City of Blinding Lights

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if they somehow channeled the live performance of it into the album one, it could be great.

The way it is on HTDAAB, it's just a good song. wouldn't call it a u2 classic though. Edge's guitar sounds so distant....i just don't really like the way it sounds on record.

live it was great.
 
It's the wakeup song on my iPod clock radio. Nice to be lulled out of sleep with Adam's bass tone and then the piano helps bring me to conciousness.

I alternate with "Tears, Tears and More Tears" by Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, whose first line is, "Wake up, early in the morning, got you on my mind."
 
The best song on HTDAAB, one of the top five of this century but I don't think it will rank in the top 20 U2 of all time.
 
Never understood the appeal of this song. Horrible production. Weak Hallmark lyrics. No sense of purpose or urgency. Tries to hit a climax without having any drama to get you there (and i miss you when ure not around?) and when the "climax" finally hits, it's spiked with what is maybe Bono's most indifferent, cliched, pointless and crappy lyric to date "Oh you look so beautiful tonight", followed by an ever lamer "in the city of blinding lights", which is a horrific title to begin with. I can't even say "city of blinding lights" without throwing up in my mouth. Honestly, the only decent thing about the song is the chorus falsetto, right before Bono gets all Barry Manilow on us. But I can't even bring myself to enjoy that part because the vocal's too up front in the mix and it makes my speakers rattle. Sorry, but I'm not gonna start headbanging to some falsetto. For anyone who puts this in their top 5, I'm gonna give u the benefit of the doubt and assume that COBL is one of the only 5 U2 songs u have heard in ure life up to now.
 
ozeeko said:
Never understood the appeal of this song. Horrible production. Weak Hallmark lyrics. No sense of purpose or urgency. Tries to hit a climax without having any drama to get you there (and i miss you when ure not around?) and when the "climax" finally hits, it's spiked with what is maybe Bono's most indifferent, cliched, pointless and crappy lyric to date "Oh you look so beautiful tonight", followed by an ever lamer "in the city of blinding lights", which is a horrific title to begin with. I can't even say "city of blinding lights" without throwing up in my mouth. Honestly, the only decent thing about the song is the chorus falsetto, right before Bono gets all Barry Manilow on us. But I can't even bring myself to enjoy that part because the vocal's too up front in the mix and it makes my speakers rattle. Sorry, but I'm not gonna start headbanging to some falsetto. For anyone who puts this in their top 5, I'm gonna give u the benefit of the doubt and assume that COBL is one of the only 5 U2 songs u have heard in ure life up to now.
Click to expand...

Gee, Edge, why don't you tell us what you really think? :)
 
...and another thing. If the lights are so blinding, then how does Bono know how beautiful u look? Either he's contradicting himself or he's just bullshitting his way into ure pants. The only song worse than this one is Yahweh.
 
maybe thats the point.

oh you look so beeeeeaaaauuutiful

...in the city of blinding lights :lmao:
 
ozeeko said:
Never understood the appeal of this song. Horrible production. Weak Hallmark lyrics. No sense of purpose or urgency. Tries to hit a climax without having any drama to get you there (and i miss you when ure not around?) and when the "climax" finally hits, it's spiked with what is maybe Bono's most indifferent, cliched, pointless and crappy lyric to date "Oh you look so beautiful tonight", followed by an ever lamer "in the city of blinding lights", which is a horrific title to begin with. I can't even say "city of blinding lights" without throwing up in my mouth. Honestly, the only decent thing about the song is the chorus falsetto, right before Bono gets all Barry Manilow on us. But I can't even bring myself to enjoy that part because the vocal's too up front in the mix and it makes my speakers rattle. Sorry, but I'm not gonna start headbanging to some falsetto. For anyone who puts this in their top 5, I'm gonna give u the benefit of the doubt and assume that COBL is one of the only 5 U2 songs u have heard in ure life up to now.
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QFT:up:


the production is terrible :yuck:
 
