Iris (Hold Me Close) - Song Discussion

[U2girl]

Best song on the album.

Free yourself, to be yourself if only you could see yourself
Free yourself, to be yourself if only you could see…

Far from Hollywood ending.

 

[ndmaxfield]

Bono channels his early 80's punk self full-on with 'Long before the night the stars were out'. Exhilarating and perfect.

 

[dazzlingamy]

The way he sings Iris is so understated i could cry. Utterly perfect. I love this song so much.

 

[Niceman]

This one is growing on me a lot. It's a brilliant song.

 

[Salome]

But in this case, given the deeply personal nature of the song, and given what comes right before (literally the most personal lyric Bono has ever written), it just feels completely out of place. I completely agree with you that ending it on, "Iris says that I will be the death of her, it was not me.....Iris, Iris..." would've been extremely powerful. It shouldn't have been followed by that fortune cookie lyric.

I have to wonder what you reckon Bono is trying to say with that 'fortune cookie lyric'.

Free yourself, to be yourself if only you could see yourself
Free yourself, to be yourself if only you could see…

Far from Hollywood ending.

Indeed.

 

[thavidesco]

EPIC! One of their best songs. EVER!

 

[Zoo Lemon]

This is my first post after what happened last week. Better, it is my first after the Beckett Bridge rumours (when the whole interweb was going crazy and clueless).

The album is amazing and already competes in my heart with bigger names in U2's history. It was beautiful at the start + it's even more beautiful with each listen. I'm REALLY happy. I believe they couldn't do something more passionate at the moment.

What can I say about this jewel, 'Iris'? It is a hell of a song, where the modern sensibility of Bono as a lyricist and the band as for the collective writing ideas, meets a solid performing of the single parts, which brings me back to albums like 'War'. I mean, that fat bass...

This is a feature I find throughout the whole album: every performer shines of his own light, maybe that's what makes the album so...consistent? My vocabulary follows yours, I didn't post but I read almost anything...

Let me also say that, while I would hope there would be an album produced by the only Danger Mouse (damn how great songs are those fuckin' last three... ), I find that Epworth/Tedder/Flood/(Gaffney is credited too?) have done really such a good job in terms of fitting all the songs in one main musical idea.

At this point, I really, really...want...more.

 

[Afliktor]

Iris says I'll be the death of her/It was not me

heartbreaking.

this is really a highlight for me. wondering if it should have been the penultimate track.

 

[jrjunior31]

Iris says I'll be the death of her/It was not me

heartbreaking.

this is really a highlight for me. wondering if it should have been the penultimate track.

It is the penultimate track and if the album wasn't stuffed into everyones iTunes for free it would be track 3. Someone mentioned they believe the first 4 tracks were stacked that way because they are the most commercial sounding and casual fans or people that aren't familiar with U2 would probably only listen to the first few songs (if they listen at all). So they top loaded the album with the "singles" in that order. It makes sense, I mean honestly is there any comparison between California and Iris?

 

[Flying FuManchu]

The atmospheric sounds (vocals especially) are great! A little bit if Ultraviolet in there!


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[mikal]

Best song on the album.

We rarely agree but this is one where we're on the same page.

I haven't wavered on this over the last week either. Fantastic song and the perfect bridge between the 1st and 2nd half of the album.


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[Musikwala]

This song has been a slow grower. You know, I actually pictured a mental video of a night sky filled with stars and the camera zooming into outer space and it helped I think. lol. "The universe is beautiful but cold." Nice line. I haven't really gotten into analyzing the emotional lyrics yet but musically, I love the UF era guitar work. Bono singing "Iris" in the chorus is indeed understated and very nice.

Oh and I'm not a fan of the 'hold me close' singing parts. The parenthesis in the title is so unnecessary too! They should have just titled it as "Iris".

 

[jeevey]

Agreed, the 'hold me close' parts are an abrasive intrusion into a perfect song. I get it in terms of the writer's lived experience, but musically it doesn't work as well for me as the rest.

 

[last unicorn]

I don't like any of the bracket titles, they should have left those off entirely. The simpler the title, the better. I don't understand the need for titles in brackets. And since Bono is singing "Hold me close" anyway, it's unnecessary.

 

[paul2112]

What significance does the word "Machine" have here? I can't figure it out.


