Into the Heart: Boy at 40

The freshman album by U2 was anything but naive. With Steve Lillywhite at the helm, this album is extremely philosophical and psychological for these literal boys -19 and 20 when this album was released. But their religious studies had them thinking deep for many years, and would, in fact, almost tear the band apart. 
 
Famously known for the cover art,  Boy would catch the ears of many critics, hailing it as an album that shows the potential of a poetic and philosophical band.





I Will Follow 
A tribute to the mother he lost at 14, the symbolism is deep for a song with so much spirit:
I was on the inside
When they pulled the four walls down
I was looking through the window
I was lost, I am found.

 
Twilight
A coming of age song, where "in the shadows, boy mean man, this song deals with the confusion of becoming an adult.

An Cat Dubh
The black cat, the woman, the other woman, the scorned lover. This is so much like the types of songs we hear in Achtung Baby. This song is about women, and love and sex, but innocently symbolized in the cat that sleeps next to it's victim bird. 
And in the daylight
A blackbird makes a violent sight
And when she is done
She sleeps beside the one
 
Into The Heart
Foreshadowing their Innocence / Experience albums, just what did these four lads think they already knew about being young and innocent and the challenges of getting older?
Into the heart, into the heart of a child
I can't go back
I can't stay awhile.
Into the heart.

Out Of Control
A standard in today's shows about being young and living life. 

Stories For Boys
Again, another song of innocence 

There's a picture book
With colour photographs
There's a comic strip
That makes me laugh

The Ocean
The shortest of U2 songs, paying homage to Oscar Wilde an as well as some religious allusions and potential delusions of grandeur. The bass line on this is what gives away Adam's true talent, creating the sounds of the ebb and flow and even fog horns of the ocean. 

A picture in grey
Dorian Gray
Just me by the sea.

And I felt like a star
I felt the world could go far
If they listened to what I said.
The sea

Washes my feet
Washes my feet
Splashes the sole of my shoes.


A Day Without Me
One of the more reflective songs on the album about life and what it would be like without them in it.


Another Time, Another Place
Everyone seems to be more concerned about the Gaelicy-German that Bono utters, as opposed to what this is really about. But it seems to be about lovers or the loss of a lover. In all, this seems to be a foreign sound for U2. The Edge is not playing Edge like-notes and the sound seems a little moving towards a Sunday Bloody Sunday sound - but that's two albums away.
 
Bright morning lights
Wipe the sleep from another day's eye
Turn away from the wall
And there's Nothing at all
Being naked and afraid
In the open space of my bed

Electric Co.
Short for electric conversion therapy, this peppy song is a reference to a friend who was suicidal and was taken in for electric shock therapy. This is an early indicator of Love is Blindness - like "love songs" about extremists.  

Red, running red
Play for real
The toy could feel
A hole in your head
You go in shock
You're spoon-fed

If you don't know...Electric co.

Shadows and Tall Trees
Quite the somber, self examination song to end on, but again, it was where the band was. Everything was an examination of self in relation to their religious studies. 

 Boy is a rare example of a first album for a band that would become world famous. While deep in philosophy and questioning of life, the music lends itself to the listener, allowing them to be let in, even if they don't want the message, questions, or answers. It foreshadows much of the discussion we would have with Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry in the future 13 albums and numerous world tours.

 

 Scot Anderson of the Iowa City Press-Citizen called Boy 'an album that, while flawed, shows the potential of the band'. Anderson thought certain songs were too long or too short, but believed U2 distinguished themselves from their peers with their spirit and humanity, making 'a most refreshing splash in the New Wave.'