mentioned alongside Hear Us Coming.

 

[djerdap]

Yeah, Shine Like Stars is even better.

 

[Globo14]

Shine Like Stars is a lot more essential to With or Without You than Hear Us Coming is to One, in my opinion.

 

[cobl04]

Shine like stars doesn't deserve to be mentioned alongside Hear Us Coming.

as much as I like the former, it doesn't take WOWY to a higher plane like I feel Hear Us Coming does One.

They snippeted Love Will Tear Us Apart in WOWY the first time I saw them and it was just as good.

 

[gvox]

I tend to agree. While I think it would take actually being there to appreciate it fully, and while I feel Shine Like Stars is one of my top U2 live moments, it doesn't do for WOWY what Hear Us Coming does for One. And, as pointed out, there are a number of other outros that Bono has used for WOWY that work well also. Apart from the standard album falsettos, Hear Us Coming is simply The only outro for One. Its on another level altogether.

 

[digitize]

I wish Hear Us Coming had been paired with Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah on the last leg of 360 (Hallelujah was often snippeted between One and Streets, but never with Hear Us Coming, which Amazing Grace did get), but that absurdly specific of a wish shows how crazy of a fan I am, I guess.

 

[Nick66]

I love them both (Shine Like Stars & Here Us Coming), but IMO the edge (if you'll excuse the pun) goes to Shine (for obvious reasons).

I can say definitively that none of other WOWY codas can hold a candle (if you'll excuse the pun) to Shine. This is pretty much non-debatable.

 

[cobl04]

What reasons? Genuine question.

 

[Nick66]

What reasons? Genuine question.

It's just better.

More specifically...hmmm. Well, for one, the lyrics. Personally speaking, I prefer the elevated, and ultimately redemptive, lyrics of Shine (We'll shine like stars) vs. the fatalistic ones in "Here Him Coming" (Then you make us crawl). I also think that the fact that Shine is played with significantly less frequency, makes it more of a special event. And just speaking subjectively, I am more moved, personally, by Shine. You are left with a different impression of WOWY when those lines are attached, in a way that you don't with Here Him Coming.

Moreover, historically, for U2 Shine Like Stars is significant as well, given the fact that Shine gave us a preview, several years in advance (and prior to the band's Berlin "crisis") of an idea and lyric that would ultimately become "One". In fact, with all the attention that "One" got in the Sky Down doc, I'm surprised they never mentioned its connection to Shine Like Stars.

That's not to say I don't love the One coda, b/c I do. In fact I'd say that "Here Him Coming", thematically speaking, is a more natural fit for One than Shine is for WOWY. "Here Him Coming" sounds more organic, like it could have been an original part of the song. As I mentioned, it doesn't change the tone of One the way Shine does for WOWY (which, for better or worse, offers hope at the end of an otherwise pretty dark song).

Again, I love them both, and there's no right answer…except of course that Shine outdoes any other WOWY coda by a long shot.

Dig, you should do a poll about the codas and intros (like the one to Fly, for example). I bet that hasn't been polled yet.

 

[digitize]

Dig, you should do a poll about the codas and intros (like the one to Fly, for example). I bet that hasn't been polled yet.

Not a bad idea, but what is there, other than those three?

 

[gvox]

Just so there's no confusion (and there are variations to both, but in general) here are the two codas:

WOWY
Oh, we'll shine like stars in the summer night
We'll shine like stars in the winter night
One heart
One hope
One love

ONE
Can you hear us coming Lord?
Hear us call?
Hear us knocking
We're knocking at your door
Can you hear me coming Lord
Hear me call?
See me scratchin
Will you make me crawl?

I don't hear fatalism in the One coda at all. I hear a very open ended cry out to the Lord (in it's most literal sense, of Christianity, but of course any religion could be applied here) basically: here I am, presenting myself to you now - sin, warts and all - what are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna make me crawl/beg for admittance to your favor, etc

I don't see that as fatalistic I feel it to be highly redemptive, in fact, liberating in such a way that no doctrine or theology taught by any church can accomplish. It's a prayer, a supplication, that I've not been able to get out of my head since the first time I heard it. For some, it might even be the only prayer they've ever felt like saying. I know for me, as a person with an upbringing firmly rooted in fundamentalist religion, it resonates very very powerfully.

