Steve Lillywhite On U2's 'No Line'

[U2DMfan]

it is the band most spiritual album since October
it seems hard to deny this, if not impossible

so why is it such a stretch that the middle 3 tracks fit this spirituality theme?
it seems stranger to me that they were just bunged it there for the sake of it

then when you look at the lyrics they do seem to be about a hands-on approach to spirituality

so why ridicule the idea that it is about an active approach to spirituality when given the facts it seems to make more sense than anything else?

Even though it's fair to say that by 2009, whatever faith I had left in say, 2004, pretty much has collapsed, I enjoy the 'gospel' feel of UC, MOS quite a whole lot. I think whatever they were trying there, new modern gospel, worked quite well. They could have done a whole album like that and my personal spiritual feelings aside, I think it would have been fan-fucking-tastic. Because I think it's sincere and it's also heartening, in a way. Also, musically it's a new territory for them. Still Haven't Found, with more color.

But I just don't buy the idea that those middle 3 songs fit into that vein.
Sounds like excuse making. Perhaps to a small extent, Crazy Tonight I could maybe, I stress maybe, feel that vibe but not Self Indulgent Crapedy or Get On Your Boots.

Boots is just a catchy rock single, end of story. Ok, female empowerment, whatever the hell spin Bonzo wants to put on it, is fine, it's just the catchy lead single to me and I like it well enough, doesn't need to be anything more than that.

SUC, is just the Cliff Notes version of what's been wrong with Bono and U2 for a decade. Almost down the very last note, from Bono's cliche's and over-bearing, self references to the generic faux funk, driven by a riff that I swear I wrote when I was in my 2nd year of playing the guitar. Just baseline, boring, and unremarkable. "Come all ye people" does not make a modern gospel song or at the least certainly (along with the greater whole) prevents it from working as one.

Crazy Tonight is somewhere in between these two songs, although I prefer the mood of the verses and think it has a pretty cool chorus (love the Mountain bit) I don't care for the falsetto throw and that heinous bridge, other than that, I can dig it, I just don't think it's remotely deep.

I don't think it has half the character of MOS or UC, which once again, prevents it from reaching a sincerity that could work for a person like me. I am not sure if I believe in the same things that Bono is singing about in MOS anymore but I sort of want to when I'm listening. On Crazy Tonight or Boots, or SUC, whatever spirituality is supposed to be there, I think reads as too casual to be anything other than the token thought drop.

"My ego is not really the enemy". An ego doesn't go on the voyage of discovery, an ego goes on a voyage of conquest, he's conflating the ideas because he's apologizing on behalf of himself. "Don't take me seriously but do...you see, I'm a contradiction, isn't it clever? Watch this I'm going to make fun of myself, so I can then preach to you once more..."

I don't even mind that Bono preaches, never did, that's part of what's endearing about him. When he was deadly sincere and self-righteous, it worked. When he was ironic about it, yet still serious in his message, it works because you know there is most certainly a point.

These 3 pop songs, whatever excuses are made about them, don't carry enough sincerity, for better or worse, to take as anything other than 3 songs that 'sounded cool' enough to fill the space before they got to the 'weirder' stuff. And that's fine as well, I just can't be sold that there has to be deep meaning in every single song just because Bono drops some 'terminology'.

Maybe all of this I just typed is pseudo-analytical babble but it's how the music makes me feel, so I am just offering a perspective.

 

[lazarus]

On the nose, sir.

 

[Canadiens1131]

U2DMfan.....total agreement.

 

[Salome]

These 3 pop songs, whatever excuses are made about them, don't carry enough sincerity, for better or worse, to take as anything other than 3 songs that 'sounded cool' enough to fill the space before they got to the 'weirder' stuff. And that's fine as well, I just can't be sold that there has to be deep meaning in every single song just because Bono drops some 'terminology'.

it's not even that I completely disagree with you
I never said the songs only purpose on the album was to fully investigate all aspects fo spirituality (even though that wouldn't be more off base than to brush it off as 'sounded cool')
they are there to add some different moods
it's just that I think it's weird someone gets ridiculed on this forum for pointing out there is some meaning there

I just find it weird to ridicule the notion that lyrically these songs could be fitted into the concept of the album
you post your dislike of the lyrics, fair enough
but does that mean they have no meaning at all? none?
so far no one has offered any other explanation to what these lyrics are about
you truly believe they are just words without any context?
that Bono just bunged something down without giving it any thought?

