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Imagination with no Limits
Africa, Mandela, imagination and anger are among the subjects in an interview with Paris Match.
Below, highlights from an English translation, click the link if you?d like to test your French on the real thing.
www.parismatch.tm.fr
U2's singer was in Cape Town with other stars for the 46664 Concert for World AIDS Day sponsored by Nelson Mandela.
Paris Match: During the concert I was watching you from the wings. These thousands of people who applaud you, who scream your name as soon as you come onstage, does that still do anything for you ?
Bono: If you need 35,000 people every night telling you they love you to feel normal, you've got a hell of a problem. The great artists are the most troubled and hypersensitive people in the world. It's written into our DNA. I have the sensitivity of a reptile. Right now I'm talking to you, but I feel the tiniest vibrations in this room. I'm always acutely aware of what's going on around me, as if all of a sudden danger would burst in the door.
Paris Match: You call that sensitivity; I'd call it paranoia.
Bono: OK, I'm paranoid. I'm always on the alert, ready to get hit or maybe, who knows, to be kissed. [laughs]
Paris Match: Yesterday when Nelson Mandela delivered his speech in the Robben Island prison courtyard, where he was held for 27 years, you were The only one of all the artists who had tears in your eyes.
Bono: I've never been ashamed of showing my emotions. I'm very easily moved. I was bowled over, finding myself in that prison courtyard. This man fascinates me. In spite of his humour, the elegant way he always stands up straight, I have the idea that he can't forget, not for a second, that they stole 27 years of his life from him. Mandela, like Kofi Annan, is one of those men who have a certain grace. The person who has affected me the most is the archbishop, Desmond Tutu. He is inhabited by the Gospel. Tutu's got the laugh which for me is the real evidence of liberty.
Paris Match: You're a person of unbelievable kindness, attentive to everyone, always available. For the biggest rock star in the world, you seem abnormally normal to me!
Bono: I'm constantly battling my egotism. Artists are fundamentally egotistical people, and I'm no exception to that rule. In our profession, you get obsessed by your own self pretty fast. Celebrity is ridiculous, but I realize that it's good currency. I'm happy to use mine for good reasons. Let's just say that over time I've developed good ways to manage the rage inside me.
Paris Match: Is it rage that makes you do what you do?
Bono: I have a lot of anger in me. When I was young that rage could turn into violence fast. It still happens to me sometimes - I lose control - and it costs me a fortune, I might add. I've got a whole lot of tolerance, but don't push me too far. [bursts out laughing]
Paris Match: You're also Africa's greatest advocate, and you could content yourself with giving money, signing a petition. Why did you launch into a battle like this?
Bono: I can't stand injustice. There's an emergency in the world. It is completely unacceptable that in Europe and America we have drugs that cost almost nothing to make, and there are hundreds of thousands of children and parents who die every day because we aren't sharing those drugs. That says a lot about human nature. It's obscene. History will judge us harshly, and so will our children, and God even more. We're present for a new Holocaust and we don't even budge. A continent is in flames, and we're standing on the side of the road, like idiots, with a glass of water in our hands to put out the fire. An American congressman, who was in Auschwitz, recently told me that in the nightmares he had afterwards, what he saw wasn't the time he spent in the camp, but the faces of people who watched the Jews leave without a murmur, without even trying to find out where they were going. You and me, we know where these children are going. Nowhere. They're just going to die. I'm going to take my daughters Jordan (14) and Eve (12) to Africa very soon. My sons, who are 4 and 2, are still too young. But I Want to shape them, gently, to be aware of the world. For the moment, I want my daughters to see how the Devil has done his best work. As My friend Bob Geldof says, AIDS is a medical problem, but people are dying because of a political problem.
Paris Match: Do you remember the exact moment you said : I've got to do something?
Bono: In 1984 (sic) U2 took part in Live Aid which raised 200 million dollars for the Ethiopian famine. I thought that was extraordinary, until they explained to me that the 3rd world spent that much every month in debt payments to rich countries. I was stunned. After [Live Aid] I spent a month with my wife working in refugee camps in Ethiopia. I saw with my own eyes for the first time the ravages of famine and I've never gotten over it. I promised myself that one day I'd find a way to do something. I'm not a hippie, unlike what people think ; I come from the streets. When I get an idea in my head, I won't let go of it until I've seen it through. As we say in rock and roll, "I close a deal."
Paris Match: You have no doubts ?
Bono: Yes ! I doubt myself, all the time ! But I never doubt what I want to do. We were 15 years old when we started our band out in the middle of nowhere. When I would say "One day we'll be as big as the Beatles or the Who," everyone made fun of me. My imagination has no limits. When I got the idea that we couldn't start this new century without getting Third World debt cancelled, I just couldn't see what was supposed to be so extraordinary about that.
Paris Match: You're either crazy, or unthinking, or maybe even both. When it comes down to it, you think nothing's impossible...