ozeeko said:
Never understood the appeal of this song. Horrible production. Weak Hallmark lyrics. No sense of purpose or urgency. Tries to hit a climax without having any drama to get you there (and i miss you when ure not around?) and when the "climax" finally hits, it's spiked with what is maybe Bono's most indifferent, cliched, pointless and crappy lyric to date "Oh you look so beautiful tonight", followed by an ever lamer "in the city of blinding lights", which is a horrific title to begin with. I can't even say "city of blinding lights" without throwing up in my mouth. Honestly, the only decent thing about the song is the chorus falsetto, right before Bono gets all Barry Manilow on us. But I can't even bring myself to enjoy that part because the vocal's too up front in the mix and it makes my speakers rattle. Sorry, but I'm not gonna start headbanging to some falsetto. For anyone who puts this in their top 5, I'm gonna give u the benefit of the doubt and assume that COBL is one of the only 5 U2 songs u have heard in ure life up to now.
Click to expand...

Wow. I agree with pretty much everything ozeeko said except COBL being a bad title. I don't see anything wrong with the title. But yeah, the best part of the song is undoubtedly that wall of sound that accompanies the Ooooh Ooooooooohs just before the chorus. Adam's bass is going crazy in that section too. It's possibly the finest bit of music in the whole freakin' album.

And I agree with everyone that said it's better live. Edge's guitar is sooooooooo much better (or not buried in the mix because of the keyboards) on the live versions!
 
i think the worst part is the bridge.

and iii miss you when you're not around
im getting ready to leave the ground
 
ozeeko said:
Never understood the appeal of this song. Horrible production. Weak Hallmark lyrics. No sense of purpose or urgency. Tries to hit a climax without having any drama to get you there (and i miss you when ure not around?) and when the "climax" finally hits, it's spiked with what is maybe Bono's most indifferent, cliched, pointless and crappy lyric to date "Oh you look so beautiful tonight", followed by an ever lamer "in the city of blinding lights", which is a horrific title to begin with. I can't even say "city of blinding lights" without throwing up in my mouth. Honestly, the only decent thing about the song is the chorus falsetto, right before Bono gets all Barry Manilow on us. But I can't even bring myself to enjoy that part because the vocal's too up front in the mix and it makes my speakers rattle. Sorry, but I'm not gonna start headbanging to some falsetto. For anyone who puts this in their top 5, I'm gonna give u the benefit of the doubt and assume that COBL is one of the only 5 U2 songs u have heard in ure life up to now.
Click to expand...

Are any of you posts not like this?

Negative, down, critical, crappy, etc.?

Show me the light.

500 post in, and you're doing 1 theme: shit.
 
Last edited:
MrBrau1 said:


Are any of you posts not like this?

Negative, down, critical, crappy, etc.?

Show me the light.

500 post in, and you're doing 1 theme: shit.
Click to expand...

I'm just contributing to the topic, my man. This is a forum about opinions, and this is my opinion. If the thread were about "An Cat Dubh" or "A Sort Of Homecoming" or "Wake Up Dead Man", you would hear nothing but praise from me. I just don't like this song, and I think it's probably the most "undeserved" U2 classic of their entire career, with "Kite" coming in at #2.

You wanna talk about other U2 songs? I'm sure we'd agree on a lot. But in the meantime, don't chastize me just because I don't like a song that you like. (if you could call it a song that is)
 
ozeeko said:


I'm just contributing to the topic, my man. This is a forum about opinions, and this is my opinion. If the thread were about "An Cat Dubh" or "A Sort Of Homecoming" or "Wake Up Dead Man", you would hear nothing but praise from me. I just don't like this song, and I think it's probably the most "undeserved" U2 classic of their entire career, with "Kite" coming in at #2.

You wanna talk about other U2 songs? I'm sure we'd agree on a lot. But in the meantime, don't chastize me just because I don't like a song that you like. (if you could call it a song that is)
Click to expand...

Don't even bother responding to Brau. He likes to start shit.
 
Billy Rotten said:
After hearing it live, the studio version of COBL is rather dull.
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I don't know about dull.. Listening to a live version is almost like listening to a different song for me. Not in the way it sounds so much as the meaning it takes on. When I listen to a live version, the rush and excitement of the live show comes back to me when you hear the crowd and you hear the differences in the way they play it. If I listen to the album version, I'm not really thinking of the live show. I'm just thinking it's a great tune to listen to as I'm going about my day. Both versions give me goosebumps though, like few other songs do.
 
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