I would expect to read something like that about U2 on a Britney Spears forum maybe
but on a forum where people defend Playboy Mansion to the death because of how it could fit POP's theme I find it weird that someone completely brushes off the notion that in a lyrical context the songs do have some purpose

 

[mikal]

it's not even that I completely disagree with you
I never said the songs only purpose on the album was to fully investigate all aspects fo spirituality (even though that wouldn't be more off base than to brush it off as 'sounded cool')
they are there to add some different moods
it's just that I think it's weird someone gets ridiculed on this forum for pointing out there is some meaning there

I just find it weird to ridicule the notion that lyrically these songs could be fitted into the concept of the album
you post your dislike of the lyrics, fair enough
but does that mean they have no meaning at all? none?
so far no one has offered any other explanation to what these lyrics are about
you truly believe they are just words without any context?
that Bono just bunged something down without giving it any thought?

I would expect to read something like that about U2 on a Britney Spears forum maybe
but on a forum where people defend Playboy Mansion to the death because of how it could fit POP's theme I find it weird that someone completely brushes off the notion that in a lyrical context the songs do have some purpose

good rebuttle. i've been trying to think of a decent response, but there's just so much i truly disagree with about U2DM's post. i'm glad that at least, it was a well thought out post, but there's just fundamental differences in opinion, lol.

 

[ultraviolet7]

Really I don't get all this discussion on whether the lyrics have a or not a deeper meaning. I think it's up to each and everyone to read or not between the lines and to find or not a certain meaning. U2 lyrics have the advantage that they can be interpreted in multiple ways and that's great, since the scope of appeal is wider.

Especially when there may be a spiritual interpretation it is rather hard to force it down people's throats when perhaps they are not into that line of thought. While it's a reasonable possibility that some might find spiritual references in the dreaded trio, I think that the problem people might have there is the way they are delivered, especially when the said songs are getting bashed for trying to appeal to the masses. Perhaps similar stuff on another type of song might sound a little more convincing.

I think many people interpret Bono's 00s phase, in which he seems to be in a more positive mood, as not being sincere. While I believe a large part of Bono's present lyrics are not up to par with what he used to write, I don't doubt the honesty in his present poetry. Perhaps this mood doesn't fit what he does best, the directness and linearity he's indulging in now detracts from his style and certainly the more commercially oriented music on some songs makes the whole thing go down as superficial. But then, is it really a big deal if people take a pop song, even if it's U2, at face value?

 

[monsieur fly]

I get really annoyed by people who think every damn song has to have a religious meaning. What will they claim next? That Golden Eye is about Jesus? Ridiculous.

 

[Salome]

I don't think every song needs to have a religious meaning at all
I do think that it's fair to say given his track record that there is some meaning in all of Bono's lyrics
I also think it's fair to say Bono is a religious person and that No line ... is their most spiritual album since October
given all of this you can lyrically fit the songs together while some of these songs seem to be with very little if any meaning without this context

I don't have a problem when someone feels Crazy tonight .... is just about feeling like going for a mad night out or that Stand up comedy is just Bono poking some fun at himself
likewise I don't have a problem when someone does see some spiritual meaning, especially as it is on a spiritiual album, while others claim/complain the songs don't have any meaning and don't fit the album at all

 

[ImOuttaControl]

"My ego is not really the enemy". An ego doesn't go on the voyage of discovery, an ego goes on a voyage of conquest, he's conflating the ideas because he's apologizing on behalf of himself. "Don't take me seriously but do...you see, I'm a contradiction, isn't it clever? Watch this I'm going to make fun of myself, so I can then preach to you once more..."

This depends on perspective. It is possible that the "ego" that Bono was referring to is the Freudian ego...the rational, realistic part of the personality that keeps the id (basic drives, desires, needs) and the superego (ultra moral/right and wrong) parts of the personality in check. IMO, the line is great.

 

[ultraviolet7]

I don't think every song needs to have a religious meaning at all
I do think that it's fair to say given his track record that there is some meaning in all of Bono's lyrics
I also think it's fair to say Bono is a religious person

I know you're replying to somebody else who used the "religious" term, but as a side note I'd like to point out that religious is not equal to spiritual. I don't think Bono is a religious person now - he might have been in the past - his famous quote “Religion to me is almost like when God leaves – and then people devise a set of rules to fill the space.” would prove it. However from how I read many of his lyrics, he seems to be committed to his spiritual quest, which I believe to be independent from any religious organisation. But then this would be a FYM discussion.

 

[monsieur fly]

This depends on perspective. It is possible that the "ego" that Bono was referring to is the Freudian ego...the rational, realistic part of the personality that keeps the id (basic drives, desires, needs) and the superego (ultra moral/right and wrong) parts of the personality in check. IMO, the line is great.

Possible, but not incredibly likely. Bono is an intelligent man, capable of truly profound lyrics, but he's erratic too.