What would be the way to do justice to Mercy?

[angelordevil]

is there an unwritten rule that we must always have a mercy thread in this forum?

I like Mercy, but I agree...it's discussed to death.

 

[love_u2_adam]

please stop the mercy threads

there's sooo many!!!

 

[typhoon]

WHAT'S "MERCY," I'VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT IT/

 

[AtomicBono]

WHAT'S "MERCY," I'VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT IT/

mercy? i cant find it on any of my u2 albums, can some1 send it 2 me plz tnx ilikeu2@email.com

There doesn't seem to be much middle ground with Mercy, seems like people either think it's the second coming of Jesus or it's the worst song ever recorded by anyone ever

 

[typhoon]

The middle ground is occuped by the band, who probably don't give a fuck about it one way or the other.

I don't know why everyone thinks they'll make a big huge deal about playing it live when they didn't even care about it enough to include it on an album where "A Man and a Woman" made the cut.

Edit: In fact, here's an illustration, to put it into perspective:

 

[Axver]

WHAT'S "MERCY," I'VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT IT/

I think it's the song played before U2 come on stage.

 

[Bono's shades]

WHAT'S "MERCY," I'VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT IT/

It's Pepperment Patty's friend from Peanuts!

Oh, wait, that's Marcy.

 

[ShellBeThere]

so, I must just be a total idiot for having it run thru my head so much lately? Please, do yer worst; I can take it. I don't give a shit how it was leaked (though that's all very interesting of course, and thanks to those providing the info!), why it didn't make the cut for HTDAAB etc. I don't think it fits on HTDAAB thematically, frankly, so that's good 'nuf for me. Running time issues, if they were deemed relevant, whatever...I still think it wouldn't have worked on HTDAAB. I don't think it would work as a random bit on a best-of; it's too "big". Perhaps the band decided it sucked and didn't want it to be heard, but *why*? Some of you think it's really awful...one person likened it to Echo &the Bunnymen (a band I really like, or used to listen to a lot anyway) but I don't hear it as close to anything they did. Perhaps the band will never release it because it is so the 'demo' now that "everyone" (huh?) has heard it, perhaps it'll get turned into something else...there surely is a lot of good stuff to use in it.
But tell me what I'm suffering from for feeling like the whole song is quite good, if not ground-breaking for U2 in terms of a new or different overall sound. Tell me what I don't hear that I should, what I think is good but is actually crap.

cheers!

 

[Jack In The Box]

To have mercy on us and stop making Mercy threads.
It's such an overrated, boring, bad song.

bravo! I agree completely, stop the Mercy sickness

 

[gareth brown]

How about a seperate Mercy forum? There's already a ton of useless forums here already.

 

[Achtung_Bebe]

How about a seperate Mercy forum? There's already a ton of useless forums here already.

brilliant idea! It can be called: "You love Me(rcy)... too much/You always loved Me(rcy)... too much."

 

[gareth brown]

Hah, ah yes there'd have to be a clever pun title wouldn't there! good thinking

 

[Flying FuManchu]

The middle ground is occuped by the band, who probably don't give a fuck about it one way or the other.

I don't know why everyone thinks they'll make a big huge deal about playing it live when they didn't even care about it enough to include it on an album where "A Man and a Woman" made the cut.

Edit: In fact, here's an illustration, to put it into perspective:

LMAO! Some truth there!

 

[Aygo]

so, I must just be a total idiot for having it run thru my head so much lately? Please, do yer worst; I can take it. I don't give a shit how it was leaked (though that's all very interesting of course, and thanks to those providing the info!), why it didn't make the cut for HTDAAB etc. I don't think it fits on HTDAAB thematically, frankly, so that's good 'nuf for me. Running time issues, if they were deemed relevant, whatever...I still think it wouldn't have worked on HTDAAB. I don't think it would work as a random bit on a best-of; it's too "big". Perhaps the band decided it sucked and didn't want it to be heard, but *why*? Some of you think it's really awful...one person likened it to Echo &the Bunnymen (a band I really like, or used to listen to a lot anyway) but I don't hear it as close to anything they did. Perhaps the band will never release it because it is so the 'demo' now that "everyone" (huh?) has heard it, perhaps it'll get turned into something else...there surely is a lot of good stuff to use in it.
But tell me what I'm suffering from for feeling like the whole song is quite good, if not ground-breaking for U2 in terms of a new or different overall sound. Tell me what I don't hear that I should, what I think is good but is actually crap.

cheers!

"Mercy" would've fit in HTDAAB as "Yahweh" or "OOTS" or "Fast Cars" did, thematically. In fact, it has more to do than these two last or AMAAW or OSC, for example.
Musically, it would've fit too. There's something in that song that reminds me "Miracle Drug", and like most of the album spirit, it's a good rock song.
I wouldn't mind to see "Mercy" and "Fast Cars" in the final tracklist in the place of AMAAW or Crumbs.