Machine, I dream where you are
Iris standing in the hall
She tells me I can do it all
Iris wakes to my nightmares
Don't fear the world
It isn't there

​

 

[youarenotimmune]

What significance does the word "Machine" have here? I can't figure it out.


Machine, I dream where you are
Iris standing in the hall
She tells me I can do it all
Iris wakes to my nightmares
Don't fear the world
It isn't there

​

I read in an article that it refers to a Florence and the Machine record Bono gave Ali when they were young. It's apparently an in-joke by Bono right before going into the most personal lyric of the most personal song he's ever written.

 

[Flying FuManchu]

Is the hold me close line the Tedder contribution?


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[last unicorn]

I read in an article that it refers to a Florence and the Machine record Bono gave Ali when they were young. It's apparently an in-joke by Bono right before going into the most personal lyric of the most personal song he's ever written.

I thought it was "man machine".

 

[owl]

Kraftwerk - The Man Machine - YouTube

 

[youarenotimmune]

Yup, it was Kraftwerk. Don't know why I remembered it as Florence and the Machine.

It was in the Rolling Stone review:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/u2-songs-of-innocence-20140911

 

[corianderstem]

Yup, it was Kraftwerk. Don't know why I remembered it as Florence and the Machine.

Ha, and I thought you were joking from the start, to suggest that Bono gave Ali a Florence + the Machine album in the early 1980s.

 

[youarenotimmune]

Yes, yes...that's exactly what I was doing, joking.

 

[Musikwala]

Wow, that was a Man Machine reference?? That's totally cool!

 

[Musikwala]

This song has grown on me significantly! Like another poster mentioned in another thread, it was the lyrics that did it. The music is okay but the lyrics are on a whole 'nother level! I feel a bit bad now for ranking Iris quite low in the song rankings thread. But the high quality of these songs make it very difficult to rank them!

 

[Hallucination]

I think this song has grown on me more than any other on the album.

 

[purpleoscar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-9ATJmxv6I&list=PLBAE56FBD3D266DD7&index=17

"Julia" was written for John's mother, Julia Lennon (1914–1958), who was knocked down and killed by a car driven by a drunk off-duty police officer when John was 17 years old.[2] Julia Lennon had encouraged her son's interest in music and bought him his first guitar. But after she split with John's father, John was taken in by his aunt, Mimi, and Julia started a new family with another man; though she lived just a few miles from John, Julia did not spend much time with him for a number of years.[3] Their relationship began to improve as he neared adolescence, though, and in the words of his half-sister, Julia Baird: "As he grew older, John would stay with us more often. He and Daddy got along well enough, and in the evenings when our daddy, a headwaiter, was at work, John and Mummy would sit together and listen to records. She was an Elvis Presley fan from the word go, and she and John would jive around the room to 'Heartbreak Hotel' and other great Elvis songs. John inherited his love of music from her, and she encouraged him to start with piano and banjo, making him play a tune again and again until he got it right."[4]

"I lost her twice," Lennon said. "Once as a five-year-old when I was moved in with my auntie. And once again when she actually physically died."[3]

 

[Musikwala]

Julia is a gorgeous song! Thanks for sharing the info on the relationship between John and his mother.

 

[stray dog]

Many of us early U2 fans are at or are drawing near to where we are losing our parent or parents...temporarily. For someone that was so young without any cushion of time to go through what I will go through with that time to prepare...fuck that...it's gonna hurt just as much. But this song captures something better...Tomorrow. Tomorrow there will not be the pain and the age and the hurt. Whether you lose your mother at 14 to aneurysm or lose her at 52+ you lose your mother...and it hurts and is gonna hurt. This song...Iris...could be another name if I someday sadly sing it. So Paul yeah I get it.

 

[paul2112]

Like some previous posters said, if Larry and Adam can nail this song, it will absolutely be amazing in concert. I hope the sound guys remember to turn up the mic on Larry's high hat! We haven't heard Adam this busy on the bass in a long time!

 

[Blue Room]

Iris is becoming my favorite track on the album. I have a feeling it is not going to be performed live or it may receive the "Crumbs" treatment and only be done a few times. I hope I am wrong because it could be a great live song. It will probably require some rehearsal work to get down which is something Bono is not fond of.