#60 – “The First Time”
A gorgeously simple ballad off of Zooropa, this song is another example of U2’s ability to build very
simple elements into a really effective whole. A simple strummed guitar figure
kicks things off, with Bono singing a soft, simple melody against it. For the
first verse, apart from some ominous background thrum, that’s it. Then in the
second verse, a secondary, equally simple, guitar figure is added in.
Throughout, that background thrum deepens and diversifies, adding texture and
tension in the background. And then, towards the end of the third verse, we get
some piano chords. Sometimes simplicity like this can work so damn well –
especially when the lyric is so spare and direct. “I have a lover/A lover like
no other/She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul/And she teach me how to sing.” Indeed.
#59 – “Love and Peace or Else”
Another deeper cut off of How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, I love this song for many things,
but maybe more than anything for the audacity of the title—especially as used
by a band that gets tweaked about wanting to save the world perhaps a bit too
much. And then there’s that groove. After maybe a little too much introductory
table-setting slow-building guitar crunchiness and soft falsetto, we get a big
drum hit and some soul singing from Bono. Then the groove, finally (at 1:30 in)
hits, and it’s a fat, swaggering, muscular one, a bit of a punk riff—and it
just lands. The angry, pissed-off, fed-up lyric, with its anger at the
inability of the world to just cut it out with all of the killing each other
already, works really well over that fat groove as well (“Lay down/Lay down
your guns/All your daughters of Zion/All your Abraham sons”).
#58 – “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.”
When it was announced that Bono and the Edge were writing a
Spider-Man musical to be directed by Julie Taymor, I, a pretty big U2, Julie
Taymor, and Spider-Man fan was
aghast. This just sounded like a train wreck – and at this point in history it
looks like it will go down as just that. And so the idea of U2 contributing a
song to a superhero movie soundtrack should be, on paper, equally unworkable.
And yet, as is so often the case with this band, what shouldn’t work does well.
“Hold Me . . .” was one of the singles off of the Batman Returns soundtrack, and while Seal’s “Kiss of the Rose” may
have been the bigger hit off of that collection, this was a fine rock song in
its own right. A catchy, chromatic descending riff defines the song, along with
a siren-like synth part that warns away in the background. And the lyrics bring
an edge not often found in superhero soundtracks (“They want you to be
Jesus/They'll go down on one knee/But they'll want their money back/If you're
alive at thirty-three/And you're turning tricks/With your crucifix/You're a
star.”) Why such nakedly autobiographical lyrics are in a song meant for a
Batman movie, who knows, but this is a pretty insinuating song.
#57 – “In God’s Country”
This deeper cut off of The
Joshua Tree is one of the faster songs on that reflective album, with some
wonderful work from the Edge on the propulsive, keening riff. 27 years later,
some of the natural imagery may come off as a little cliché and generic (desert
skies, dry rivers), but there are some very compelling lines here too,
including the chorus (“Sleep comes like a drug in God's country/Sad eyes,
crooked crosses, in God's country”). My favorite bit has to be when after the
second chorus we get a drop out of the guitars and then a thick bass line
before they come screaming back in. Nice theater, that.
#56 – “White as Snow”
Rock history is replete with examples of songwriters
building songs out of classical riffs (“It’s Now or Never” is “O Sole Mio,” “Whiter
Shade of Pale” is based on Bach’s “Air on a G String,” Paul Simon’s “American
Tune” is Bach’s St. Mathews Passion, etc.). U2’s entry into this field is this
song off of No Line on the Horizon, a
slow, moody ballad that serves as the album’s antepenultimate song. The melody
is taken from the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” U2 takes this hushed choral
piece and turns the bones of the melody into a haunting look at war, with
lyrics evoking the landscape in Afghanistan (“Now this dry ground it bears no
fruit at all/Only poppies laugh under the crescent moon”). What pushes this
song a few dozen spots up the ranking for me is Bono’s vocal, which is a career
highlight. Just listen to the passion and pain he gets into the verse: “And the
water, it was icy/As it washed over me/And the moon shone above me.” That’s
singing, folks.
#55 – “Surrender”
This song has always struck me as an almost-hit. It feels
like a strong single, but it never had the life fellow War tracks “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “New Years Day,” and “40” did.