Hey wasn't this song once called Marcy? Do you remember Marcy?

 

[GibsonGirl]

It never ends.

 

[XHendrix24]

Hey, here's a novel idea: Why don't all of you people who don't like the song just stop posting in Mercy threads?

It's shocking, I know. But it just might work.

Especially considering over half of the posts in this thread are from people who don't like the song, and the reason the old thread was closed and this new thread was started in the first place is because Mercy haters got it so absurdly off-topic?

Man. I must be some kind of genius.

Oh, and Mercy's good (IMO OMGZ). I think that in order to do it justice, U2 should probably clean it up a little bit and release it on a single or an EP or something. Possibly an EP that the band could throw together from HTDAAB leftovers that they could release to whet the appetites of all the fans sometime between now and November when they go to finish up the Vertigo tour. I think this idea is actually somewhat realistic too, unlike them playing it as the last song during their last show as the original poster suggested - as cool as that might be for us Mercy fans.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

The topic is a question. Haters as well as lovers can answer it.

 

[XHendrix24]

The topic is a question. Haters as well as lovers can answer it.

Yes, surely they can feel free to answer the question at hand and add something to the discussion. But I don't see the point in coming into a thread just to complain about how many threads of this type are created, thereby giving the thread more posts and keeping it on the first page of the forums. It seems kind of counter-productive to me. You'd think they would just look at the title of the thread and skip over it instead of clicking on the thread and posting in it if they dislike it so much.

 

[Zoots]

I don't see the point in coming into a thread just to complain about how many threads of this type are created, thereby giving the thread more posts and keeping it on the first page of the forums. It seems kind of counter-productive to me.

Exactly!

See, the thing is people love complaining and flinging their sarcastic opinions around. People love giving their opinions about everything, period! And I include myself in this group, this is not a jab at anybody! So, I'm not the least bit surprised at any of these posts.

That said, I agree that Mercy has been discussed enough on this board. I think we should all give it a rest. Anything you take a break from will only sound fresher when you revisit it much later.

As for COBL_04's suggestion, it's an interesting idea esp. cos those ending verses 'I'm born again and again...' might be apt for the last song to be played live. But in reality I don't see it happening when there are so many more classics they could end with!

 

[AtomicBono]

Hey, here's a novel idea: Why don't all of you people who don't like the song just stop posting in Mercy threads?

It's shocking, I know. But it just might work.

Especially considering over half of the posts in this thread are from people who don't like the song, and the reason the old thread was closed and this new thread was started in the first place is because Mercy haters got it so absurdly off-topic?

Man. I must be some kind of genius.

Oh, and Mercy's good (IMO OMGZ). I think that in order to do it justice, U2 should probably clean it up a little bit and release it on a single or an EP or something. Possibly an EP that the band could throw together from HTDAAB leftovers that they could release to whet the appetites of all the fans sometime between now and November when they go to finish up the Vertigo tour. I think this idea is actually somewhat realistic too, unlike them playing it as the last song during their last show as the original poster suggested - as cool as that might be for us Mercy fans.

I think putting Mercy on an album would do it justice. An actual album, not a Best Of.

 

[cypress]

First of all, no one has said officially that the version we've heard is the version U2 was considering puting on Bomb.. it certainly doesn't sound like a final version.

Second, the fact that it was cut from Bomb doesn't mean the song can't be included on another album. In fact, it probably means the band just was not happy with what they had with Mercy at that point in time. If what we all have listened to is indeed the version of the song they cut from Bomb then I can see why they were not totally happy with it.

Third, despite its brilliance, the song does seem to ramble along a bit too much. A shorter, tighter version of the song would probably sound a lot more polished than what we've heard.

No matter what though, I'd like to see a polished, grade-A studio quality version of this song released at some point. To fail to do so is a waste of a good song.

 

[Catman]

Can never get enough mercy!

 

[ShellBeThere]

Hey, here's a novel idea: Why don't all of you people who don't like the song just stop posting in Mercy threads?

It's shocking, I know. But it just might work.

Especially considering over half of the posts in this thread are from people who don't like the song, and the reason the old thread was closed and this new thread was started in the first place is because Mercy haters got it so absurdly off-topic?

Nice idea, isn't it? But people clearly have something tickling their tushies on this issue, so they ain't gonna stop.
Too bad, because it makes it that much harder to actually discuss and they hardly ever say why they don't like it, but whatever...

originally posted by Aygo
"Mercy" would've fit in HTDAAB as "Yahweh" or "OOTS" or "Fast Cars" did, thematically. In fact, it has more to do than these two last or AMAAW or OSC, for example.
Musically, it would've fit too. There's something in that song that reminds me "Miracle Drug", and like most of the album spirit, it's a good rock song.
I wouldn't mind to see "Mercy" and "Fast Cars" in the final tracklist in the place of AMAAW or Crumbs.

