Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Top Ten U2 Songs: A Personal Compilation

(originally published on Yahoo! Voices on February 26, 2008. Therefore, this list does not include the album "No Line On The Horizon" or anything released since.)

This article proved a challenging one, more challenging than might be remotely expected. Here we are dealing with one of the greatest bands in history- a band that has quite literally changed the world. They have done this, not simply on personal and individual scales within each of their fans, but also culturally, politically, and even technologically. Their music is such a living, breathing force that a Top Ten hardly suffices if one means to list these as a Top Ten of All Time for Everyone. Perhaps a Top Twenty might do the job, or even a Top Fifteen; but alas, the choices are overwhelming. Therefore, in an effort to make this a little easier perhaps (although in truth it was still nearly impossible), I decided instead to write about my Top Ten Songs. Even so, the fair representation of all U2's studio releases and reinventions proved impossible within such limited numbers. I also made a point of trying to avoid the more well known songs such as "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "With or Without You", and "Where the Streets Have No Name". The exceptional greatness of these songs is inarguably established already and often these classics overshadow other lesser known songs of equal quality. Believing that the lesser known phenomenals deserve their moment in the sun, I did attempt to include a few of them. Without further ado I give you all my personal top ten songs by U2:

10. "Discoteque"

This is a rollicking fun song from a mad era in U2's history, and here I mean mad as a compliment. From the Pop album, this song is as contradictory as the image the band put forth during this time. Pop, as defined by the band, meant "to make or cause a small explosive sound". This they certainly did, taking electronica and dance to whole new levels. In "Discoteque" alone there are at least eight different layers of drum machine effects in addition to Larry's own drumming. It is over-the-top, flashy, and frantic. And "Discoteque (Hexadecimal Mix)" especially is a belly dancer's dream with unexpected musical turns and twists. But it is also a remarkably deep song about a woman looking for love (in all the wrong places) and running from it at the same time: "You hurt for it, work for it: Love/ but you don't ever show it" and later "You're looking for the One/ But you know you're someone else instead/ .... You take what you can get/ Because it's all that you can find/ But you know there's something more/ Tonight." This song is truly representative of just what the band was about in those days: megastar partiers of the wildest kind, poking fun at everything including themselves, and yet cynical of how far such a lifestyle could really take them. They still had a conscience, were still earnest, and were still a thinking man or woman's band.

9. "One Tree Hill"

From the classic album The Joshua Tree, this is a beautiful, even haunting, ballad in tribute to a close friend who died in a motorcycle accident. Greg Carroll was a Maori from New Zealand and he often looked after Bono's wife Ali when Bono himself could not be there, taking her out dancing, etc. He was like family. So when he took Bono's Harley Davidson on an errand and didn't return, it was a blow the band has yet to recover from. According to one source, Bono never owned a motorcycle again. This song was performed, likely in a less polished state, at Carroll's funeral and fitting evokes the sea-faring lifestyle of Maori tradition. The lyrics are certainly poetry, the performance of them among Bono's finest, and musically is a delight- so much so that it is easy to forget That one is listening to an eulogy: "You run like a river/ Run to the sea."

8. "Heartland"

This song comes from U2's experimental and hodge-podge live/studio release Rattle and Hum. Once again, this song is representative of the purpose of that album and movie. It takes us across America from the Mississippi cotton fields to the oil fields of California, and likens America to a lover the day after: "See the sun rise over her skin. / Don't change it." and "She feels like water in my hands." This is as direct a love song as U2 has ever written and performed. The notes are clear, nearly pristine, and the music has the dream-like quality of love in its first passionate throws before reality sets in. Other songs from this period depict reality- a love for the country while not turning a blind eye to its less than favorable aspects. This song is all about exultation and enthrallment: "Heaven's gay: / Here is a heartland."

7. "Walk On"

This song's original intentions are political, being an encouraging anthem both about and to Aung San Suu Kyi. But its inspiring message has a much wider and deeper appeal. It sounds for all the world like a personal message from the band that it is worth fighting to live in these perilous times, that each and everyone of us has our contribution to make and we must by all means strive to make it. It can't be taken from us. U2 are famous for this kind of ... idealism? Well then, idealism in its best connotations. The majority of the album from which this song comes, All That You Can't Leave Behind, is of this sort. This song is perhaps one of the best examples of U2's persistent positivism. The music also reflects this, and it slowly builds into flight, yes, flight; especially is this so in live versions and the closing refrain of hallelujahs.

