In No Particular Order

It is no secret that I love the band U2. While as of late I have questioned their sticking with the same sound for way too long, I refuse to give up on them. So I went on what Larry Mullen Jr would call "A musical journey." I have gone back into the songs that no one particularly knows (thank for the idea, Rolling Stone).

So in no particular order...

Miss Sarajevo
While this song was released on the 1995 Passengers album (a U2 side project with Brian Eno), it found its spotlight in the concert Pavarotti and Friends. The song is a tribute to life going on during war in Bosnia. More specifically, life and beauty continuing during times of ugly war. It's chorus of Here she comes borrowed from Here She Comes, Miss America,


Love Comes Tumbling
This is perhaps one of my favorite U2 songs. Recorded in 1985 for the album Wide Away in America, it gives you a hint at their new sound that is evolving into what will eventually become their signature Joshua Tree sound. I don't know if it is the mysterious and echoing sounds or Bono's haunting voice, or Adam's bass line. (the video I used below is from an obvious Larry Mullen Jr fan).

 

Trash, Trampoline, and the Party Girl

Rarely played and most known for it's live version on Under a Blood Red Sky, Trash Trampoline, and the Party Girl is most commonly known as Party Girl. It is possibly one of the few U2 songs about silliness and fun.

 

Rewind to Fleet Week in Midtown in 2003 in a place called TJ Keanes. The hubby and a friend were trying to find all the Grateful Dead songs on the juke and I was rehashing lines from Some Mother's Son with Brian Mallon. Lots of Guinness and lots of the whiskey. The next day, while I was retreating to the couch, this song was played very loud and on repeat by my one and only.

 

 

 The Wanderer

Zooropa was not one of U2's most successful albums, but I think it is one of their most creative. Joining forces with Johnny Cash, the song is sad, contemplative look inwards at ones life. Using Cash, who had his demons, solidified the greatness of this song.

 

Stay (Faraway, So Close)
You can probably tell by now that Zooropa is one of my favorite U2 albums. Stay (Faraway, So Close) is a gem. Bono was going through his Frank Sinatra obsession phase with this song - and it was also the time they partnered with Wim Wenders (who went on to make a film of the same title).
The video is gorgeous as the band plays angels walking amongst us.

Lady with the Spinning Head

One of U2's B sides, it could be a song about a roulette table. I think again inspired by the Sinatra-Vegas lifestyle, this song is simply catchy with it's la la's, techno teases and signature Edge guitar.

Please
Pop was the home of Please, a song Bono described as "It's essentially about fundamentalism, political or religious. Religious fundamentalism is where you get to shrink God; you remake God in your own image, as opposed to the other way around.:  Similar to Achtung Baby's :Love is Blindness, this song talks about the love of nation, love enough to kill. It was released during the Northern Ireland Peace Process. 

 'Cause love is big and love is tough
But love is not what you're thinking of

It would be September of 2001, when this song would seem foretelling and make this song relevant again.  

 September
Streets capsizing
Spilling over
Down the drain
Shards of glass
Splinters like rain
But you could only feel
Your own pain

  

The end of the song, with the build up and the Apprentice Boys like drumming, my own opinion, is very reminiscent of the Parades that bring violence each year to the North.

The Ground Beneath Her Feet
This is possibly one of my favorites and probably the least well known of the U2 songs. From their sad trek into moviemaking, this song is from the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack. Soundtrack was phenomenal, the movie was abysmal.

The song builds like the desperate love that seems lost. A nod to Rushdie's novel of the same name, the song uses lines from the novel. I myself have borrowed from this song. I love the song as well because it as close to the old U2 that we have heard in ... forever, which is since 1988's Rattle and Hum.
 

 

One Shot of Happy (Two Shots of Sad)
U2's tribute to Bono's good friend Frank Sinatra is simple and beautiful. They should really do this more often. It can be found on the b-side to If God Will Send His Angels.
 

 

Spanish Eyes

And I love the way you're mean to me
And I need you

 

Bono doesn't write many love songs to his wife Ali, but this might be the best (I am not really a fan of The Sweetest Thing).