(09-09-2005) One Mary J Blige -- U2.com*

[dsmith2904]

[SIMG]http://www.u2.com/news/images/bonomjblige.jpg[/SIMG]
One Mary J Blige

U2 have filmed a Live version of “One” with Mary J Blige. The performance will air tonight during the Hurricane Relief Benefit: Shelter From The Storm”.

The Queen of Hip Hop Soul, Mary J flew into Toronto from New York especially to perform the song with U2.

The atmosphere was quite remarkable with a spine tingling performance from one of America’s finest vocalists, Mary J Blige. The band themselves seemed stunned by the power of her performance.

The benefit will be played across all major networks in America and throughout Canada. Shelter from the Storm is being produced by Joel Gallen, who also produced the post-9/11 telethon "America: A Tribute to Heroes.

All proceeds from the Telethon will go to The American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. Other artists appearing include Sheryl Crow, Ellen Degeneres, Chris Rock, Rod Stewart, Cameron Diaz, Alicia Keys, Randy Newman and Neil Young, and many many more…

--U2.com

 

[zooperson]

 

[Palace_Hero]

What's the problem? It was a great performance.

 

[Carek1230]

I don't think was a great performance. I prefer One performed by U2. Other artists just don't do the songs justice in my opinion. Nor do I care for Mary J Blige. Nonetheless I watched and I have made my contributions.

 

[Palace_Hero]

I don't think was a great performance. I prefer One performed by U2. Other artists just don't do the songs justice in my opinion. Nor do I care for Mary J Blige. Nonetheless I watched and I have made my contributions.

Her voice is better than Bono's...

 

[doctorwho]

Her voice is better than Bono's...

That's debatable and very subjective. Blige's voice is almost too "pure" or too good - it lacks some of the scratchiness that adds that pleading element to the song. Bono definitely is better at that aspect.

That said, Blige's R&B style was unique to hear and provided a different perspective to the song.

Furthermore, take one of U2's best songs ever, take U2 and then add Blige and you hit a lot of demographics - which is the ultimate goal. So whether one likes the performance or not may not truly matter. If you donated, the goal was achieved.

 

[U2FanPeter]

BONO CARES ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE!!!!!!

 

[Palace_Hero]

BONO CARES ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE!!!!!!

 

[U2girl]

A great version, next to the famous orchestra version and Bono's solo version in Modena a few years back the best I've heard. Usually Bono sounds far more tired and less passionate than this, and Mary J Blige was incredible, especially from the "did I ask too much" part on.

Like some people in the "Katrina benefit performances" thread in this sub-forum said my eyes were watering as well.

 

[EPandAmerica]

Mary J was incredible! Her voice is amazing. I loved it.

 

[Jamila]

Please remember "We're one, but we're not the same."

People should be able to voice their opinions without being attacked for them.

Otherwise, U2 fans, you're not following Bono's advice.

And Bono cares about ALL people who suffer unnecessarily.

Remember the Mothers of the Disappeared, Bosnia, Central America and especially Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?

Let's try to remember Bono's other words "We get to carry each other."

Unless you're willing to live the lyrics of U2 by the way you treat others in the way you speak to them, it's best not to say anything.

You have a right to your smilie of choice, zooperson, without being attacked for your choice.

Sorry common courtesy was forgotten.

 

[whitehead]

I thought Mary did a beautiful job!

I was hoping for something other than "One" AGAIN though....didn't seem to fit the mood correctly in my opinion. Besides the line "You gave me nothing, now it's all I got." I seriously thought "Drowning Man" or "Stranger in a Strange Land" would have been more fitting.

 

[Jono]

It's on U2 Exit if you missed it...

I agree that it covers more demographics and always love when a talent like Mary J puts her twist on it...it worked big time...

As for the song it is inevitable that "One" will be the focus for most charity/benefit type presentations. Running to Stand Still, A Sort of Homecoming, Crumbs even Streets might have been interesting...

 

[zaccaios]

She was f***ing great. I can hear them sing it anytime. It looked like the band was digging it too.

 

[LostAtMoon]

I just watched the video file provided by enajh2 (thank you Alan), and I loved it. It was a very moving performance and I still have tears in my eyes.

 

[macphister]

I like that they brought Mary in.....but musically, I think it sucked.

 

[U2girl]

I prefer One performed by U2. Other artists just don't do the songs justice in my opinion.

Did you hear Johnny Cash's cover of One?

 

[Palace_Hero]

Unless you're willing to live the lyrics of U2 by the way you treat others in the way you speak to them, it's best not to say anything.

Don't tell me what ideology I have to live by. Stop preaching the gospel that is U2, it is very coarse. I don't live by U2's lyrics unfortunately, otherwise I'd have two new suits, Miami (pink and blue) and I might kill someone because Exit told me to.

 

[U2Man]

Don't tell me what ideology I have to live by. Stop preaching the gospel that is U2, it is very coarse. I don't live by U2's lyrics unfortunately, otherwise I'd have two new suits, Miami (pink and blue) and I might kill someone because Exit told me to.

 

[HelloAngel]

Unless you're willing to live the lyrics of U2 by the way you treat others in the way you speak to them, it's best not to say anything.

