lazarus said:
It's not a bad song but it must be one of the most popular songs ever with a real generic chorus, if you even want to call it that.
Like probably most of us, the first I heard of "Beautiful Day" was the thirty-second clip that leaked onto the internet way back in the day (it was basically the last thirty seconds of the song, not counting that weird sound at the very end).
When the full version leaked, I was disappointed in the chorus too, especially since the ending was so much more dynamic (doesn't help that the first verse plods along pretty slowly). It's grown on me, though; the main part is Bono singing "it's a beautiful day!" blandly and anticlimactically, but the background harmony makes it pretty interesting. The song isn't really focused around the chorus anyway; it's a big build-up for the ending. The middle eight is also a lot more prominent (and longer) than your usual single (which is noteworthy considering your usual single is mostly preoccupied with fitting as many choruses in as possible, whereas "Beautiful Day" gets away with a scant two in four minutes).
It's interesting that you praised "Walk On," since it's always struck me as the
definitive by-the-numbers U2 tune. It's built around a very typical Edge riff (a fair bit of keyboard, but it all blends into the background), whereas "Beautiful Day" has that synth line, doubled up by the bass in the verses and the guitar in the chorus so you can't miss it, and the most prominent guitar is saved for the "touch me..." parts and the outro. It's very much centered around the big chorus (and suffers a bit for it since it drags on after a while, especially on the longer album cut), whereas, as we've discussed, "Beautiful Day" is more about building up to a single climax. There's a chimey guitar solo, even, followed by a pretty weak bridge that uses the safe play on words "home, that's where the hurt is." Take out the stupid intro and the overlong outro (which they did for us, eventually), and there's not a whole lot special about it, except that it all happens to be done particularly well.
But of course, a lot of people here won't like something, well done or not, if it isn't overtly edgy about it (and I'm not talking specifically to lazarus anymore, just Interferencers in general). Really, I think
ATYCLB is a much more diverse and daring record than anyone here will ever give it credit for, probably because it's very subtle about achieving its sound (whereas the nineties stuff hit you over the head with it). See, thing about experimentation is, eventually, you
make something with what you've learned from those experiments. I can picture the Interference gang slamming Nikola Tesla for selling out with the whole alternating current thing instead of just coming up with whacked out shit all day. Oh well.
(Edit: It's worth mentioning that the last time I tried to defend an
ATYCLB song by calling attention to its textures and layers, I got a poorly worded "an
ATYCLB song has textures and layers? lol!!!111!!1" reply (as if repeating what I said and noting that you laughed at it were sufficient to disprove my notions). So I'm not expecting much out of this one, but take it for whatever it's worth.)
That's not gonna happen so I'm happy to hear BD whenever. I like the lyrics though they maybe sappy for some, it's uplifting for me
Didn't Bono steal these lines from Back 2 Good?
