"Stateless" Appreciation thread

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Nate Dogg

Nate Dogg

Refugee
Joined
Jun 7, 2000
Messages
2,259
Location
South Florida
Unjustly overlooked on the Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack, overshadowed by The Ground Beneath Her Feet, I think this song is sorely underrated. The atmosphere of Edge's distorted guitar and Bono's lyrics (of which I would love someone else's interpretation...). This song might be at home on Zooropa or Pop, maybe it was a leftover...Definitely in my Top 20 U2 songs...Anyone else agree?


I've got no home in this world
Just gravity, luck, and time
I've got no home in this world
Just you and you are not mine

Stateless
Weightless
Stateless

Such a girl

There are no colors in your eye
There's no sunshine in your sky
There's no race, only the prize
There is no tomorrow, only tonight

Stateless
It's the difference

You can cover a world with your thumb
Still so big, so bright, so beautiful

Weightless
Stateless

Push down on me
Push down on me
A weight now
A weight down on me
Your weight down
Be the weight, hard
Down on me
Be the heavy hand
The wall of sand
Be the weight, hard
Down on me

Stateless
Weightless
Hateless
 
Lyrically, it's the ying to the yang of 'Beautiful Day'...and though many would disagree, it could have found a home on All That You Can't Leave Behind (somewhere around 'New York' and 'Ground Beneath Her Feet')... Actually, try listening to this song right before 'Always' sometime (better yet, do it right now). The transition is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard. You would never see it coming in a million years...but it works beautifully, like they were meant to be together. It makes 'Always' sound like a surge into the heavens.

The vocal delivery in 'Stateless' is old school U2 without trying to be (I love the way Bono sings "sky" in "there's no sunshine in your sky")... and this is the most evocative U2 has sounded since recording The Joshua Tree. It's a crime this has not shown up on a proper U2 album, and it's too bad it was overshadowed by 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet', which is a nice song, too (as far as pop songs go) but not in the same league as 'Stateless' which thrives on dimension, texture, ambient mood swings, and spurts of colour intermingled with various shades of light and dark. It's so emotive...when Edge's background vocal kicks in, the song is brought into the next realm - a place U2 haven't ventured too much anymore - a place where the idea of "song" is left behind in favour of pure spirit.

You can say I'm a fan of 'Stateless'.

Along with 'Surrender', it is possibly the most underrated song in U2's catalogue.
 
Michael Griffiths said:
the song is brought into the next realm - a place U2 haven't ventured too much anymore - a place where the idea of "song" is left behind in favour of pure spirit.
Click to expand...


Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 
Michael Griffiths said:


The vocal delivery in 'Stateless' is old school U2 without trying to be (I love the way Bono sings "sky" in "there's no sunshine in your sky")... and this is the most evocative U2 has sounded since recording The Joshua Tree.
Click to expand...

i disagree with your take on his vocal delivery. Stateless is very subtle in it's vocal delivery, something Bono rarely does.
 
Let me invite you into what I meant when I was saying "old school vocal delivery". I'm referring to the Achtung Baby period more or less (where he did learn to use quite a bit of subtlety), but regardless, that's not even really important to know. It's the sound Bono is playing with - the low and the high, like when he sings "sky", the dexterity and stretching of phrase, the pitch, all those things he uses in a line like, "You can cover the world with your thumb / still so big, so bright, so beautiful" - the way he sings "beautiful", even - and of course the falsetto...it reminds me of The Unforgettable Fire...there's a real urgency to his vocal approach.
 
Stateless is one of those songs on first hearing you might write off, but repeated listenings allow you breathe in the glory of what this song is and could be. I find it one of the most haunting and mildy sexy songs U2 have ever done.

Michael hits on a key point, it's U2 playing U2 circa '84/'85. Leaving the idea of the song as the song without too much fluff. Great tune.
 
Michael Griffiths said:
Let me invite you into what I meant when I was saying "old school vocal delivery". I'm referring to the Achtung Baby period more or less
Click to expand...

