GOYB lyrics Discussion

[mgokelly]

Great thread, and I love your interpretations.

I also love how many people claim on their first listen that the lyrics are shitty, poppy and people compare them to songs like Britney spears and beyonce. wtf?

Have to agree, if anybody thinks this is a lightweight pop song they need to look at the lyrics again. If these lyrics were put to a slower tune, people would take them far more seriously, good to see Bono back to more serious lyrics.

 

[last unicorn]

In case anyone doesn't know, "candy floss" is Brit-speak for "cotton candy." Just sayin'.

But I love the word Candy-floss, has something sweet and seductive.

 

[alibee]

"loud explosions at an irish fair could well be bombs"

Well done on showing yourself as a complete ignoramous.

I've managed to live in Ireland my entire life without ever hearing or seeing a bomb, and get this, I've even gone to fairs, not irish ones though, Irish ones.

 

[stillrunning82]

GOYB Lyrics

Love the groove of GOYB, but what happened to Bono's lyric writing ability? Remember Love Rescue Me, Running to Stand Still, With or Without You, Please? It seems like lately it's either completely nonsensical (GOYB) or very cheesy (Miracle Drug).
Thoughts?

 

[last unicorn]

There is a discussion of the lyrics in the MUSICAL JOURNEY forum.

It's quite interesting.

The lyrics aren't nonsenical at all, you just need some imagination. I love the vagueness of the new lyrics.

 

[stillrunning82]

There is a discussion of the lyrics in the MUSICAL JOURNEY forum.

It's quite interesting.

The lyrics aren't nonsenical at all, you just need some imagination. I love the vagueness of the new lyrics.

'Vagueness', as you put it, does not poetry make. Coherence and beauty do.

 

[ozeeko]

The only lyric that irks me is one that most people probably wouldn't guess. It's not "sexy boots"/"get on your boots"/"bossy boots" - I think it's appropriate for the song's silly, kinky vibe. It's not "you don't know how beautiful you are" - I don't care if it's reminiscient of COBL, for that song is dead to me and i don't count it and will probably never listen to it again. It's not "submarine/gasoline" - okay, this almost bothers me, but i'm sure Bono had a pretty good reason...i mean i hope.

No, the lyric that bothers me is one that comes during the end bit, when he goes "I DON'T WANNA DROWN!" - That! That is what bothers me. Why? Cause it takes me totally out of the moment. He's got me in a trance with the "let me in the sound" lyrics, it's original and is powerful with the music...if he had said "I WANNA DROWN" it could've probably worked. I desire to drown in the sound makes perfect sense. Let me in the sound, i don't wanna drown is just ludacris. It's almost like a contradiction. Anyone get what i mean? Plus, it just seems like one of those tacked-on instances, as in BD during the "what you don't have you don't need it now" or Vertigo's "YEA YEA YEA YEA"'s...like something they added because they didn't feel the song had enough energy, and as a result ended up with a forced ending. A songwriter, i forget who, once told me a song is a lot more powerful when u merely imply a feeling or thought or melody, rather than shove it down everyone's throats. During GYOB, at the climax i feel like i am drowning in a wonderful chatoic sound until Bono says "I don't wanna drown." Uggh. What a buzzkill. It's like being drunk with your buddies...and everyone's looking to get wasted and having a great time forgetting about life for a while, until some worry-wart says "maybe we should slow down a bit. i don't want to get sick." And boom, reality sets in and it sucks.

Still, i do like this song. Bono just needs to realize most of his fan base is adults who don't need their emotions spoonfed to them. We'll be alright in the song, Bono. It's just a song, no one's going to drown. So just let go.

 

[last unicorn]

'Vagueness', as you put it, does not poetry make. Coherence and beauty do.

I am a writer and I firmly disagree.

I like poetry that gives me the room for subjective and personal interpretation.

I like the almost associative (like in a movie) chain of images that the song paints, it's interesting and you can interpret it in different ways.

I don't like poetry or lyrics where I'm told what exactly to think or feel or see.

If I want coherence, I read a novel.

Btw, I would consider most of Miracle Drug's lyrics "beautiful".

