WHICH U2 SONG FOR YOU IS ASKING FOR IT?

[spanisheyes]

Throughout the years, I?ve often looked at U2?s music visually because of how much their music affords the opportunity to not just hear the music, but close your eyes and imagine visually what the songs could be about. I have often done this with the stirring, atmospheric songs found on The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree, such as ?A Sort of Homecoming? and ?In God?s Country?.

Have you ever imagined that one song that has never been given the opportunity to be released in video form, but for you has all the potential of being visually stunning if given the proper treatment? It could be a song that you?ve often thought U2 should have released even if it didn?t have the makings of a hit single, but just was begging for a visual interpretation. What song would that be for you, and what would be your concept for that song?

Chris

 

[gherman]

Gone

 

[U2girl]

I thought you were going to talk about a song being dropped from the live set or a poll about most hated U2 songs
("asking for it").

Personally, i'd choose So cruel. The image i have is right after the "love dying every hour" when the music and the falsetto hits in but before the "you don't know if it's fear or desire" verse.
I just picture Bono alone in an empty, dark room, reaching out with his hand, upwards, towards a white light above him.

Other than that, i wonder how a video for "Bad" would look like.

 

[follower]

The first one that comes to my mind is Walk To the Water, always that one for me. My concept for a video? I don't know if you can call it that way...or if it's just one more of my dreams.
I see this man, alone in a deserted beach, standing by the sea shore at twilight, a windy and cold afternoon, a more windy, cold and solitary night to come. He feels so lonely, so lost...he knows his love lives far away, the other side of the sea maybe, he only needs to find her somehow. So he starts to imagine how does she look like, how is the sound of her voice, the way she walks through the streets of this place he has never been to. There are some tiny and trembling lights in the distance, could be a fishing boat, could be a foreign land, he does not know. He only knows he must go ahead, he left nothing behind. But he's afraid, he cannot see a way out. What if he just stayed in that beach forever? No risks taken, no worth living as well...So the night has come, and the moonlight over the sea builds the road he was expecting to find, now he can see a way out. And he goes through that road. He's not afraid anymore, because she's holding his hand. Forever.

That's it. It wouldn't be a huge success as a video, don't you think?

[This message has been edited by follower (edited 04-20-2002).]

 

[spanisheyes]

U2girl, I can see where the title could be misleading, especially with lot of the negativity, or maybe just boredom going on in the forum lately, but you know me, just here to spread the U2 love. By the way, I like your choice for a song, and I wonder if images could match those beautifully painful words.

Maria, that was one of the most beautiful replies I've read in this forum. I closed my eyes and could imagine your visual interpretation of 'Walk To The Water' and I was overwhelmed by the heartfelt beauty, and sense of abandonment in your words. I'm off to go listen to it right now...thanks again for sharing your song.

Chris

 

[jezebel]

This is a slight deviation of the topic, but I wanted to bring up two videos that DO exist that I saw for the first time the other night.

I finally got my hands on a copy of Outside It's America. It includes the videos for In God's Country and Spanish Eyes, for those of you out there that don't know this. (Needless to say, Chris, your nickname reminded me of this).

I thought the interpretation for IGC was stunning....old black and white images of immigrants coming to American (and not all of them flattering, as I recall) I normally see images of the desert in my head (and out my window!) when I hear this song, so this was something completely different for one of my favorite U2 songs.

Spanish Eyes, however, was really dissapointing.....another of my favorite songs, but this video was just sort of slapped together with some leftover images of this tv special, or so it appeared. Seems like they could have given this great song a Mysterious Ways-type treatment or ????

 

[follower]

Originally posted by spanisheyes:
thanks again for sharing your song.

Thank you Chris. Glad you like it.

 

[SoulNation]

I often wonder what ultra voilet would look like as a music video i guess it would look dark and sexy it would be different.
But i realy don`t know why they didn`t realease it as a single it`s my best song off achtung baby.

 

[Discoteque]

WIRE for sure. It's such an intense song.

The video would be in sepia black & white, and have a lot of not-so-veiled symbolism, close ups of rope/a noose, Bono superimposed walking a giant razor's edge, needles, white powder being blown off a black table, ambulance lights....toward the end of the song, I see Bono singing fiercely, close to the camera, in the harsh light of one bare bulb hanging from a cord, interspersed with very rapid clips of Edge wailing on his guitar....at the very end, Bono grabs the cord and flings it--"now, swing away!" and he and Edge stand there in the on and off light of the bare bulb as it swings above them....

MBTS, I really like your idea for Tomorrow...

Originally posted by mebythesea:
I'd love to see a video for "Tomorrow" that captured the eerie, shadowy beginning and showed us how it explodes into joy and light and ecstasy at the end.

And finally: what about "Wire"?

[This message has been edited by Discoteque (edited 04-20-2002).]

 

[mebythesea]

So many of U2's early videos were done back when video directors mostly just showed pictures of the band with maybe a few shots of something else interspersed, so I'm thinking of early songs as a whole area that begs for re-interpretation.

I'd love to see a video for "Tomorrow" that captured the eerie, shadowy beginning and showed us how it explodes into joy and light and ecstasy at the end.

I'd like to see "An Cat Dubh" as a video.

I'd like to see "Surrender," tho perhaps they have already overused the "decadent city" theme. But to get to see that character Sadie would be cool.

And finally: what about "Wire"?

 

[Zooropa]

Gone

------------------
Don't let the bastards grind you down.

Zooropa FTP

 

[mebythesea]

Originally posted by Discoteque:
WIRE for sure. It's such an intense song.

... he and Edge stand there in the on and off light of the bare bulb as it swings above them....

Oh, so cool! What a great way to close that song visually.

 

[U2girl]

...other than that, i have this image of Bono (or, if you will, the character of the song) looking sadly behind the woman as she runs away from the place at the river where they used to meet (at the "don't turn around..." part of Who's gonna ride your wild horses).

Babyface: lightbulbs going on/off at the opening keyboard sounds. Same for Tryin't to throw your arms around the world.

Kite: the guys playing on a hill (sort of a floating-around camera - like the "Free as a a bird" video?), with the song echoing to the sky, with kites flying around them. The song has an "airy" feel to it.

Wild honey: just the 4 of them sitting in a room, playing together (sadly though, this idea was already done by the Red hot chili peppers for "Road tripppin'".)

Um, what else?

In a little while: maybe a mix of a live performance with black and white footage of the guys' with their families/girlfriends.