Rate The Song: Trip Through Your Wires

[digitize]

Unfortunately, I have to post today's polls a bit early - I'm about to go out of town. So today, we move on to the second half of The Joshua Tree.

Please rate Trip Through Your Wires on a scale from 0 to 10, using whatever criteria you feel allows you to best evaluate the song as a whole. I will not set criteria for people to based on, but if you feel like your best evaluation of the merits of a song comes from voting only based on, say, the studio version, go right ahead and vote that way. Full information on the Rate The Song series may be found in this thread.

Have fun! This poll will close in 96 hours.

 

[An Cat Gav]

8. I know many people don't like this song, but I find it charming and fun!

 

[Nick66]

8. I know many people don't like this song, but I find it charming and fun!

Yep.

Fun and funky. Solid 8.

 

[Galeongirl]

Horrible filler. Not a fan of the harmonica at all in this one, while it works in RTSS.

 

[LemonMelon]

Sheer joy. So much fun, and it definitely lifts the mood of an otherwise dour record. Joshua Tree NEEDS this song. 9.

 

[Nick66]

Joshua Tree NEEDS this song. 9.

Great observation. I'll give this comment a solid 8.

 

[gvox]

Never understand why people say this is U2's worst song. It's the worst song on the album maybe. It's still better than a hell of alot of other songs post 1991ish.

 

[nielsgov]

It stands out as a poor track on a great album. It's fun yeah but also not very good. 4

 

[doctorwho]

Never understand why people say this is U2's worst song. It's the worst song on the album maybe. It's still better than a hell of alot of other songs post 1991ish.

But that's just it - we are comparing U2 to U2.

If these polls are about comparing U2 to ALL other songs ever created, our internal biases will naturally rate most U2 songs in the 7-10 categories.

However, I view these polls as U2 compared to U2. And in that sense, "Trip" is one of their weakest tracks ever and by far the weakest on JT.

 

[gvox]

I'm only talking about other U2 songs. Whatchu talkin' bout?

 

[The Panther]

Horrible filler. Not a fan of the harmonica at all in this one, while it works in RTSS.

It's fine not to like the song, but it's not right to call it "filler". They seem to have been working on this song longer than almost any other JT track, so, by definition, it cannot be called "filler".

Apparently, it was a last-minute decision to include this track on the album (I don't know what the substitute would have been), but I'm glad it's on there. Musically, it's perfectly of a piece with the rest of the record, and while lyrically it may be more playful and light-hearted, there's are still some cool lines in there. I loooove the playful, joyous chorus and the fat and funky bass line. (Bono does the harmonica bit nicely on the record, of course, but it did usually sound crap live.)

 

[gvox]

(I don't know what the substitute would have been),

Heartland springs to mind, but I'm not complaining. Also, Silver and Gold or Spanish Eyes woulda been pretty nifty.

 

[The Panther]

Heartland springs to mind, but I'm not complaining. Also, Silver and Gold or Spanish Eyes woulda been pretty nifty.

My understanding was that 'Heartland' wasn't finished in time for the album, but I'm not sure. 'Silver & Gold' might have worked well enough, but it had already had release as a Bono + friends song just several months earlier, so I think they'd have rather put on something new. 'Spanish Eyes' isn't that good, I think. Quite a bit of bluster in the first 40 seconds or so, then sinks into repetition.

 

[gvox]

I would put money on Heartland being done before even some of the songs that had made the final cut. Or done enough to have justified finishing it, anyways.

 

[U2387]

9.

Along with 2 Hearts, I consider this to be the most underrated U2 song here on interference.

Never understood all the criticism it gets.

Blast that song and you're guaranteed to feel better about things instantly!

Plus, reading the lyrics, it's a pretty good commentary on desire and lust. Far from a throw away afterthought.

I don't think JT has a clunker on it.

 

[The_acrobat]

This is easily my least favorites song on the album. However, as stated before, the album really needs this song on it and they were wise to include it. The album would've just been to heavy and serious without this light-hearted moment to break it up.

 

[Nick66]

But that's just it - we are comparing U2 to U2.

If these polls are about comparing U2 to ALL other songs ever created, our internal biases will naturally rate most U2 songs in the 7-10 categories.

However, I view these polls as U2 compared to U2. And in that sense, "Trip" is one of their weakest tracks ever and by far the weakest on JT.

Well, of course I'm only comparing these songs to other U2 songs. Comparing them to every other song in rock musicdom would be kind of pointless.

Having said that, as Digitize said, use whatever criteria you wish. It's all wildly subjective anyway (except for those handful of songs that are non-debatable in their greatness).

Trip Through Your Wires is a great song, IMO, and completely belongs on this album, and it's better for it.

 

[lemonfly]

A little burst of sunshine on an otherwise heavy and earnest second half. The scorn poured upon this song is quite baffling. It seems it's become fashionable amongst a certain section of fans to declare it the anti-christ. It is a well crafted song in its own right, but when compared to other unfavored album tracks like Grace, Crazy Tonight and Stand Up Comedy, it positively sparkles in comparison to those smelly turds.

 

[trojanchick99]

My least favorite song on the album and it's a 7. That's a pretty damn good album.

 

[cobl04]

What LM said. Raucous fun. 8.

 

[prbiker15]

Tied with Exit as one of my least favorites on The Joshua Tree, but still good. Gets a 7 from me.

 

[coolian2]

if it was on rattle and hum, i'd probably give it an eight because it suits that vibe more.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'd give Inthistown at least an 18.

 

[ElectricalStorm]

7.
I almost gave it a 6, but then I remembered this performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQMOMvH0Xgg

 

[cobl04]

Are you implying that performance drags your score down? Because if you are you need to reassess immediately.

INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN

 

[Galeongirl]

That's a straight 20 there.

 

[ElectricalStorm]

Are you implying that performance drags your score down? Because if you are you need to reassess immediately.

INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN INTHISTOWN

NO WAY, it drags it up! In this town is probably the greatest thing that happened to the Joshua Tree.
Quite accurate lyrics you describe there.

 

[cobl04]

Sorry. You quite clearly stated that. I must be getting tired.

 

[ElectricalStorm]

^^ Ah, no problem at all

 

[gvox]

7.
I almost gave it a 6, but then I remembered this performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQMOMvH0Xgg

Drunk Bono ftmfw

Adam at 2:22