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"Now that I can afford to buy any drums I want, I get them for free." -- Larry |
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"Now that I can afford to buy any drums I want, I get them for free." -- Larry |
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@U2 QOM February 2008: Did a U2 song ever make you see things differently?
@U2,
March 05, 2008
(Each month, @U2 puts a spotlight on U2 fans with our "Question of the Month." We pose a question to our readers and invite answers of 200 words or less. If you're interested in taking part, check our home page to see if the current question is still open. If not, check back shortly after the beginning of next month and we'll have another question ready to be answered!)
There are a couple of lines that have carried me through the worst times: "We are One but we are not the same. We GET to carry each other." Now, Bono is a brilliant wordsmith. He didn't say, "We HAVE to carry each other," or "we SHOULD carry each other." No, we GET to carry each other. It is a privilege. It stuck with me for days. "We get to carry each other." It is the price we pay for having a soul. We hurt each other. We do terrible things to each other, but in the end, we GET to carry each other. I started looking at everything differently. "One life, you have to do what you should." It led me to get involved with the world around me. Later, it led me to DATA, One Campaign and to Darfur, even when the issues seem too much; that the battles we are fighting seem hopeless. When you are exhausted and you think, "Why am I doing this?" it all comes down to these few words: "We GET to carry each other." It has given my life direction and meaning. -- Tish McCully "Stuck in a Moment" You gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight I did get myself together and Later WAS Better. I felt that life, for me at least, would go on, but NOT if I were to stay stuck in that horrible moment. It still stings each and every time I hear the song, because I remember. But I look at my two beautiful daughters and am glad I didn't stay stuck in that moment. Now I see that without my "Stuck in a Moment" experience I wouldn't appreciate "Original of the Species" as much as I do. -- Wendy Post The song "In a Little While" made me see things very differently
in 2002. I had a heart operation for a heart defect that I was born with. The
doctor said, "We will finally slow down your heart." The line, 'Slow
down my beating heart' from "In a Little While" has always made me
see things differently than it is meant in the song. -- Ross M. Owen Yes, the song "Kite." This song is so personal to me. When the album All That You Can't Leave Behind came out, I was going through a life-changing time. I was watching my mother die of cancer. I heard this song and understood on a personal level what it was about. The questions Bono asks, "I wonder what is going to happen to you, do you wonder what will happen to me?" was my reality at the time, and it made me see from my mom's point of view her fears not only for herself and death, but leaving her two children behind and worrying about what will become of them. Even though I think this is a beautiful song, to this day I most often skip over this track because it brings back such overwhelming images to my mind of that time of my life. -- Nicole Ouellette I knew Bono had a difficult relationship with his father, but I didn't understand "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" until I experienced some filial frustration of my own and heard his "Song of the Year" acceptance speech at the 2006 Grammy Awards. "I've been shouting about him, giving off about him," Bono said, "and maybe, maybe tonight is the time to stop." For the first time in my life, my mother and I weren't getting along. She said some things that really hurt me, and then I understood how Bono must have felt when his father said, "And if we weren't so alike, I'd like you a whole lot more." I started to think about how hurt Bono has been since he lost his father and how lost and devastated I would be if I lost my mom, my best friend. I decided that if I had to choose between the pain of temporarily being at odds and the pain and guilt I would feel if we never reconciled, being at odds for a while wasn't so bad. So after days of crying, ranting, and raving, I decided that that night was the time to stop. -- Jacquelene Waller There are so many songs but every single time I listen to "Kite," there is something new I feel about people close to me. As Bono says, "It could be about a friend, a loved one, a child or a parent." Each time no matter when I have that on I find myself thinking about one or all of those people in certain time frames of my life. I am constantly blown away by the phrases, the melody, Edge's searing guitar, Larry's perfect beat and Adam's bass that just continues to ring in my ear long after the song is over. All I know is when Bono hits the "I'm a man I'm not a child" note, I am almost spiritually lifted to another place and always end up smiling! It's incredible. It makes me see all things differently each time! -- Phil Henningsen The song that changed my perspective on a place is "City of Blinding Lights." I am a runner and like to log miles with my trusty old school Shuffle; of course it is chock full of U2 goodness that engages the mind while the legs pound the pavement. A few years back I lived in Bellingham, WA, and had a favorite loop to run that took me through a beautiful old cemetery on the hill over the city. I have a very vivid memory of running through the cemetery on a rare sunny morning and "City of Blinding Lights" came on. Not only was the blinding sunlight a visual cue to my audio enjoyment, but I was also struck by the fact that a cemetery is really a city of sorts with rich and poor, old and young, men and women, all side by side, and the words of the song could apply to the visible city of streets and buildings or the unseen city of the cemetery that I was running through. It was a brief moment, but I couldn't pass that place later without being reminded of the song and the many levels of "city" that exist around us. This might be taking it to a "Plot 180" level but I also think the theme of the "city" on all its levels was huge on the Vertigo tour. From the opening chords of "City of Blinding Lights" to the last line of "Yahweh," (A city should be shining on a hill) those shows had bookends of community and the city to prop the message. (That's why I believe Chicago, arguably the most American of cities, was chosen for shooting the DVD. I'm 10,000 cell phones from the left on the first level.) -- Daniel N. Lucht Yes, "Gone." The lyrics made me see that many of my goals where really ambitions driven by ego, specifically this line: "What you thought was freedom was just greed." -- Moises When All That You Can't Leave Behind came out in 2000, I was ecstatic. I had been craving new U2 for years. I remember seeing the world premiere of "Beautiful Day" on VH1 and being enthralled. I listened to that CD every day, and enjoyed it as a musical accompaniment to my daily activities, nothing more. Then on September 11, 2001, everything