That rare U2 track with female back-up singers, as well as a named character
that the song is about (Sadie), there’s a kind of determined, stubborn
bounciness to the main riff I’ve always liked. And the sliding, scooping nature
of the sung “Surrender”s in the chorus are a very effective, intriguing choice.
It’s also a lyrically strong song, with evocative details about Sadie’s life
(“She tried to be a good girl and a good wife/Raise a good family, lead a good
life/It's not good enough”) hinting at a bigger story under the surface. And
let us not forget the chanted, chirpy ending, which, again, is a different
sound for the band.
#54 – “Zooropa”
This title track from what is probably still U2’s most
experimental album kicks things off with faint electronic hums, voices drifting
in from the distance, a clanging in the background, churchy piano, and static—all
(and not until the 1:50 mark) swept away by a squawky guitar spitting out a
staccato riff that leads into a smoother, wah-wah-driven guitar sound that then
itself settles into a smooth, relaxed groove. It’s one hell of an intro. And as
you listen you realize it’s really part of an even more-extended intro, with,
after two verses of the relaxed vibe, a final switch in mood and music taking
place, keyed by that same squawky riff that changed things earlier. Here, the
tempo changes and the arrangement gets more urgent, keeping in that mode until
the end. This is an oddly structured, but fascinating song, with some trenchant
lyrics criticizing the omnipresent commercial messages that blanket the world.
An oddity, to be sure, but a great song.
#53 – “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”
This requisite U2 ballad, here off of How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, is a great example of the form.
Written after Bono’s father’s death (and, if memory serves, sung by Bono at his
funeral), this is an aching, truly felt, personal and passionate song about
loss. I really love the simple, ringing riff the Edge came up with for the
chorus, and the way Bono doesn’t deliver a treacly hagiography of a song but a
personal reflection of a complicated relationship. “And it's you when I look in
the mirror/And it's you when I don't pick up the phone.” That’s a neatly put
way of talking about the good and the bad. But what really puts this song over
the top for me is the bridge, where Bono sings a glorious high phrase, to the
memory of his opera-loving father, to these words: “Can you hear me when I
sing?/You're the reason I sing/You're the reason why the opera is in me.” If
that doesn’t choke you up some . . . you are made of sterner stuff than I.
#52 – “The Wanderer”
Johnny Cash’s classic, country-based, story-driven style of
songwriting and singing would seem to be a contrast to the more free-flowing,
anthemic music of U2. And yet when the band got Cash to sing on the final track
of Zooropa, a strange kind of alchemy
was produced. Production aside, this is, as a piece of songwriting, much more
in the Cash vein than the U2 vein. There’s a horsey kind of cowboy bass line
(muffled by some studio manipulation into a more electronic sound than you’d
usually get from Cash, but still) with Cash singing over it a tale of a man
wandering through some kind of post-apocalyptic landscape, through images of
burning rain, tin capitals, and churches. This is very much classic
songwriting, and a reminder that there is much more to U2 than big anthems
designed to fill stadiums. I have no idea where the idea came from to pair Cash
and the band, but what a yield.
#51 – “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)”
Man, as we get closer to the end, here just a song away from
the top 50, we are getting real gems. This antepenultimate song off of Achtung Baby (yes, I like the word “antepenultimate”—deal
with it) was a staple of the Zoo TV tour, and then came back on the band’s last
tour, the mammoth 360 tour, as well. This is a great song, with its dance beat
and chugging guitar riff, and the lyrics, like those on most of the songs on
this album, are some of U2’s best. “You bury your treasure/Where it can't be
found/But your love is like a secret/That's been passed around.” Another song
of lost love, romantic betrayal with a searing bridge full of pain and anguish
conveyed by some stellar vocals, with Bono at the end of his range, the strain
conveying the pain so effectively. Man, these next 50 are going to be fun to
write about!
Until Whenever
2 comments:
According to Songfacts.com: "U2 started writing [The Wanderer] for Cash when they found out he was coming to Dublin for a show. They decided to keep it for themselves with Cash as guest performer. A song that describes a man's travels and search for redemption, Bono said it was "one of the best things we've ever done, and I'm not even on it."
WE ARE WAITING for more...
Post a Comment