 

[stillrunning82]

I am a writer and I firmly disagree.

I like poetry that gives me the room for subjective and personal interpretation.

I like the almost associative (like in a movie) chain of images that the song paints, it's interesting and you can interpret it in different ways.

I don't like poetry or lyrics where I'm told what exactly to think or feel or see.

If I want coherence, I read a novel.

Btw, I would consider most of Miracle Drug's lyrics "beautiful".

that's your choice, but i remember how beautiful RTSS was, and i miss that. It's on a par with springsteen

 

[last unicorn]

And boom, reality sets in and it sucks.

ozeeko, interesting, I really understand what you mean.

I think "reality sets in" might be what Bono has aimed for. For me, it's like waking up from a dream. The theme of reality vs. illusion is something I feel very strongly in that song. There is a sense of escapism ("let me in the sound" is almost child-like), but also an ongoing struggle between wanting to get lost "in the sound" (or wherever) and, on the other hand, having to wake up to deal with reality.

At least that's my interpretation.

Musically, the middle 8 is the part of the song I still have most problems with because I just don't get into it and I feel it's too long.

 

[last unicorn]

that's your choice, but i remember how beautiful RTSS was, and i miss that. It's on a par with springsteen

Bono has a different mindset now, like everyone after 25 years. There are different issues that become important and that you may feel closer to.

I don't write like I wrote 20 years ago.

 

[stillrunning82]

ozeeko, interesting, I really understand what you mean.

I think "reality sets in" might be what Bono has aimed for. For me, it's like waking up from a dream. The theme of reality vs. illusion is something I feel very strongly in that song. There is a sense of escapism ("let me in the sound" is almost child-like), but also an ongoing struggle between wanting to get lost "in the sound" (or wherever) and, on the other hand, having to wake up to deal with reality.

At least that's my interpretation.

Musically, the middle 8 is the part of the song I still have most problems with because I just don't get into it and I feel it's too long.

guys, stop thinking too much. he penned them in five minutes. I could make an alternative lyric in the same time!

 

[last unicorn]

Surely not. There is a GOYB version from summer 2008 where the lyrics are different, so he has worked on those lyrics for some time.

It's Bono, he always writes something that has different layers of meaning. It may not mean the same to us as it means to him, but that's the good thing.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Forgive me if i'm repeating something that someone else has already said. I started reading all the posts, but got lazy after a few pages. Personally, I think that thematically, Get on You Boots is where Vertigo ends up 4 years later. If Vertigo was about the confusion of the state of the world, Get on Your Boots is that same voice 4 years later saying 'We're still in this same mess and I'm sick of hearing about it all. Get on your fuck me boots and lets have some fun' hence the juxtaposition between the verses and chorus

 

[LyricalDrug]

I got a submarine
You got gasoline
I don’t want to talk about wars between nations
Not right now

--- this is the 2008 equivalent of "give me what I want / and no one gets hurt". Basically, the Middle East has oil / energy / gasoline, and the rest of the world needs the Middle East's energy to get down (take a submarine). It's just a global dance -- why make it so complicated?

 

[The_Edge89]

So where are the numbers in this song?

Bono explains that numbers are significant in each of the new songs
Profile - USATODAY.com

Is it perhaps veiled as the number of casualities in warzones?
Nah, probably just reworked it.

 

[Utoo]

So where are the numbers in this song?

I'm also wondering whether the odd spaces in the way NLOTH and GOYB are printed on the pictures we've seen have something to do with numbers or initials....

 

[rihannsu]

So where are the numbers in this song?


Is it perhaps veiled as the number of casualities in warzones?
Nah, probably just reworked it.

Since that quote was from way back at last year's Sundance Festival it could possibly be no longer valid for the album. Things change at light speed in the last phase of an album especially just the last two weeks which unfortunately means that even much of the Q and Rolling Stone info could be out of date.