And this, for me, is why it's a far more powerful coda. I feel Shine Like Stars by comparison is possibly just too warm and fuzzy and ending to a song that hasn't quite resolved itself, and while it's nice and very special, it's not saying as much or doing as much, for me now, as is the coda for One. It's almost a tacked-on sentiment to the song that doesn't necessarily "fit". In some respects, Love Will Tear Us Apart "fits" even better, perhaps. Not saying that it's better, however.

And I write this still realizing that the coda for WOWY holds such a hallowed place in my memory banks, I mean that is the coda that still gives me spine tingles every time I hear it, it was one of the highlights of my first experience seeing U2 live, it's just an amazing amazing U2 moment and always will be one of the moments I knew that Bono/U2 were an extremely special band. It was hands down one of the first "best live moments" for me, for sure...and then along came One...

As for the concept of One-ness etc in the coda for WOWY and it being a preview for the idea of One (is this noted anywhere by anyone in the band, ever? I could be wrong but I've never heard it)...I think they are both far more derivative of Bob Marley's "One Love" - especially verse 1 of One, it's practically a quote of Marley's lyrics - and I felt that from the very first time I heard the track. Given that 3 of the members of U2 are on record naming Marley as one of their favorite artists of all time and a huge influence, it's not too big of a stretch. And if you're aware of what was going on in that musical scene leading up to the writing of One (ie post-Marley reggae), verse 1 makes a hell of alot of sense, it's almost a direct criticism. None of this interpretation has been confirmed by Bono/the band, however, or at least that I'm aware of. It's just how I see it sometimes.

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

While it didn't take me 20+ years after the album's release to realize this, it did take a while and I fully get what you're saying.

When AB first was released, "One" seemed to be "in the way" of all the other good songs. This is especially true of the first 4 tracks, where "One" just spoiled the mood. It was a bit equivalent to "Bullet the Blue Sky" ruining the great mood created by the first three tracks on JT.

In retrospect, perhaps U2 intentionally did both. One of my complaints about JT is that many of the songs just melt together. "Bullet" mixes that up - and in a big way. Likewise, "One" pulls people out of whatever rhythm they were in. And like "Bullet", it took quite a few listenings to "One" to enjoy.

Both songs had the advantage of sounding absolutely great in concert. I adored the "Hear me knocking" coda added to "One" in the live performances. That really made the song shine.

Still, during AB's hey day, I more or less tolerated the song. I enjoyed it because it was U2 and I was happy they had a top 10 hit with it. But I never liked it as much as other U2 songs.

Then, perhaps 5 years after the album was released, I started listening again. And I REALLY loved it. One friend even asked me why I suddenly enjoyed the song so much (perhaps wondering if there was some "break up" or some family problem). No, none of that occurred - it was that I suddenly appreciated the song on a new level. To this day, I feel it has some of Bono's best lyrics - perhaps his best ever.

I know Axver hates the song. I never went that far. But I can see why some might not like it at first. It can be a grower.

Of course, now it's basically U2's theme song, so being over-played has hurt it again. And I'll ignore what Blige did to the song.

It took me 6 months to realize the power, beauty and genius of 'One'...

 

[U2DMfan]

One and Pride are brothers in this respect. Brilliant studio versions, diluted by years of mostly live half-assery and general over-saturation.

If you've been tired of Pride, or U2's half-ass live versions of it for the last 20 years, do yourself a fLavor and put on the studio version of that fucking song. #Greatness.

 

[doctorwho]

as much as I like the former, it doesn't take WOWY to a higher plane like I feel Hear Us Coming does One.

They snippeted Love Will Tear Us Apart in WOWY the first time I saw them and it was just as good.

I agree.

I love both codas and appreciate the extention in WOWY. But the "hear me coming, Lord" bit really helps transcend "One" to another plane. Bono usually sings it very emotionally, which definitely adds to the song.

 

[djerdap]

I disagree that Bono singing the chorus line of Love Will Tear us Apart again and again matches the raw emotion that is the Shine Like Stars verse. There is no adequate replacement for it; versions with that verse were always the best.

 

[cobl04]

I think it speaks volumes about the passion and the power of One's coda that it still resonates deeply with me despite the fact I'm an atheist.

 

[Nick66]

I think it speaks volumes about the passion and the power of One's coda that it still resonates deeply with me despite the fact I'm an atheist.

Or perhaps it speaks volumes about your own convictions with regard to atheism.

Fascinating.