I think that Mercy is similar in theme only in the abstract...AMAAW and OOTS and Crumbs and OSC are all very particular-feeling to me, very rooted in specifics of a feeling and/or a relationship, Fast Cars too. They're gritty, those songs, while Mercy sorta floats abstractly above, even with it's more grounded bits about being weedkiller honey ( I'm liking that more all the time somehow...). The only analogous tunes I think are especially Yahweh, which I think it could have replaced but not to good effect at all, and I agree it reminds me too somewhat of Miracle Drug both because that one's little more abstract also and has that focus on the transcendant idea...the "miracle drug" or the idea of "mercy" or the calling out of/for "yahweh".
I think Mercy would take away from the particular vertiginous feel of HTDAAB; they're standing there and expressing all these ideas about the stuff that's swirling around them in their lives and their loves at this moment. And Mercy would have felt different, or like some sum-up answer to it all...I don't think it would have worked somehow..

cheers all!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Hey, here's a novel idea: Why don't all of you people who don't like the song just stop posting in Mercy threads?

the same thing could be said about pretty much everything on the forums

although as overrated as i think the song is, i do try to just ignore the threads. and i was pissed that the other one got dragged off-topic despite my several warnings to knock it off.

 

[jonnytakeawalk]

It is U2's final show, performed at Slane Castle, Ireland. They play like a 30 song show, with traditional closer '40' ending the show. Then as they walk off Edge starts to play Mercy.

Good as.

That's a tad ridiculous

As much as I love mercy it is not the definitive U2 song that has to be the last song that U2 ever play! That honour goes to Miami!

 

[cobl04]

Originally posted by XHendrix24
Hey, here's a novel idea: Why don't all of you people who don't like the song just stop posting in Mercy threads?

It's shocking, I know. But it just might work.

Especially considering over half of the posts in this thread are from people who don't like the song, and the reason the old thread was closed and this new thread was started in the first place is because Mercy haters got it so absurdly off-topic?

Man. I must be some kind of genius.

Oh, and Mercy's good (IMO OMGZ). I think that in order to do it justice, U2 should probably clean it up a little bit and release it on a single or an EP or something. Possibly an EP that the band could throw together from HTDAAB leftovers that they could release to whet the appetites of all the fans sometime between now and November when they go to finish up the Vertigo tour. I think this idea is actually somewhat realistic too, unlike them playing it as the last song during their last show as the original poster suggested - as cool as that might be for us Mercy fans.

Thank you for your reply to my question, and pointing out that some of the reasons the Mercy threads hang around is because people who don't like them, continue to post in them, dunque putting them back up the top.

Well this wasn't the replies I was expecting, considering few were actually about what I posted!

Seriously, I know there are a lot of Mercy threads beign thrown around, A LOT, but I had thrown around the idea for quite a while and was just interested in seeing people's opinions of what that would be like.

Maybe they could release it on an album, THEN play it live so everyone would no it. And just for the record, I believe the song is finished, and the reason it sounds bad to some people is because we have all recieved MP3s from others and the quality diminshes each time. The version U2 have might be magnificent quality.

The song isn't THAT long anyway. An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart is over seven minutes combined, Bad is 6:09, Elvis Presley and America is 6:22, Zooropa is 6:30 and Lemon is 6:56 so it wouldn't be the longest song.

One last point - they could always edit the song down you know.

 

[Flying FuManchu]

Well this wasn't the replies I was expecting, considering few were actually about what I posted!

Seriously, I know there are a lot of Mercy threads beign thrown around, A LOT, but I had thrown around the idea for quite a while and was just interested in seeing people's opinions of what that would be like.

Maybe they could release it on an album, THEN play it live so everyone would no it. And just for the record, I believe the song is finished, and the reason it sounds bad to some people is because we have all recieved MP3s from others and the quality diminshes each time. The version U2 have might be magnificent quality.

The song isn't THAT long anyway. An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart is over seven minutes combined, Bad is 6:09, Elvis Presley and America is 6:22, Zooropa is 6:30 and Lemon is 6:56 so it wouldn't be the longest song.

One last point - they could always edit the song down you know.

I don't hate Mercy, and don't care if there are a lot of Mercy threads to be honest b/c IMO U2 news/ topics are pretty slow these days IMO.

I honestly think that Mercy has a lot of potential sonically but it could always use tweaks and the lyrics could definitely use a lot of tweaking. I don't see what's the big deal about that considering this song isn't even released. I mean tweaking doesn't necessarily hurt a song, especially for lyrics. Xanax and Wine got an obvious tweak lyrically and IMO it turned out for the better with Fast Cars (lyrics, sonically I'm conflicted).