changed. Now, when I listen to All That You Can't Leave Behind, I hear songs celebrating the intricacies of living in "New York," begging for "Peace on Earth," offering hope with "Walk On," and of course finding beauty despite ugly acts in "Beautiful Day." It is as if Bono and the band wrote these songs after September 11th. If you look at the lyrical references in almost every song it is astonishing. -- Lauren Griffin I would have to say that the song "Silver and Gold" off Rattle and Hum brought me a more courageous and fervent belief that the evils of Apartheid were indeed wrong. As a white young South African male, I always felt that something was wrong, but I often regret not being vigilant enough in the fight against racism. I had just fallen in love with U2. The Joshua Tree release in 1987 coincided with my last year in school and so my love for their music and the promise of a life waiting ahead will always mark that time as one of the best in my life. Unfortunately, military conscription was "not negotiable" and 1988 saw me drafted, against my will, into the Air Force for two years. Because of economic sanctions against South Africa we did not have easy access to overseas items and I remember saving six months worth of South African army pay to buy an imported copy of the Rattle and Hum album – how ironic! There is so much that is poignant about "Silver and Gold." The title is a reference to the industrial backbone of South Africa with its mining and wealth of precious metals and minerals. It also symbolizes the disparity between the privileged minority and the dusty barren remains thrown to the segregated millions. Apartheid is to racism what a mean front row forward is to rugby – a hard unrelenting bully designed to push you backwards. When I first heard the song, I must admit to being a little taken aback by the venom in Bono's voice as he spoke against Apartheid and South Africa. To hear my hero's voice mention words that pointed to the hypocrisy of South African life like, "shanty town outside Johannesburg," and to know that, although I worshipped the ground they walked on, U2 would not have been too impressed by this white South African male, it was disconcerting and uncomfortable. But it was a fantastic wake up call for many of us! U2 should know that their message reached the ears of a young white South African soldier who used to sit with his headphones on listening to their music. I heard "Silver and Gold" and I listened intently to their message and I'd like to thank them for their forthrightness and courage. A few years later a yes/no vote was held in this country to bring about the end of Apartheid. I'm willing to bet that all of the U2 fans voted yes to bring about change, and there are millions of fans in this country. U2 did their part for sure. Obviously the yes vote won out in the end! -- Sean Wilson I can't really choose just one U2 song that makes me see things differently because so many of them do, but if I really had to pick just one it would be "Walk On." It was always a great song for me, but the meaning of it really became clear to me back in 2003. I had gotten sick at the end of 2002, but never really seemed to get all the way better. I kept getting colds, sore throats, and ear infections throughout the next year (2003). The doctors just kept trying different medicines and I would get better, but then a few weeks later I would be sick again. It finally got to the point where I could no longer swallow very well. I was put in the hospital and I got a little better. When I got home I still couldn't eat very well. I had a really hard time because I was always hungry and couldn't eat. One day I remember watching the Slane Castle concert on TV and hearing "Walk On." The lyrics really struck me, especially when Bono says, "I know it aches, and your heart it breaks/ You can only take so much. Walk On, you've got to leave it behind." It made me realize that I could get through it and I was going to be okay. I still can't eat very well and my mom has to hold me to feed me so I can swallow, but that song will always be very special to me. -- Elsha Stockseth My mother passed away in July 2001. She went in for a heart bypass; there was a freak accident that left her in ICU, unconscious, for a month prior to her death. My sister and I got "miracle" tickets to the first U2 show after 9/11 at Notre Dame, Indiana on October 10. Needless to say, these were hard times for everyone there, more so for us since we mourned our wonderful mom. The whole concert was a catharsis: we cried, we laughed, we danced and cried some more. Once the beautiful sounds of "Where the Streets Have No Name" started, something lifted that sadness out of me and filled me with joy. I jumped up and down and U2 helped me sing my mother home that night. The song still has the same effect on me -- I think that was one of the most joyous feelings I've ever had. -- Patricia Sheahan Almost every U2 song changes me. I feel like with every new album, I am slowly being molded into this new wonderful and idyllic person. When I heard "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," I cried. I cried for Bono and his father, and me and my father. I began to see that even if my father and I were always at odds, maybe he did need me. Now that my father is dying I think of the song all the time. When I heard "Kite," I came to the realization that my children were growing up and leaving my sphere of influence. What I saw for the first time was that I could not control their lives or destinies. Who's to know where or what was going to happen, but it was for them not me. When I heard "Acrobat" I was reminded of the first time I heard "God Part 2" – when I first saw that life is full of duality and that it is ok to act in ways that seem contradictory to my beliefs or at least what I thought I believed... Basically, I could talk about almost every song, but the most important one is "New Year's Day." When I heard it the first time, I SAW it on the video, Live from Red Rocks. Watching that band changed my life. I could see right then and there that this was going to be an obsession for me. When I hear that song I am transported – 20 again and seeing the world as fresh and new and full of opportunities. -- Anita Smith "One Step Closer to Knowing" I've heard it said that when you're in love or pain, My marriage of 23 years I'm 'round the corner from anything that's real Two months later my little brother I'm on an island in a busy intersection Then my father died; they called it a heart attack, I'm hanging out to dry Those days gripped my faith with white knuckles and One step closer to knowing -- Tony Dawson © @U2/individual contributors above, 2008.
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Oh
my God! I vividly remember the first time I heard "One." You know,
as a U2 fan you eagerly await each new CD/album. You pick it up. You caress
it. It may hold years of memories. Fantastic things are coming your way.
I always listen to it all the way thru and then go back. Achtung Baby
came out. I sat there for track one; track two; then came "One." (I
tear up just thinking about it.) I sat stunned and drained. But I had to back
up and listen again and again. 