doctorwho
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I could substitute "With or Without You" and "Bullet the Blue Sky" for the two songs you mentioned and say the same thing. "With..." is very cliche (the title alone is a cliche) and while there is no official chorus to the song, it's full of repetitive, redundant and obvious comments with lots of wailing. "Bullet" comes across as a bit sophomoric - a painfully obvious attempt to write poetically about a "serious" topic. Musically, the song lacks life on the album - again, it tries to be powerful and significant, but it's that attempt that hurts it as it's so obvious.
Yet, while I write those statements, 20+ years later, both of those songs are easily considered classics. Bono's lyrics on "With" are simple, and it's that simple elegance that makes the song shine. The haunting music combined with Bono's vocal passion makes the song soar. It's a theme that won't be forgotten. "Bullet" gained new life, new meaning and new emphasis in concert, where U2 really made this song come alive. Suddenly the lyrics didn't seem so forced - they flowed. And over time, U2 allowed the song to take on different meanings, a freedom that strong lyric writing allows.
"Beautiful Day", like "With" may be the commercial hit, but it doesn't take away from its meaning or significance. Calling it a filler only tells me that YOU don't like the song, which is fine, but something you have to recognize. BD is not one of my favorite U2 songs either, but I recognize the power, meaning, and importance of the song. Likewise, I don't notice the "crap lyrics" in "Kite", so again, this is your personal feelings about the song, not a factual statement about lyric writing. I can think of many examples where Bono's lyrics were more cliche - from the afore-mentioned "With" to songs like "Even Better Than..." and "All I Want...". Bono's lyrics are usually based on a central ideal or theme - the notion of what really constitutes a "beautiful day" or what does it mean to say "all I want is you". Sometimes he follows through on ideas - the imagery of a kite blowing in the wind and how that has analogies to events in one's life. Therefore, claiming weak lyrics seems a stretch to me - in fact, I view it as a lazy argument from a person who simply isn't a fan of the song. Sometimes a song can be brilliant, but it just doesn't catch our fancy. This is acceptable, but it doesn't mean the song is a "filler" or "crap".
Going back to the original topic, I do NOT think "In a Little While" will be remembered as a classic. However, I do think it will be viewed upon as an album gem (which is different from a "classic") that does capture much of what U2 was about at that moment in their lives.
Beautiful Day is just the perfect U2 song! Sure, it's generic in structure and uses the classic Edge guitar delay and all that but it is just so uplifting! I remember hearing it for the first time in Fall of 2000 and experiencing a rush of joy through every inch of my body. Goosebumps!
