Music has always been a part of my life -- now welcome to the journey. Just a little blog to reminisce, review, rant and rave about the music in my life. "Music is my mother and my father. It is my work and my rest,my blood, my compass, my love" ~Jeff Buckley
What is Shangri-La? It's a club house where we get together and play. Make records. Yeah. Kind of better. It's like an office, I guess.It used to be a bordello. A bordello? You can tell by the wallpaper.
On November 25, 1976, The Band played what was to be their last show. What they did not know was that, with the help of a handful of very special musical friends and the under the direction of Martin Scorsese, this concert film would become of the greatest concert films every produced. It captured The Band at their summit and put some of our musical greats in a time capsule of musical decadence. While there are musical politics surrounding the making of the film, all should be assured that the music fan only sees what greatness came from that night.
Where else are you going to find Dr. John, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, Allen Toussaint, Muddy Waters, Ringo Starr, and Van Morrison performing on one stage. It was an odd era of music as the grandiose behavior and decadence was beginning to wane on many. Bill Graham, concert promoter legend, spearheaded the concert at his venue, Winterland on Thanksgiving Day. Concert goers would enjoy a full dinner before the show.
If you want the full experience, you must watch the film and listen to the recordings. Some of the show's highlights were not included in the final cut. But Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson gave us 11 songs that are a snapshot of an era. The additional songs by the artists are simply the gratuitous adornments to an already glittery affair.
Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, and Bobby Charles
From Levon Helm's passionate performance of The Night they Drove Ole Dixie Down to the classic concert closer, The Weight, each song is its own timeless masterpiece. By this point, The Band had been touring for over fifteen years and the excesses began to break everyone down. But to their credit, they ended at their best. While there were subsequent attempts - this was the quintessential The Band.
A great example of the talent of The Band that was on stage at Winterland on November 25, 1976, can be seen and heard in what is the show's opening song. The band is strong, energetic, and seems like they could go on for a few hours. This was actually their last song of the night - over five hours from when they
first started playing.
Because of technology and social media, we will never, ever have moments like these again. You bought paper tickets, probably did lines of coke off your dinner plate, and then sang for over five hours to some of the greatest musicians to play their craft. There was no simulcast or YouTube of it. Besides Scorsese's vision, this is all we have of this moment in time. Music fans had some dinner and watched an amazing show, not realizing they were a part of something so very special that would still be performed and remembered so vividly forty years later.
The end of something for U2 ... we have to go away and just dream it all up again.
1991 was at the precipice of a whole new world order. East and West Berlin were now free of Communism and the Wall. Perestroika and glasnost replaced repression in the dissoving Soviet Union. Our media was beginning to become global and instantaneous. And U2 decided to put aside their homage to the music they grew up to and the music style that everyone associated with them.
U2's massive tours associated with both The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum brought the band to the edge of some life changing decisions. Possibly as well, the altering of the world that was occurring on a daily basis. The band members were entering their thirties, they were celebrities, but they were still four friends in a band from Dublin.
The four fresh-faced lads re-invented not only themselves but their sound. Where Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum were filled with politics, nods to Dylan and Presley, Achtung Baby gave us questions about religion and fidelity, philosophy, and an alter-ego name Machphisto. While the skeleton of The Edge's guitar could still be heard, grungy electronic pop music infiltrated the studio, super models became their friends, and we were left trying to figure out whether or not this was a phase. The band referred to the album's musical departure as the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree. * Mueller, Andrew. "U2 – The Joshua Tree Re-Mastered (R1987)". Uncut. Retrieved 15 August 2015. U2 rushed to get the last flight into East Germany, that is, while East German still existed. Now that U2 could walk back and forth from the East to the West, they realized that the send of West Berlin as illuminated was not an illusion. The lights were literally brighter. The streetlamps of the East were dull, dirty yellow. The streetlights of the West were golden and white, and of a higher wattage. The West had better generators, Bono was especially struck by the glow of ultraviolet lights in the windows of the Eastern buildings so crowded together that little sunlight got through. Bono had associated the purple glow of UV lighting with nightclubs and raves, but to East Germans it represented an attempt to grow flowers in the shadows.* U2 At the End of the World - Bill Flanagan. The band noted the U2 line at a particular station that allowed them to move between the old and the new: Zoologischer or Zoo Station. Through disagreements, arguments, and working harder than they had because they were creating something so new, songs were beginning to take shape. Between the Berlin and the Dublin sessions of 1991 the band worked tirelessly, through potential breakups both in the band and with spouses. Their world was being pulled in a thousand directions and on top of that they had to create that promise of going away and dreaming all up again.
Lyrically, the album is a gift of art and religion, a study in carnal existential crisis, and a statement on the world both blossoming and decompressing on itself. Zoo Station We all remember the gentle opening of Where the Streets Have No Name. There is a lot going on in the first 10 seconds. The song is being electronically strung along until Edge's guitar and Adam's bass string us into the first strained chords I'm ready. I'm ready for the laughing gas. It's the band giving us their opening statement. It's alright. There is a lot going on and there is a lot going on with us.
Ever Better Than The Real Thing You'll see a lot of play on capitalism with this decade of U2 and it started right here. A demo of this was recorded at the same time Desire was, pointing to the fact that the band was really ready to move on for quite some time. There is also one repeating theme that begins with this song ... forgive me ... give me one last chance. Sounds like the band was having a crisis of love and forgiveness. One Called one of the greatest songs of all time by many music critics, this song miraculously kept the band together. This song has been interpreted so many ways and any one of them doesn't lessen the impact of the song. It's about love, the world, the band, it's about an AIDS patient on their death bed talking to his father...doesn't matter. The message is clear.
