U2 at the EMA'S???

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womanfish said:
You not being a Kite lover is reason enough to disregard your opinion on emotion.

And using the fact that EBW was being worked on back during NLOTH to justify the fact that it somehow doesn't fit on SOI and then somehow diminishes the emotion that Bono feels for it is ludicrous. I'm sure there are dozens of songs left over from every batch of work they do. It takes in new direction and life and comes to the fore once it's ready.
It was more than obvious that it was NOT ready to have it on NLOTH. The performances of it were really rough- it was a song with strong verses that died every time it got to a point where a chorus should be.

And just because SOI has songs about their youth doesn't mean it's out of place. The Troubles is maybe the best song on the album, but doesn't fit that mold.

EBW is definitely more open ended and nebulous in its meaning, I would say this goes for many of the bands biggest and most beloved hits. One, WOWY, ISHFWILF for example.
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The Troubles absolutely fits the theme of the record. I love EBW and I'm glad it's on the record, but it really doesn't belong there. It's clearly not a song about young lovers. It's not really that open ended - it's about a couple that's been together for a while, or it's about people that have lived a lot and thrown love away but might make a go of it with each other. Neither option has anything to do with youth.
 
The Troubles is about relationship violence, often, but not always, domestic, and about the colonization of the mind.


Sent from
 
Hollow Island said:
The Troubles absolutely fits the theme of the record. I love EBW and I'm glad it's on the record, but it really doesn't belong there. It's clearly not a song about young lovers. It's not really that open ended - it's about a couple that's been together for a while, or it's about people that have lived a lot and thrown love away but might make a go of it with each other. Neither option has anything to do with youth.
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I don't agree about the Troubles. I think that The Troubles talks a lot more about learning about yourself. Accepting that the hardest thing to do is to know yourself and to accept that you might just be full of shit and need to (to pull from EBW) listen more and preach less.

And of course it deals with relationships and domestic violence and how letting someone in can slowly chip away and take away from you if you don't know and be true to yourself.

To me, much more of a song that would fit on a Songs of Experience record.

And I feel the same with EBW. Sort of a lessons learned, know your limitations, know that maybe what you have is the best thing and looking to greener pastures may be the wrong thing.

Again, more of an experience song in my opinion. So I just think that while they put both of these songs on SOI, they may not really fit exactly the theme. But it still makes for a great record.

I do think that EBW is an important song for them. Part of me thinks they hit on something they loved with it, and put it on SOI because they didnt' want it to sit for 2 more years. LOL
 
innocence

noun
1. the quality or state of being innocent; freedom from sin or moral wrong.
 
womanfish said:
I don't agree about the Troubles. I think that The Troubles talks a lot more about learning about yourself. Accepting that the hardest thing to do is to know yourself and to accept that you might just be full of shit and need to (to pull from EBW) listen more and preach less.

And of course it deals with relationships and domestic violence and how letting someone in can slowly chip away and take away from you if you don't know and be true to yourself.
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Learning about yourself is what growing up is all about, and this is a record about growing up.

I don't see the domestic violence in the song. I think it's an internal dialogue, that Bono is addressing himself, personifying the trouble within as a means to defeat it. The "taking on the shape of someone else's pain" bit I think refers to making others deal with his grief and rage. That's my interpretation anyway. I guess it doesn't really matter if things fit or not because it's not a concept record in the way that Tommy is, even if it actually makes more sense if you do try to impose a narrative on it.
 
Hollow Island said:
The Troubles absolutely fits the theme of the record. I love EBW and I'm glad it's on the record, but it really doesn't belong there. It's clearly not a song about young lovers. It's not really that open ended - it's about a couple that's been together for a while, or it's about people that have lived a lot and thrown love away but might make a go of it with each other. Neither option has anything to do with youth.
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Consider that the people in this song have also been together since their mid-teens. It fits, retroactively.


Sent from my fingertips.
 
Montrose said:
Consider that the people in this song have also been together since their mid-teens. It fits, retroactively.


