"The Sweetest Thing" question...

[Moonlit_Angel]

This song plays at the store my mom works at, and I've told her the story behind it and everything, but she's still confused about something: if it has to do with Ali and her birthday and all that, what does the "I'm losing you" part mean, exactly? And so I figured perhaps some of you might have some ideas in regards to it. . So what do you think?

Angela

 

[biff]

I find the lyrics in this song darkly humorous (eg., "she likes a dry kind of love"). It paints a tragi-comic picture of a threatened relationship. He's so badly in the dog house that the union is coming apart. He can still see how great being in love is, but this is being distorted by the pain of their stormy marriage. (You may recall that in the Time magazine cover story back in '87, Bono really did say that his marriage was a "stormy" one--he actually used that word. There are a lot of rough weather images in the song. I guess it hasn't always been smooth sailing, just like in any long-term relationship.)

 

[U2girl]

Well, I guess Bono may have been frightened he'd really lose Ali and their marriage at times.

 

[FallingStar]

Well, he forgot her birthday. He writes SUCH a song. He makes it possible to shut down a street in Dublin for Ali. To have elephants for her. To do all that.


Either he exaggerates like hell.


Or he was too much afraid of losing the person who he loves to put up on his pedstal because he is a forgetul ejit.

 

[valentina]

won't you be scared at the idea you're losing the most important person in your life because you can't reven emember such a little things as her/his birthday?
Maybe Bono and Ali's relation was messy at that time and I guess Bono was frightened she could decide to stop. I mean, a rockstar could been not a perfect kind of husban (even if HE'S GREAT!)
When's Ali's birthday, btw?

 

[valentina]

how will you react to your man forgetting YOUR birthday?

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Some good stuff mentioned here...I'll bring it all up to my mom.

Originally posted by Falling Star
Or he was too much afraid of losing the person who he loves to put up on his pedstal because he is a forgetul ejit.

LOL, yeah...that's a really sweet thought, though, isn't it? I hope I find a guy who cares about me that much.

Also, valentina, Ali's birthday is on March 23rd. .

Angela

 

[U2girl]

During Elevation tour 24 March Bono made a little speech on the song, (I will write this from my memory, so if anyone will transcript the exact words I won't mind) after they played the song:

"This was for the missus.
I wrote this song for my beautiful wife Ali, having forgotten her birthday. Sweetest thing helped raise a lot of money for the Chernobyl project charity which was a good thing - that was OK, because then it was a B-side *laughter from the audience* And Ali, she then asked me to stop being the publisher and the copyright. *laughter in the audience* I missed her birthday again this year, because it was yesterday and we were here in Miami. But she's here today and I will sing this for her"
*Bono starts singing In a little while, which ends with him saying "happy birthday...Ali."

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

That's so sweet. .

Angela

 

[valentina]

it's impossible not be sweet when you're talking about such a lovely one!

The speech really made me cry!

 

[valentina]

tears of joy -- of course!!

I'm so happy fot both of them -- they really look like the 2 half of the same thing!

 

[wolfeden]

One can only imagine the amount of shenanigans she has to put up with from him.
"I'm losing you......." -- because he's forgotten things or misbehaved or just plain ticked her off one too many times. He's even said himself, if it wasn't for her he "might've ended up like Michael Hutchence"... and man do i ever NOT want to contemplate THAT.

 

[BluRmGrl]

Now, I ask you - how could you NOT forgive the man? I mean, he's just sooo human and isn't afraid to show it. How many people are willing to tell the WORLD, "I'm a moron...Please bear with me while I publicy apologize for my litle faux pas."?

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

Now, I ask you - how could you NOT forgive the man? I mean, he's just sooo human and isn't afraid to show it. How many people are willing to tell the WORLD, "I'm a moron...Please bear with me while I publicy apologize for my litle faux pas."?

Absolutely.

I was going to say, anyway, that U2 don't like love songs, do they? I don't know whether Bono could bring himself to write a true love song, even for his lovely wife, because he is human and knows that there is pain in every kind of love. I think that's why he includes those "dark" lyrics in Sweetest Thing - but it all works out in the end!

 

[biff]

Well, Bono has said that the best love songs need to be bittersweet, and he intentionally writes them that way. But he has written love songs for his wife, just ones that we'll never get to hear. He made a crack about how he wouldn't want to have his face reddened by hearing them played on the radio, and that they would induce projectile vomiting in anyone other than the person for whom they were written. My guess is that they're not nearly that bad or corny, but just really personal. He's a class act.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

But he has written love songs for his wife, just ones that we'll never get to hear. He made a crack about how he wouldn't want to have his face reddened by hearing them played on the radio, and that they would induce projectile vomiting in anyone other than the person for whom they were written.

...okay, that just made me go, "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..." .

Originally posted by biff
My guess is that they're not nearly that bad or corny, but just really personal. He's a class act.

. BluRmGrl and wolfeden, I agree with you both completely as well.

Bono's such a sweetheart.

Angela

 

[U2girl]

"I can't do it, they make me want to throw up." Bono, on writing happy love songs.

at his explanation biff, but I think there are love songs that made it on albums, I think Two hearts beat as one, Promenade, Sweetest thing we know of for sure.

 

[biff]

Yes, there were long songs that made it on to albums, but what Bono was talking about were the straight ahead "silly" love songs that you do hear so often on the radio, which have nothing to distinguish them except their high sugar content. These are the kind he apparently chooses to keep private. I would not place the three songs you mentioned in that category. Just look at the lyrics for all of them. They're adult, complex, even a bit dark. I think Promenade is the most direct, least dark love song they have released, but even it has a hint of melancholy about it. Promendade, by the way, almost didn't make it onto the album, as Bono initially deemed it "too personal". He had to be persuaded that it be included. I guess the mention of the spiral staircase was a bit too close to home, if you'll excuse the terrible pun. (Bono and Ali's home at the time had a spiral staircase that led directly into their bedroom--the "higher ground" in more ways than one.)