Song For Someone - Song Discussion

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For me, the best on the album. It's on one repeat :)
I like the build-up, Edge's background humming, the melodic guitar (of which I'm having trouble hearing the resemblance to Crazy) and the way the drums are going achtung baby style in the end.

Ditto for me. Love, love, love this one.
 
Hate the Crazy Tonight guitar solo at 3 mins. Dunno why Edge does that when he's capable of so much more. Ruins the song for me.


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Hate the Crazy Tonight guitar solo at 3 mins. Dunno why Edge does that when he's capable of so much more. Ruins the song for me.


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Strange because it makes the song for me. Along with the outro...
 
It doesn´t ruin it, but I agree also it is silly to rob yourself (moreover from the last record)
Oh wait, Edge did that already with playing solo bit of Walk On in Crumbs :doh:
 
I also didn't really notice Edge's lovely backing vox before I listened to it on headphones properly.
 
it is indeed a very beautiful melody that i will surely sing it out loud next time that i will see them live, but i can't help to think that this could be a song form maroon 5, the killers, one republic or any other current fm band and i would not care much about it.
 
This may be my favorite song on the album. I know it doesn't have as many fans as some of the others, but lyrically and melody-wise it really works for me. Beautiful.
 
Edge plays more notes in his SFS solo which differentiates it from Crazy, and the delay settings and tone are different. It's not really that similar when putting them side by side. Crazy's guitar "solo" is same couple of notes repeated over and over. While SFS has little variations at the end of each 4th beat?


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If enough people think it sounds too similar, doesn't matter what the technical resemblance is.

It still speaks of a lack of originality. He ain't doing anything new.
 
Well it does matter, in that it is reminiscent in tone (not guitar tone to Crazy) but different. SFS could be a reference to Crazy considering they are both Ali songs supposedly. I don't mind it. It's not as egregious as the self borrowing that Edge did on NLOTH.


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This song goes down easily enough. The melody is somehow instantly familiar, like a lot of radio songs. I would have liked Edge to sing the whole thing - his background vocals are far and away the best part... I think I'm getting a bit tired of Bono's voice, or at least his higher range (really enjoy his deeper range on a few SOI tracks).
 
This song goes down easily enough. The melody is somehow instantly familiar, like a lot of radio songs. I would have liked Edge to sing the whole thing - his background vocals are far and away the best part... I think I'm getting a bit tired of Bono's voice, or at least his higher range (really enjoy his deeper range on a few SOI tracks).

Agreed! I don't know why it is always Bono all the time. And I much prefer his low/deep register to the high one. Wonder why The Edge doesn't sing lead vocals anymore. :huh:
 
Agreed! I don't know why it is always Bono all the time. And I much prefer his low/deep register to the high one. Wonder why The Edge doesn't sing lead vocals anymore. :huh:


Anymore? Technically he's only sang lead on one U2 track back in late 80s.


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Anymore? Technically he's only sang lead on one U2 track back in late 80s.


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...and sang/rapped/spoken on Numb. :wink:

Plus he's done tons of backing vocals over the years. I just don't understand why he doesn't sing more lead vocals. Like for example: Stone Gossard does lead vocals on a song he wrote... Mankind from No Code. It makes the album more interesting and enriches the whole listening experience that much more.
 
...and sang/rapped/spoken on Numb. :wink:



Plus he's done tons of backing vocals over the years. I just don't understand why he doesn't sing more lead vocals. Like for example: Stone Gossard does lead vocals on a song he wrote... Mankind from No Code. It makes the album more interesting and enriches the whole listening experience that much more.


Singing lead and backup are completely different. His backup singing is great on this album, but there are very few songs that Edge could carry solo. His singing is nasally on the RH version of VDL, he's improved and his singing on LIB is good but rather thin at times.


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I really like Bono's vocals on this one. It has a beautiful melody. It's a pop song, alright, but I can see it played on radio as well as live in concerts, I think it would make a great song to sing along to.
 
Well it does matter, in that it is reminiscent in tone (not guitar tone to Crazy) but different. SFS could be a reference to Crazy considering they are both Ali songs supposedly. I don't mind it. It's not as egregious as the self borrowing that Edge did on NLOTH.


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Yep, Crazy tonight could have been a monster song, unfortuntely they choosed to play it safe and make a single material from it. It was the live performances that showed the potential of the song.
 
From Absolute Punk review, sums it up perfectly:
A plaintive ballad about the naivety of young long, “Song for Someone” was written about the earliest days of Bono’s relationship with his wife, Ali. Considering the fact that the two were childhood sweethearts, it’s not surprising that “Song for Someone” packs a few clichés into its lyrics. But “Song for Someone” is also charming for its complete lack of cynicism. It’s awkward, cheesy, maudlin, and overblown, but should a song about young love be anything else? This is the ultimate song of innocence, and along with “Every Breaking Wave” it’s the number from this album that will most likely make it into the band’s stadium-sized live set.
 
This one is way up there for me...it has a sort of timeless feel to it. I could imagine this song could fit on many of U2's other albums...and not just those from the 00's. Love Edge's trademark guitar. The lyrics are great, and for some reason I can see this one going over very well live - even if just performed acoustic.
 
If enough people think it sounds too similar, doesn't matter what the technical resemblance is.

It still speaks of a lack of originality. He ain't doing anything new.

Eh, I'll disagree here. Miracle has a bite that not even Vertigo had in terms of tone, and his stuff in Sleep Like a Baby is damn good and sounds different from anything else he has done.
 
I like the story Bono told in one of his latest interviews: How he had a room in London underneath Edge's room and couldn't sleep because Edge was staying up all night, playing the opening sequence of Song For Someone for about three hours in the middle of the night. I love to hear those stories about the creation of songs and certain parts of songs. The guitar in the opening is beautiful.
 
I almost spit my wine across the room when I read that SFS mention:

"[While recording] this album, we ended up sharing houses a lot. In London I had the misfortune of having Edge in the room above me; he doesn’t go to bed. He just plays the guitar all night. The thing at the beginning of ‘Song For Someone,’ he was doing that thing for three hours one night, like from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m."

Bono: ‘No One Has Deleted More U2 Songs in the Last Five Years Than the Members of U2′ « Radio.com
 
After a week's break of listening to the album, I listened to this again yesterday.

This song is still by far my least favorite. Some nice lyrics in it, but that's the only compliment I can give it.
 
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