Sent from my fingertips.
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But it's dealing with experience. It's not about their mid teens or Dublin in the 70s, it's a very adult song.
 
I don't think The Troubles is about Bono and Ali at all... I think it's about Bono and his father.

My alternate theory is that Sleep Like A Baby and The Troubles are related and were supposed to be back to back on the album, but they tossed Reach in the middle once they decided it wouldn't open the album in order to make it less obvious.

When you take those two songs back to back, it opens up a whooooooole new can of worms.
 
O
Hollow Island said:
The Troubles absolutely fits the theme of the record. I love EBW and I'm glad it's on the record, but it really doesn't belong there. It's clearly not a song about young lovers. It's not really that open ended - it's about a couple that's been together for a while, or it's about people that have lived a lot and thrown love away but might make a go of it with each other. Neither option has anything to do with youth.
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Interesting take on 'Every Breaking Wave', but it seems to be about a man with two lovers. He is contemplating leaving his long term lover for another woman, but in the end decides to stay with his long term lover. It's gut wrenching because he is in love with both of them, and has to let one of them go. The conversation he is having is with the other woman: "Every dog on the street knows we're in love with defeat," is him telling her they are in love with each other out of giving into defeat with their long term relationships (the easy way out), and him asking her, "Are we ready to be swept off our feet and stop chasing every breaking wave?" is him saying are we ready to be swept off our feet with the our long term relationships and finally accept our responsibilities? When I first heard these lines, I thought it was in reference to each other, but it's actually in reference to the other two (the long term lovers of the two having this conversation) IMO.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
Clearly The Troubles would fit better, thematically, on an album we haven't heard yet and doesn't exist.

Clearly.
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Sarcasm aside. I do think that both EBW and The Troubles are the two songs that aren't clearly about their youth and and experiences during those times.
ie. seeing the Ramones, road bono grew up on, seeing the Clash, seeing a car bombing, early relationship, first time to California, etc...

Now the Troubles could very well be about seeing these types of relationship issues happening through the eyes of a young person. Sure. I just think that they are the two songs with the least feeling of "innocence" and for me feel like songs that speak to experience gained.

that's all
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
I don't think The Troubles is about Bono and Ali at all... I think it's about Bono and his father.

My alternate theory is that Sleep Like A Baby and The Troubles are related and were supposed to be back to back on the album, but they tossed Reach in the middle once they decided it wouldn't open the album in order to make it less obvious.

When you take those two songs back to back, it opens up a whooooooole new can of worms.
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This is SO true. I added Crystal Ballroom as my second track and removed Reach all together. The back to back SLABT and Troubles is absolutely perfect.
 
ozeeko said:
Speaking of overrated songs... (cough)Kite!.
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Michael-Scott-Closes-The-Door-Awkwardly-On-The-Office.gif



Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
I don't think so. Unless The Troubles is about a survivor of abuse conquering the pain...which would be pretty interesting. But I think that's a leap of logic.
 
Hollow Island said:
I don't think so. Unless The Troubles is about a survivor of abuse conquering the pain...which would be pretty interesting. But I think that's a leap of logic.
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Why? Bono has stated that the song was about abuse, although he did say domestic abuse... which is the only thing keeping me from full on thinking that the two are part of one story.

The Troubles is quite clearly a survivors song.
 
Seems pretty simple to me.

The Troubles addresses ALL of the troubles referred to on the album. It's the cathartic closer for a reason because it's saying goodbye to that painful part of his life (although California would've been a great follower, the escape out of Dublin)
 
bobsaget77 said:
You're the old guy. ?.
Seriously though, how do you not like Kite?!?!!! That's one of their best songs ever imo.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
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Wow, did you really think I was serious about "Kite" being the old guy?

I don't hate Kite. It's like EBW, an okay song that for some reason is praised to the Heavens. I think Edge's guitar tone is great and Bono sings very well, and the string pad is beautiful as well. But I always thought the song itself was a tad generic sounding. And I thought this the first time I heard it back in 2000 when I was a youngster.
 
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