bad/all I want is you: what's the connection?

[gabriele1971]

I've always wondered why these 2 songs have always been, in some ways, "paired" in live situations.

1) u2 started doing it on Lovetown: sometimes a shortened All i Want was used as an intro to Bad (like 31.12 Dublin), other times it was played INSTEAD of Bad (like 2nd Paris show)
2) on Zoo tours, a shortened All i Want was used as an outro to Bad
3) on popmart and elevation, the two entered into rotation, alternating each other on setlists; never played together
4) even on the 3 club shows played in 2000-2001, all i want was played BEFORE bad.

so, my question is: what's the link between these 2 songs? it's not musical (they're very different), not thematic (bad is a drug song, the other a love song), not "era-related" (bad is from 84, all i want 88)...
so why have they always had this strong link in concert?
I unterstand other historical pairings (mlk-unfire, october-ny day, bullet-running) or alternates (follow/11 oclock/control on elevation tour), but I never got this one in 15 yrs...
help me out, U2 freaks!!!!!

 

[Macfistowannabe]

I'm not sure I can "help" you, but those 2 songs are high upon my favorite U2 songs of all time.

 

[dunc]

Hmm, being thinking about this one too ... is there a link in that there are elements of obsession in both songs??

.. just a thought ..

 

[Axver]

Hmm, being thinking about this one too ... is there a link in that there are elements of obsession in both songs??

.. just a thought ..

Yes, that's basically what my theory works upon. The performance of AIWIY flowing INTO Bad (akin to An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart) from 20 October 1989 has to be one of U2's best renditions of any two songs ever, and I think it would have turned any thinking member of the audience on their head. It gives me chills every time I hear it.

Here's my theory: All I Want Is You seems to be a love song, although it has its darker side. Suddenly, in Bad, the darker side is revealed in full - those who die from heroin only want heroin. It is a totally morbid twist on AIWIY. It's as if Bono's singing it for his friend who died of an overdose. "All you wanted was the drug ... look at the bleakness, I wish you had let it go."

 

[gabriele1971]

yes, that's what I've always thought too. all I want is you-all I want is the drugs; that works.
it's the same thing as with or without you, with the "you" referring to both a woman and a drug, don't you think?
and bono has talked a lot of times about having an addictive personality, you remember back in 87: "i'm addicted to being on stage" or in 01: "ordinary addictions"

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

If nothing else, they're sonically compatible and nearly interchangable

 

[promenade1138]

Just to add to Unforgettable Lemon's comment - Bad and All I Want is You go well together musically because they're in the same key and the verses to both use exactly the same chords.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

 

[zoopop]

If nothing else, they're sonically compatible and nearly interchangable

^^ So true, they have the same chord progression throuhout the song. A Chord--D Chord.

 

[discothequeLP]

well, AIWIY does have an F#m chord too, but other than that it sounds like bad!



you know what i want to hear next tour? Bad --> THE FLY


same key, same chords (A, D; actually Ab and Db, they play 1/2 step down live). that would rock! imagine, just like the elevation tour where at the end of band while Bono's singing "40" or WGRYWH, he starts singing "love, you shine like a . . ." then bam, they go into The Fly! i would die!!!