Lyrics are open to interpretation, and so are each others words here. Let's not draw a line at who has a right to say anything based on how you think we should live and what we live by. I don't think Bono would like that very much.

How can we say that people should be able to state their opinions without being attacked, yet say that unless someone is willing to live by U2 lyrics that they should shut up?

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Christ.



OK, that said.... I loved the performance, Mary was a great addition to the song.

 

[MrsMullenJr]

I thought it was a little tacky to have someone else sing it at first, but watching it again I was amazed at how beautiful it sounded with another voice. They could've showed the other members of the band a little more though

 

[ElectricalVoice]

Did you hear Johnny Cash's cover of One?

Yes. That was great.

This was awful.

Sorry, U2.

 

[U2Man]

I think Mary did a great job

 

[tiny dancer]

I thought it was a little tacky to have someone else sing it at first, but watching it again I was amazed at how beautiful it sounded with another voice. They could've showed the other members of the band a little more though

Same here also.

 

[Teta040]

You people who dismiss the her performance miss the point.

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you've never had love
And you want me to go without...

Did I ask too much, more than a lot?
You gave me nothing, now it's all I 've got
We're one, but we're not the same
Well, we hurt each other and we do it again
You say "Love is a temple, love a higher law"--
Love is a temple, love the higher law.
You ask for me to enter, and then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you've got
When all you've got is hurt.

I hope you all noticed how she changed the lyric to "you ask FOR ME to enter", not "you ask me to enter." That wasn't her--IMO, it was the band's idea. I was wondering what lyric change they'd do this time to make the song fit the occasion. Mary J as dying Convention Center refugee being waved at by cheerful "rescue" personnel as they speed by the sidewalk in an empty vehicle on its way to a hotel to pick up some stranded white people. Mary J as woman smacked in the head by an exploding bottle of Evian water thrown from a helicopter. Yeah, and when you finally shpw up to rescue me, you have your gun out and you make me CRAWL onto the bus. Or maybe....by the time you arrive, I can't do anything more than crawl...your delay has reduced me to such....you have thus "made" me crawl . I'm sure something like that was going through her head and theirs too.

Yesterday I wrote that if the band didn't do "One" I'd eat my own shorts. Well, not only did they not disappoint, they surprised me again. The best performance of "One" since that benefit in Germany in '93 after the German firebombings of ethnic Turkish homes (when they had a Turkish-German musicians back them up on electric violin) --and EXACTLY in the same vein. "One" as angry protest song. I didn't watch the performance, but taped it off the radio. I don't think the band's live mix of the song as being si,ilar to the one on AB is an accident either. Think about what you saw on TV a week ago and THINK of those lyrics. How much of that turns out to be chillingly real. Mary J gave her best and she would have if it was her song, but I don't think it was an accident. U2 clearly brought her on board to make a politcal point, and she exceeded their expectations....and even now I've watched it too, I don't think they were purely stunned. If she'd done any less of a job they would have been disppointed. Notice too how they band had the "Album" mix of this tune where they reproduced onhstange the whole dynamic of the music getting gradually louder and more insistant when you got to the "did I ask to much". The way I interpreted it when listening to it was "the band isn't just empathetic, it is (to quote the good Mayor) pissed, and they want to communicate that anger." By the end when Mary J had to shout over the music I thought that the song's power came (this time) rightly from a sesne of anger that came from both band and her. Mostly by her. Bono was clearly saying," I think I may as well shut my trap for once and let HEr tell us what this song means."

Sorry for the over-analysis, but hey, if you guys want to pick apart a great performance that should have been felt, not thought about (you are as bad as the people on WIRE) I may as well jump in with my customary 4 cents.

 

[thesuburbskill]

mary's voice was definitely a great addition to the song... its been a while since ive found "one" that moving

 

[Hallucination]

I don't think was a great performance. I prefer One performed by U2. Other artists just don't do the songs justice in my opinion. Nor do I care for Mary J Blige. Nonetheless I watched and I have made my contributions.

I agree. her voice is a typical R & B voice. Sure she may be strong technically but there's no emotion or power in her voice. I honestly think it ruined the performance. It might as well have been Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston, or Alicia Keys singing it. Now if Jewel sang it or even Tracy Chapman that would be cool. Singers with some emotion and soul in their voice. Not just singers who try to show of how loud they can sing.

 

[Vincent Vega]

They could've showed the other members of the band a little more though

That was a big problem with the German news.
On every channel, they said "Mary J. Blige and U2's frontman Bono" or something else, so it is like not the band U2, but only Bono was at the show. Maybe they got it wrong because the cameras didn't show the others, but nonetheless it wasn't good reporting in my opinion.

It was nice as a performance, but since I don't like the R&B kind of singing it was nothing I really like to listen to.
I like performances like the orchestra version or the show at Tacoma in 1992 much more.

 

[sparty1969]

I just watched it (thanks U2exit).

Bono's vocal performance reminded me of the Live 8 performance (not his greatest gig to date IMOP).

Mary J. did just fine. Took her a little to warm up but toward the end she was getting into it and so was the band.

I liked it