Lord of the Flies & U2!

[AdamsMango]

I was reading Lord of the Flies for school and there is a chapter called Shadows and Tall trees! Wonder if Bono knows..

 

[adamswildhoney]

I went on a date once, My date thought "Lord of the Flies" was a book that was ripping off "Lord of the Rings". Mind you all that it was a blind date. I was trying so hard not to laugh when he said that.

back to subject: I think Bono knows

 

[Liesje]

Hmm... I did read somewhere that Lord of the Flies is one of Bono's favorites.

 

[AdamsMango]

I went on a date once, My date thought "Lord of the Flies" was a book that was ripping off "Lord of the Rings". Mind you all that it was a blind date. I was trying so hard not to laugh when he said that.

whoa, he is a keeper!


I was so excited when i turned to that page and saw the title..everyone else was like "this book sucks.." now i am more interested in it.

 

[pepokiss]

actually, the song does come from that book and chapter
Bono said that once (I think)

 

[alia612]

Wow, that's cool... that's definitely on my to-read list now! (Hmm, I remember thinking that it was a parody of Lord of the Rings... when I was about four!)

 

[adamswildhoney]

whoa, he is a keeper!

He is not!!!

 

[AdamsMango]

actually, the song does come from that book and chapter
Bono said that once (I think)

hmm any one got the lyrics/story book to check?i don't know why bono would do that..but i think it'd make sense

 

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

hmm any one got the lyrics/story book to check?i don't know why bono would do that..but i think it'd make sense

Your wish is... my pleasure!

Here are some excerpts from Into The Heart:

William Golding's Lord of the Flies was an important text around Lypton Village. Part of the driving force behind that community within a community involved the rejection of adulthood and the mind-numbing convention that seemed to accompany it. The purity and innocence of childhood seemed far more attractive than a life of never-ending compromise.

And so Bono, Gavin, Guggi and the other inhabitants of this imaginary place resolved to live like children, and to behave with a child-like honesty. "We got into this Lord of the Flies idea of not growing up," Bono told John Waters later. "We said, 'we won't grow up. We'll stay as we are... nine!' Ahem, I guess we succeeded there!"

[...]

The title 'Shadows and Tall Trees' was taken from the fourth chapter of Lord of the Flies. "When I came up with the title, I remember thinking 'Wow! I can do this! Again it was like a moment of realization," Bono recalls.

[...]

The shadows and tall trees of the title were a reference to the atmosphere around the pylons that towered over Cedarwood Road and environs. "I remember thinking about that comparison between Lord of the Flies and where we were in Cedarwood, between Ballymun and Finglas. It was a quiet little street in one sense but my memory of it, growing up, is of being stuck between cowboys and indians, rumbles between the top end of the street and the bottom end of the street, between bootboys and skinheads, and so on. That's the way it was. And I remember thinking the shadows and tall trees are different here - but it's the same story, isn't it? It's all about war. We're all stuck on this island of suburbia and we're turning on each other."

On the page there's also a photo of Willaim Golding. Reading about the story behind the song it seems the book was a definite influence on the song and early U2 in general.

C ya!

Marty

 

[igloolik]

OMG, i LOVE that book. it is, by far, my fave!. and yeah, i'm pretty sure Bono knows. in fact, i think it was a purposeful alliteration. awesome song, too. awesome album, in fact! last year in English, we saw the 1990 version of the movie (an offence to anyone who takes literature seriously. it was just WRONG, don't even get me started, ugh) and everyone was like 'that's a really bad movie, there's all this swearing and they killed that one kid!, and why were they whipping him?' and i keep telling them, 'it's horrible!, don't let this affect your opinion of the book (we hadn't read it, hate that teacher, he knows nothing), it's a great book, just forget you ever saw that, watch the 1963 version of it, it's better!' desparatly trying to change their minds because i know that ruined any chance of them likeing the book or reading it voluntarily, and i felt a lot like Ralph, trying to convince everyone that keeping the fire going was the only chance they had of going home, but also a lot like Simon, not quite able to put my thoughts to words, though i probably had the most important point of all, and if anyone could just figure it out...!

 

[igloolik]

wait, Shadows and Tall Trees, isn't the 4th chapter, it's the 7th chapter. trust me, i should know.