Bono: Nothing! But at the same time I'm a real pragmatist. Luckily I see fewer obstacles than most people do. It must come from my myopic personality. If I thought about the problems I'll have to confront in the future, I'd be paralyzed. It's my innocence that saves me. A while ago at an exhibition, I happened by chance on a photo of me taken when I was just starting out. I was struck by the expression on my face: I was open, totally trusting.
Paris Match: What would you say to that young man now?
Bono: I'd tell him he's right. I refuse mistrust. There's something very powerful in innocence. At one point, like everybody, I wanted to get rid of that innocence, so I tried every possible experience. It took me a very long time to recognize that in fact it was where my power lay.
Paris Match: From leaders to famous economists, you're best friends with the world's greats. Does it ever happen, when you're face to face with one of them, that you think, "What on earth am I doing? I'm not up to this?"
Bono: I don't go see these people in my name, I just represent the voice of those without one. I go to bed every night with reports from the World Bank. Believe me, I know my stuff. No President, French or American, has ever intimidated me. Far from it, they're the ones who should be intimidated! [laughs, then turns serious] It's the people in power who one day, will have to give an account. I can read it in their eyes, some of them, the first time they see me. "Who's this weirdo, where's this guy from anyway ?" Being an exotic animal is an advantage; they give you access -- until they regret it. The most important thing is looking them in the eye.
Paris Match: You don't speak just for Ireland or Africa, but in the name of humanity. Don't you ever think that for most politicians, their own political survival is more important than the survival of humanity?
Bono: Sure I've noticed that. All the time. That's why politicians advance their ideas with so much more passion in private. But it's not stopping me.
Paris Match: Artists are more powerful than presidents these days. Will they be the next politicians?
Bono: Art and politics go hand in hand in Ireland, a country that's been run by poets, madmen, and alcoholics. I'm a free man and I plan on staying that way, because I want to be able to say what I like.
Paris Match: Everything's been said and written about AIDS already. How can you still find persuasive words?
Bono: The most powerful argument is to say "what's going to happen if you don't come to the aid of all these people? How are you going to live with it personally? What will happen when a third of the world scorns you? The chance to provide AIDS drugs can do a lot for us politically. We can change the opinion people have of us. Think about it."
More (in French) here
www.parismatch.tm.fr
-- U2.com
ed. note Interference.com's own miss-u2 took a stab at translating the Paris Match article into English. You can read it at http://forum.interference.com/t85491.html
Imagination with no Limits
Africa, Mandela, imagination and anger are among the subjects in an interview with Paris Match.
Below, highlights from an English translation, click the link if you?d like to test your French on the real thing.
www.parismatch.tm.fr
U2's singer was in Cape Town with other stars for the 46664 Concert for World AIDS Day sponsored by Nelson Mandela.
Paris Match: During the concert I was watching you from the wings. These thousands of people who applaud you, who scream your name as soon as you come onstage, does that still do anything for you ?
Bono: If you need 35,000 people every night telling you they love you to feel normal, you've got a hell of a problem. The great artists are the most troubled and hypersensitive people in the world. It's written into our DNA. I have the sensitivity of a reptile. Right now I'm talking to you, but I feel the tiniest vibrations in this room. I'm always acutely aware of what's going on around me, as if all of a sudden danger would burst in the door.
Paris Match: You call that sensitivity; I'd call it paranoia.
Bono: OK, I'm paranoid. I'm always on the alert, ready to get hit or maybe, who knows, to be kissed. [laughs]
Paris Match: Yesterday when Nelson Mandela delivered his speech in the Robben Island prison courtyard, where he was held for 27 years, you were The only one of all the artists who had tears in your eyes.
Bono: I've never been ashamed of showing my emotions. I'm very easily moved. I was bowled over, finding myself in that prison courtyard. This man fascinates me. In spite of his humour, the elegant way he always stands up straight, I have the idea that he can't forget, not for a second, that they stole 27 years of his life from him. Mandela, like Kofi Annan, is one of those men who have a certain grace. The person who has affected me the most is the archbishop, Desmond Tutu. He is inhabited by the Gospel. Tutu's got the laugh which for me is the real evidence of liberty.
Paris Match: You're a person of unbelievable kindness, attentive to everyone, always available. For the biggest rock star in the world, you seem abnormally normal to me!
Bono: I'm constantly battling my egotism. Artists are fundamentally egotistical people, and I'm no exception to that rule. In our profession, you get obsessed by your own self pretty fast. Celebrity is ridiculous, but I realize that it's good currency. I'm happy to use mine for good reasons. Let's just say that over time I've developed good ways to manage the rage inside me.
Paris Match: Is it rage that makes you do what you do?
Bono: I have a lot of anger in me. When I was young that rage could turn into violence fast. It still happens to me sometimes - I lose control - and it costs me a fortune, I might add. I've got a whole lot of tolerance, but don't push me too far. [bursts out laughing]
Paris Match: You're also Africa's greatest advocate, and you could content yourself with giving money, signing a petition. Why did you launch into a battle like this?