6. "One Step Closer"

This comes from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, an album whose title is a direct reference to Bono's father, Bob Hewson. On the back side of the CD near the center one can see at certain angles the words "Miss You Sugar", Bono's mother's pet name for Bob, making this a dedication of sorts: an album for and about the curmudgeonly old Dubliner. This song is written as if from Bob's point of view. Dying with cancer, he loses faith in his God and in his life. Does God exist? If so, does he care? Well, I'm "one step closer to knowing." What I like about this song is its return to the aesthetics of classic U2 as found in their work of the eighties. There is also the fact that, in the song anyway, it is never explicitly stated what one is closer to knowing, which leaves the interpretation open-ended for the individual and gives the song room to grow beyond its original intentions, as so many U2 songs do. This also reads like a piece of lyric poetry.

5. "Miracle Drug"

A song about the mother of a poet who has Cerebral Palsy? Irresistible! If the message isn't enough, we also have here one of a handful of instances where The Edge sings lead, although in this case it's only a few lines. See if you can pick them out. I dare you! Also from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, this song showcases Larry's extraordinary drumming skills. The effect as a whole is utterly exhilarating. If you happen to be familiar at all with CP, it is powerful enough to move you to tears.

4. "Stay (Faraway, So Close)"

Bono has said that this is his favorite U2 lyric and it's no wonder. This song attacks a risqué subject (domestic violence) and seeks to make sense of it. We are introduced mostly to the psychological effects of abuse, particularly if it's long term: "You say when he hits you/You don't mind/Because when he hurts you/You feel alive", "You stumble out of a hole in the ground/A vampire or a victim/ It depends on who's around", and "With satellite television/You can go anywhere". Dark? Yes and the music does little to alleviate that here. The live versions, usually acoustical but occasionally amped up almost to heavy metal, are even darker and more disturbing. But that is as it should be: no glossing over this one, folks. Domestic violence is all bad. Period. This is a song you'll never tire of.

3. "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

The more conservative of my friends take issue with the title, but this song could clearly not be known by any other name. Originally, this song was recorded for Zooropa but was cut from the final line-up for the album. It eventually found a home on the soundtrack for Batman Forever and has since become one of the songs always associated with the beloved Zoo TV tour character Mr. MacPhisto. This is a song about celebrity, but it is hardly a celebration: "You don't know how you got here/You just know you want out" and "But they want their money back/If you're alive at thirty three". At the same time, it acknowledges that some people crave it as much as they hate it, maybe more, and even suggests that some are made for that burden: "You know you're not shy/You don't have to deny it, love". This is among the sexiest of U2's oeuvre. Certainly it is among one of their most rock-n-rollish songs, as demonstrated by a very edgy (pun not intended) guitar riff and a backing rhythm that shakes the walls.

2. "Fallen At Your Feet"

This is a relatively rare track. It can be found on the soundtrack for the movie The Million Dollar Hotel, a decidedly European movie set in L.A. about love in a hotel full of people with mental difficulties who cannot afford needed care. It is a bizarre and twisted storyline that in the end succeeds in being sweet. The song transcends the movie. It is a simple piece musically. It is acoustical and features Daniel Lanois singing harmony. It is as light and breezy as an early summer morning and lyrically takes one's breath away. As is normal with U2 songs, it threads several meanings together. It is a man singing to a woman, as well as someone singing to God: "Teach me to surrender/Not my will/Thy will". Beautiful.

1. "One"

I couldn't avoid all the well known standards, it seems. Honestly, I could have included nearly everything from Achtung Baby on this list; it is truly an album that deserves to go down in history as nothing short of legendary. This song is unlike anything else from that record and at the same time could belong nowhere else. It grows, expands, and matures with you as you do and never gets old. Written as if from a man with AIDS to his father, this song is angry- much too angry to dedicate to your significant other. And yet... it is tender at times. Although the obligation to "carry each other" is anything but a privilege here, it is a duty kept out of love and a promise to work through the issues. Of late it has also taken on a political connotation with the advent of the One campaign and the band's placement of it in the setlists of the Vertigo tour. It is as sonically intense as it is lyrically. The bass line is deep, definite, and resonate. The drums are indifferent and sad all at once and this is quite possibly the only song Bono can actually play on his guitar. It is The Edge that musically makes the show here with one of the most memorable riffs in history. The guitar solo on the recorded version is short and sounds like a keening, but in the live versions it expands into full-throated sobs and then soars on invisible wings. This implants a hope in the song that is much more subdued in the studio version. Bono's lyric changes add even more weight and integrity to an already deeply profound song: "Did you come here to play Jesus? /I did" and "Hear us coming, Lord/Here us call/See us scratching/We're scratching at your door/ ...Please, don't make us crawl". This is a song that will still be important forty years from now, even if no longer enjoying radio rotation.

I wrote this article with full knowledge that it is a controversial subject; certainly so among the band's more avid fans. Feel free to expound on what you thought should or should not have been included. I look forward to your input.

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