Mercy !! Edge Answers

[GibsonGirl]

This comment never justifies anything against what I said, it never goes against really.
But, let me tell you that Mercy has so or more dynamics than Elevation or than Walk On, for instance.

Oh, I agree with you on that. And I find those songs you brought up to be boring as hell. My favourite U2 songs are the ones that actually go somewhere. Take Zooropa for instance. It starts out with swirling piano, makes a transition into a wonderfully spacey section, then takes off at the end. It's musically interesting. It's a treat to listen to. Or even something like Exit. It starts out as a quiet menace that builds up into a snarl of drums, bass and guitar at the end. When Larry attacks those cymbals at the end, you can feel that anger. Then after the chaos is complete, it's back to that low, menacing synthy growl for a few seconds.

There is absolutely nothing like that in Mercy. No real change in emotion. No real change in instrumentation. Just six long minutes of same ol', same ol'.

Explosion... naturally, I was exagerating, but you understood perfectily what I was telling.

I'm quite aware that you were not talking about a literal explosion, thank you. There is no figurative explosion in Mercy. That sort of thing is present in a song like Exit, it's not present in Mercy.

The lyrics are very good, rich in metaphores and antítesis (don't know how to write this correctly) and Bono has already written worse this decade.
Bono's vocals? Come on... ATYCLB and Pop have far worse (weak?) vocals than this!

Yes, they're rich in metaphors and all sorts of other literary devices...except they're the kind high school students could write. "Love puts the blue back in my eye"? Really, Bono? This is coming from the man that wrote Running To Stand Still.

And tell me, when did I say his vocals on Mercy were weaker than his vocals on ATYCLB and Pop? I didn't. I'm talking about Mercy specifically. That "I feel nothing" part makes me cringe. I just think it sounds awful. His singing on the rest of the song is solid, but when he pushes it further than he's able to, the delivery just fails.

 

[GibsonGirl]

hope this song keep it's complex structure..

...complex structure?

 

[BVS]

...complex structure?

Maybe they mean it doesn't have the typical verse hook verse hook bridge etc structure...

 

[GibsonGirl]

Maybe they mean it doesn't have the typical verse hook verse hook bridge etc structure...

I suppose. Complex isn't really the word I would use but it definitely is outside the typical U2 norm (which is a good thing, I think - verse chorus verse chorus middle eight chorus is starting to get tiring.)

 

[JanaBDug]

this makes me not want to have heard the greatness of Mercy before they have so called 'perfected' it. But then again, U2 at their rawest and unfinished, are always so much more satisfying. I mean imagine if that ended up on HTDAAB...
but nonetheless everytime i do listen to it, i hear potential, like something COULD be improved.. just didnt know what...

 

[djerdap]

Why do you start your opinions with "Wrong"? Because you feel you have to state your opinion as the truth?
Wrong! Opinions are opinions. You don't like Mercy? Fine, we can live with it, but Mercy - again - is not respectful of structural conventions, and it might not be a brilliant or a finished song, but it's better from some points of view than many other U2 songs.

"This was a statement, constating a fact." - that´s you talking, pal.

It´s your opinion, not a fact and that is why I responded with a simple "wrong".

 

[U2SJ]

and another thing, to fill in the backstory, it was me who gave U2SJ the copy of Mercy way back when. Here's how it went down...

I got HTDAAB about a week and half before it came out from an friend in the music business with Interscope connections. (It was on a cassette of all formats!) I went to my bass players house and we converted it into digital so we could go about learning the songs early (we play in Zoo Station, a Northern California U2 Tribute Band) and get the songs to our bandmates. The next night, we had a show at the Britannia Arms in San Jose and U2SJ had a little get together at her house afterwards. I had the CD with me, and it took some convincing but eventually she agreed to put it on the stereo for her and all the U2 fans that were there. There was some concern about "ruining the surprise" but as soon as the volume went up everyone was into it. And I thought it was cool to be around a group of fans like that, all of them hearing the album for the first time. Anyway, Mercy was on that advance copy. I didn't know what the title was because the tracklisting that had already been posted at U2.com didn't feature it. I left the CD for her as a souvenir, and that was that.

I wasn't there when she met Bono who told her to "look out for Mercy" but she did tell me the story and I think she had a photo. If memory serves, she met him when he and edge came to Cupertino to unveil the U2 iPod and Complete U2 iTunes Box Set with Steve Jobs. Wasn't that about two weeks before HTDAAB came out? I'm sure some trainspotter will look it up.

I only post this because she gets crap from time to time from people who don't believe her story. That's how it went down. She's a lovely girl and as honest as the day is long.

So Skott, when is Zoo Station gonna bring Mercy into one of your gigs?!
Thanks again for that cd, I cherish it. Now finally the story has been told!
I always said, if I ever met Bono again I would ask him what happened to Mercy, so thanks to the original poster for asking Edge!

 

[Utoo]

I only post this because she gets crap from time to time from people who don't believe her story. That's how it went down. She's a lovely girl and as honest as the day is long.

I don't even know her, but when I did my Mercy "research" last year, it was terrible to see how many negative posts were directed her way. All for a person who was kind enough to post the song for us!


Thanks for the final piece to the puzzle, skott!

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

Yeah, you get 'kicked' in here whenever you try and do something special.

U2SJ is

 

[Peterrrrr]

And tell me, when did I say his vocals on Mercy were weaker than his vocals on ATYCLB and Pop? I didn't. I'm talking about Mercy specifically. That "I feel nothing" part makes me cringe. I just think it sounds awful. His singing on the rest of the song is solid, but when he pushes it further than he's able to, the delivery just fails.

I think his voice on Mercy overall is one of his best. The low one and the high one.

 

[skott100]

So Skott, when is Zoo Station gonna bring Mercy into one of your gigs?!
Thanks again for that cd, I cherish it. Now finally the story has been told!
I always said, if I ever met Bono again I would ask him what happened to Mercy, so thanks to the original poster for asking Edge!

We played it once at the atU2 party in Portland last December just because we knew it'd be a room full of U2 hardcore (and it sure was!) fans but I think its a longshot that we'd ever do it again until it gets some kind of official exposure. We're gonna see you January 5th at Slim's right? We have a Smiths tribute and a Weezer tribute playin with us and we're gonna do a big Joshua Tree 20th Anniversay celebration thing.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Sorry if this has already been revealed, but where was Mercy placed on that advance album? Last song?

 

[skott100]

yup. last song.

 

[U2SJ]

Skott... we are definitely gonna try to make Slim's!!!

 

[pepokiss]

My tribute band (Acrobat) will play it in abouth 3 weeks...


a glorious encore:

Pride
Streets
One
WITS
Mercy

 

[Swan269]

We played it once at the atU2 party in Portland last December just because we knew it'd be a room full of U2 hardcore (and it sure was!) fans but I think its a longshot that we'd ever do it again until it gets some kind of official exposure. We're gonna see you January 5th at Slim's right? We have a Smiths tribute and a Weezer tribute playin with us and we're gonna do a big Joshua Tree 20th Anniversay celebration thing.

I read that you guys did a great job of playing the song....it sounds like it would be quite a challenge. I sometimes play it on the acoustic but how hard could that be compared to recreating it?!?!