Well if that's considered old school, then OK, I can kinda see that.



Great song none the less...
 
Exactly, Reggie Thee Dog... It's not so much the same voice (Bono's voice is different now obviously), but that sense of spontaneity and spark that comes from trusting that the next phrase will be waiting for the melody right around the corner. It's like the paint was all taken in by the brush, without worrying if it would splatter and mess up the canvas. The spirit of the song keeps it all beautifully composed in a kind of trance...and the vocal is allowed to follow that feeling. This is exactly what was going on during The Unforgettable Fire. The place where "song" is left behind...and the spirit of creation takes over. You are exactly right about why this song takes repeated listenings to fully appreciate - it opens up the creative avenues in the listener as well, and as you say, we wonder what it could be as we appreciate it for what it is.
 
My favourite off MDH soundtrack. I wouldn't mind U2 going in the direction of this song, GBHF and Falling at your feet.

I guess Mercy is the closest they've come so far?
 
Great song, I also wouldn't mine seeing U2 do an album of stuff going off in the same kinda direction as Stateless.
Great track.
 
I love this song... not the first time I heard it, I just thought of it as a pretty weird song... ( the last bit of the lyrics... :rolleyes: )
but now I really love it!
 
This is one of my favorite songs. :heart: It's gorgeous. I love sharing it with casual U2 fans who weren't aware of it.
 
Bonochick said:
This is one of my favorite songs. :heart: It's gorgeous. I love sharing it with casual U2 fans who weren't aware of it.
Click to expand...

I'm not a casual fan....though.....I haven't heard this song :reject:

mind sharing it....please? :wink:
 
JulioArca said:
Don't forget, theres some pretty clever work from Adam/Larry as well in this song.
Click to expand...
Completely agreed. Adam is just sooo good on this track. He sounds like a jazz man. Everything about this song is so fresh, so alive. The background guitar picking adds those extra floureshes, too. It's a hypnotic track to listen to on headphones. So much going on, so full of life...yet all so decipherable. I find all the background melodies in this song so uplifting. I don't know why exactly, and it my say odd, but listening to it all makes me think of a garden growing after the rain.
 
Michael Griffiths said:

Completely agreed. Adam is just sooo good on this track. He sounds like a jazz man. Everything about this song is so fresh, so alive. The background guitar picking adds those extra floureshes, too. It's a hypnotic track to listen to on headphones. So much going on, so full of life...yet all so decipherable. I find all the background melodies in this song so uplifting. I don't know why exactly, and it my say odd, but listening to it all makes me think of a garden growing after the rain.
Click to expand...

well said,
hm, you dont leave anything to add. :wink:

its a wonderful song--i love the way it ends with the word
"hateless", with Bono's voice on its own.
 
This song is so amazing I'm sure exactly waht to say about it. Except maybe that If I could personally choose the direction of the next album, this would be it. Songs like Stateless and even the entire MDH OS vibe would be perfect.
 
Lancemc said:
If I could personally choose the direction of the next album, this would be it. Songs like Stateless and even the entire MDH OS vibe would be perfect.
Click to expand...

:yes:

Abso-freakin-lutely!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Headache in a Suitcase
  • Locked
  • Sticky
Reminder - Forum Downtime for Software Update Begins January 23, 2024.
Replies
0
Views
280
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
Achtung_Bebe
IO: It's been a while...
Replies
2
Views
643
mikal
mikal
Janet H
  • Sticky
Forum Update - We're back! Ask your questions here.
2
Replies
36
Views
2K
Popmartijn
Popmartijn
Reggie Thee Dog
Are we NOT discussing the Dolby Atmos Mix of Achtung Baby?
Replies
13
Views
1K
count rushmore
count rushmore
L
Play Do You Feel Loved, Babyface, Some Days Are Better Than Others, Playboy Petition
Replies
8
Views
739
rosephile
R

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom