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"I'm here with the pope of software." -- Bono, on Microsoft guru Bill Gates, at the World Economic Forum, 2002 |
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"I'm here with the pope of software." -- Bono, on Microsoft guru Bill Gates, at the World Economic Forum, 2002 |
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Column: off the record...,vol. 9-385
@U2,
November 22, 2009
I had two serendipitous events happen in the same week. In a weird cosmic coincidence, the day after I got back from one of the most tremendous weekends I've ever had, I heard the song "In God's Country" on the radio as I was getting ready for work. This in itself is not so unusual, except that I haven't heard that song on the radio in years, and the weekend had been spent in the company of my @U2 friends with whom I traveled to the site of the Joshua Tree featured on the cover of the album of the same name. I don't listen to that album very often, but on the long ride to the desert, we listened to it exclusively. It was my first visit to a desert, and driving through the stark, striking terrain under a massive expanse of sky, I came to a new appreciation for the songs of The Joshua Tree. The music is intended to evoke wide, open spaces, but to hear it in the context for which it was written was beyond exhilarating. The songs sound exactly how the landscape looks. It's remarkable that four young men from a cool, wet island could interpret an environment worlds apart from their own so convincingly. I came home from that trip to a city whose backdrop was deep in the throes of autumn's fire. It was a chilly morning, and when the song started coming out of the tinny speaker of my clock radio, I felt the heat of the desert rise to the surface of my skin. I wanted to carry that feeling with me for the rest of the day, so I listened to the album all day at work. I've had a Joshua Tree mug on my desk for years, and every time I looked at it, I couldn't help giggling to myself, thinking about all of us trying to recreate that iconic photograph. I'll have those memories to keep me warm all winter. The second weird coincidence happened later that same week. Two of my concert buddies had tickets for us to see Brian Wilson. My friend Tom was especially excited because the Beach Boys had been his first concert, but both men had also seen them play in the interim. Brian came out with a 10-piece band, and although he is visibly damaged by years of mental health issues, he and his band were incredible. They rocked through an array of Beach Boys hits, and the singing of Brian's brilliant, intricate eight-part harmonies was flawless. After the band played "God Only Knows," Tom leaned over to me and said, "That's the most perfect song ever written." I couldn't disagree because it certainly sounded perfect to me. When I got home, I was too wound up to sleep, so I read for a while. I've been slowly working my way through Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas, which came off the clearance table and into my possession a few weeks prior. I turned to the page where I had left off (U2 ticket stubs make excellent bookmarks), and not surprisingly, the conversation was centered on the idea of God and inspiration, the author asking specifically how the song "She's a Mystery to Me" came about. He says: One of the reasons I'm sitting here today is because you and Edge wrote that song. It's the song I throw in the face of people who say they don't "get" U2. And their jaws drop when they listen to it. For me, it's way up there with the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" in the pantheon of great songs. So I won't leave this place until you tell me how that song happened. My own jaw dropped when I read that! Bono goes on to tell the story of the song, and how he had his own cosmic coincidence in the form of Roy Orbison showing up out of the blue and asking U2 for a song after Bono had been raving about him all day, the very same day the song was written. Bono doesn't call it a coincidence; he felt it was God's way of agreeing with him that Orbison was a genius. Either way, it's a mystery indeed. My friend Nicole pointed me to this radio interview with actor George Wendt, of TV sitcom Cheers fame, who was promoting his new book. Not only does he name check one of my favorite local beers, but he alo tells a cute story about meeting Bono. The interview starts just past the halfway point of the show and runs about eight minutes long. I'd like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans this coming Thursday, and offer some thanks of my own. First and foremost, I'd like to thank you, our readers, for your ongoing support of our work. Thank you for your graciousness towards us when we have met on the road; thank you for your praise, criticisms, and opinions. You make us better. In the same vein, I'd like to thank my colleagues for helping me become a better writer, but more importantly, a better person. You are good people and I am honored to call you my friends. I have to thank U2 for continuing to entertain, challenge and inspire us. Let me be presumptuous and speak for all fans when I say we wouldn't be here, we wouldn't have the friends we do, we wouldn't have traveled and met all the wonderful people we've met without the love of this music and the people who create it. Our appreciation cannot be overstated. Finally, I'd like to thank my hero, my mom. You're the reason I sing. As if you needed another reason to go to multiple U2 shows, you can now claim it's for your health. Have a great week. © @U2, 2009.
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