I think the main reason that U2 ends up spending so long making albums is that no one kicks their asses into gear these days. One of the reasons that Lillywhite always comes in at the end of a project is that he is one of the few people who can bust their butts and tell them to stop dicking around. They need that but the bigger they get the harder it is for them to find people who will really be honest with them no matter how much they insist they want that. Lillywhite went through October with them and understands how they really need that kick start to gel everything in the end. They get an incredible burst of creativity in those final days of any project and I think most people don't realize how much things change right at the end. There's nothing wrong with this it's just how some people are creatively but those types really need a strong decisive figure to push them at the end of a project.

Dana

 

[u2search]

Well written Dana. As you often do.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

What a buzzkill.

I don’t know if that’s bad. I think the whole song – no matter how you interpret individual lines – is obviously a mix of reality vs escape. ‘I don’t want to drown/let me in the sound’ can be the same. Don’t want to drown in the world, drown in reality, let me escape in the sound. And it kinda comes with a bit more honesty. He’s switching from, in a way, making demands of someone else to pleading for his own escape. I guess in that sense it is a buzzkill. The earlier bravado is suddenly stripped away and there’s someone scared there. Hopefully works in context with the songs around it on the album.

No, lyrically this isn’t just a throw away fun jingle. There’s obviously not as much there as anything from the 80s or 90s, nowhere near, say, the Fly (as a song it’s getting lined up against), but it’s not the absolultely meaningless dribble of Vertigo, or the simplistic (and great) surface level message of Beautiful Day. There is personal message in there. Not much, but again, with the massively lowered expectations of the 00’s, I’ll take this as good enough for me, for now.

 

[BVS]

There’s obviously not as much there as anything from the 80s or 90s,

Let's be careful that's a pretty loaded statement...

As anything from the 80's or 90's?

Please.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

No, no, I did actually mean every single song U2 recorded during a 20 year span. That’s totally, exactly, what I meant.

 

[angelordevil]

Never seen a moon like this
Can you see it too?

This really could be about the 'great opportunity' we all have at this point in humanity, as was mentioned earlier. I like that interpretation. It reminds me of those nights when the moon is full, and I'm talking to a family member across the country--usually on my cordless phone outside while gazing towards the sky. We're divided by vast distances, but united by the moon! I like the universal aspect of that.

 

[iloveedge]

"Bossy Boots" - WTF?

I sing Fussy Boots, so Bossy seems quite better...

 

[katman]

answer to life the universe and everything - Google Search

I case you didn't know, 42 is the answer to everything, even google says it.
that would be fun, a douglas adams tribute somewhere in the album.

 

[AliEnvy]

Maybe it's just me, and while like most of Bono's lyrics there are many contextual layers, the overall impression it leaves me with is that it's a call to action to the Britney/Paris generation of women to share their wealth of empowerment with women around the globe as the solution to healing a world of war and fear.

The fusion of girl power and reality TV morphing into politically aware and active warrior princesses who save the real world.

Or something like that lol.

Seriously though, women's empowerment is one of the Millenium Development Goals on eradicating extreme poverty so I can't help but think this song is a heavy dose of wrapping that idea in a rockin' fun sexy shake your booty tune.

 

[last unicorn]

^ Yeah I think women are a key motive in the song's lyrics.

Bono's attendence of the Women Conference last year seems to have had a lasting impression on him.

 

[Galeongirl]

answer to life the universe and everything - Google Search

I case you didn't know, 42 is the answer to everything, even google says it.
that would be fun, a douglas adams tribute somewhere in the album.

Holy crap I didn't know that Google did that. It's awesome!

 

[Mango]

I case you didn't know, 42 is the answer to everything, even google says it.
that would be fun, a douglas adams tribute somewhere in the album.

Coldplay beat them to it.

 

[angelordevil]

Maybe it's just me, and while like most of Bono's lyrics there are many contextual layers, the overall impression it leaves me with is that it's a call to action to the Britney/Paris generation of women to share their wealth of empowerment with women around the globe as the solution to healing a world of war and fear.

That's an interesting angle.

Man, this is such a weird song, isn't it? There are weighty lyrical nuggets, yes, but it's like a cross between a juvenile mantra and the best thing they've ever done. I'm wrestling with it, but I like it more and more with each listen.