Bono: I can't stand injustice. There's an emergency in the world. It is completely unacceptable that in Europe and America we have drugs that cost almost nothing to make, and there are hundreds of thousands of children and parents who die every day because we aren't sharing those drugs. That says a lot about human nature. It's obscene. History will judge us harshly, and so will our children, and God even more. We're present for a new Holocaust and we don't even budge. A continent is in flames, and we're standing on the side of the road, like idiots, with a glass of water in our hands to put out the fire. An American congressman, who was in Auschwitz, recently told me that in the nightmares he had afterwards, what he saw wasn't the time he spent in the camp, but the faces of people who watched the Jews leave without a murmur, without even trying to find out where they were going. You and me, we know where these children are going. Nowhere. They're just going to die. I'm going to take my daughters Jordan (14) and Eve (12) to Africa very soon. My sons, who are 4 and 2, are still too young. But I Want to shape them, gently, to be aware of the world. For the moment, I want my daughters to see how the Devil has done his best work. As My friend Bob Geldof says, AIDS is a medical problem, but people are dying because of a political problem.
Paris Match: Do you remember the exact moment you said : I've got to do something?
Bono: In 1984 (sic) U2 took part in Live Aid which raised 200 million dollars for the Ethiopian famine. I thought that was extraordinary, until they explained to me that the 3rd world spent that much every month in debt payments to rich countries. I was stunned. After [Live Aid] I spent a month with my wife working in refugee camps in Ethiopia. I saw with my own eyes for the first time the ravages of famine and I've never gotten over it. I promised myself that one day I'd find a way to do something. I'm not a hippie, unlike what people think ; I come from the streets. When I get an idea in my head, I won't let go of it until I've seen it through. As we say in rock and roll, "I close a deal."
Paris Match: You have no doubts ?
Bono: Yes ! I doubt myself, all the time ! But I never doubt what I want to do. We were 15 years old when we started our band out in the middle of nowhere. When I would say "One day we'll be as big as the Beatles or the Who," everyone made fun of me. My imagination has no limits. When I got the idea that we couldn't start this new century without getting Third World debt cancelled, I just couldn't see what was supposed to be so extraordinary about that.
Paris Match: You're either crazy, or unthinking, or maybe even both. When it comes down to it, you think nothing's impossible...
Bono: Nothing! But at the same time I'm a real pragmatist. Luckily I see fewer obstacles than most people do. It must come from my myopic personality. If I thought about the problems I'll have to confront in the future, I'd be paralyzed. It's my innocence that saves me. A while ago at an exhibition, I happened by chance on a photo of me taken when I was just starting out. I was struck by the expression on my face: I was open, totally trusting.
Paris Match: What would you say to that young man now?
Bono: I'd tell him he's right. I refuse mistrust. There's something very powerful in innocence. At one point, like everybody, I wanted to get rid of that innocence, so I tried every possible experience. It took me a very long time to recognize that in fact it was where my power lay.
Paris Match: From leaders to famous economists, you're best friends with the world's greats. Does it ever happen, when you're face to face with one of them, that you think, "What on earth am I doing? I'm not up to this?"
Bono: I don't go see these people in my name, I just represent the voice of those without one. I go to bed every night with reports from the World Bank. Believe me, I know my stuff. No President, French or American, has ever intimidated me. Far from it, they're the ones who should be intimidated! [laughs, then turns serious] It's the people in power who one day, will have to give an account. I can read it in their eyes, some of them, the first time they see me. "Who's this weirdo, where's this guy from anyway ?" Being an exotic animal is an advantage; they give you access -- until they regret it. The most important thing is looking them in the eye.
Paris Match: You don't speak just for Ireland or Africa, but in the name of humanity. Don't you ever think that for most politicians, their own political survival is more important than the survival of humanity?
Bono: Sure I've noticed that. All the time. That's why politicians advance their ideas with so much more passion in private. But it's not stopping me.
Paris Match: Artists are more powerful than presidents these days. Will they be the next politicians?
Bono: Art and politics go hand in hand in Ireland, a country that's been run by poets, madmen, and alcoholics. I'm a free man and I plan on staying that way, because I want to be able to say what I like.
Paris Match: Everything's been said and written about AIDS already. How can you still find persuasive words?
Bono: The most powerful argument is to say "what's going to happen if you don't come to the aid of all these people? How are you going to live with it personally? What will happen when a third of the world scorns you? The chance to provide AIDS drugs can do a lot for us politically. We can change the opinion people have of us. Think about it."
More (in French) here
www.parismatch.tm.fr
-- U2.com
ed. note Interference.com's own miss-u2 took a stab at translating the Paris Match article into English. You can read it at http://forum.interference.com/t85491.html
You tell them Bono! Keep up the good work!