One love we get to share it and leaves you baby if you don't care for it.
Until The End Of The World While this song is without a doubt about the relationship between Judas and Jesus, there is still the underlying theme of sex and adultery if you look between those prison bars. The bands in depth religious knowledge lends itself to the beauty of this song.
In the garden I was playing the tart. I kissed your lips and broke your heart.
Who's Gonna Ridge Your Wild Horses Written by Bono for The Edge, most claim it was the most painful song to record since there were so many nuances of music technology on it and it was constantly re-mixed. Lyrically, a song to a soon to be old lover, maybe ... the memory of a relationship that still has some meaning. Can we still be friends?
So Cruel Hope, love, hate, surrender, compromise, contempt, and sadness. This song is love. This song is about a love gone horribly wrong. Unfortunately it was The Edge's love story. Haunting but so damn true.
She wears my love like a see through dress. Her lips say one things. Her movements something else.
The Fly The Fly was introduced before album and have a glimpse into the wild around ahead for the band and fans. It was in this video that we met The Fly, cross between Bono and his devil character, MacPhisto. The Fly is Bono's alter-ego, saying all those things we don't expect him to ever say.
It's no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest It's no secret ambition bites the nails of success Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief
Mysterious Ways A funky departure from the album's sound. It's an homage to women. This is also the third time a reference to oral sex is mentioned in this album (Until the End of the World and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses). It's
Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World Oh these songs that seem so simple but U2 throws in some amazing quotes. It's a song about stumbling home drunk...you know that moment when you do feel like you can throw your arms around the world. Or when you're drunk with love that you feel the same. The world was changing and who didn't feel like that? And a woman needs a man Like a fish needs a bicycle When you're tryin' to throw your arms around the world
Ultra Violet (Light My Way) Music trivia, Larry drops one drumstick during this song but damn it, he keeps going. A reference to those lights that once signified party and glamour to Bono, were a means to survive and find happiness in East Berlin. But more importantly, this crisis of love theme exists again in this song. Love, god, and women. There is an undercurrent of reference to the Book of Job and a line borrowed from Raymond Carver. There is a silence that comes to a house Where no-one can sleep I guess it's the price of love, I know it's not cheap Oh, come on, baby, baby, baby, light my way Oh, come on, baby, baby, baby, light my way Ultra Violet...Ultra Violet...Ultra Violet...Ultra Violet... Baby, baby, light my way I remember when we could sleep on stones Now we lie together in whispers and moans When I was all messed up and I heard opera in my head Your love was a light bulb hanging over my bed Acrobat This song is about not giving up. This could be directed at Bono himself. He uses the oft used from Latin saying don't let the bastards grind you down. He also quotes writerDelmore Schwartz in the line in dreams begin responsibilities. Basically, Bono is telling himself that he needs to stop listening to the critics but he also has to get his head out of the clouds.
Love Is Blindness Sorry to anyone that I have disappointed when I explain this song to them. It could be a song about love of person. But, it is love of hate and nationalism. This is a love song of a
car bomber. The opening church organ ties this to religion. And only Bono can get away with this.
In a parked car In a crowded street You see your love Made complete Thread is ripping The knot is slipping Love is blindness
Love is clockworks And cold steel Fingers too numb to feel Squeeze the handle Blow out the candle Love is blindness
Written seven years before the peace agreement was signed, violence in Northern Ireland and around the world was still in turmoil.
The band successfully went away and dreamed it all up again. Now four men in their thirties, the world still their stage, there was no shortage of topics to sing about. Their seventh album was beyond successful and gave us many songs that are still on heavy rotation. It was fitting that U2 re-invented themselves as the world was as well. The subsequent Zoo TV tour, threw the media and information overload in our faces. They prank called the president, paraded around belly dancers, Bono's alter ego ran amuck, Trabants hand from the stage, it was grandiose on every single level.
Sources: Bill Flanagan - U2 At the End of the World Niall Stokes - Into the Heart - the Story Behind Every U2 Song
We made a crazy video at home in Australia for The One Thing. We fed valium to a few cats and had them running
around a table while we had a feast with sexy models and Playboy centerfolds,
ripping apart a turkey. Next thing we knew we had a top 40 hit in America and
were opening for Adam Ant. ~ Tim Farriss*
October 13, 1982, INXS released their third album and first
world-wide release with Shabooh Shoobah. Face it, most of you have never heard
of this album. Unless you are either a serious INXS fan or live in Australia.
This album would bring Gary Gary Beers, the Farris Brothers (John, Andrew, and
Tim), sax legend Kirk Pengilly, and Michael Hutchence to US shores and into video mainstream. The One Thing, Don’t Change, To Look at You, and Black and White were the albums singles, with Don't Change being the song that would put this Aussie band in the ears and hearts of the world.
Lyrically maturing since Underneath the Colours, but not fully developing the sound that defined them for year until those pre-Kick vibes on Listen Like Thieves, Shabooh Shoobah delivers the music of a band still finding itself. It's sexy, 80's, and uniquely INXS.
The One Thing
This incredible seductive video would introduce the masses
to the sensual prowess of Michael Hutchence. The song is close to the INXS that
most are used to of the late 80’s. The keyboards are toned down, but the guitar
is spot on and Kirk soars on the sax. It’s a top song for many INXS fans.
To Look at You
This is my ultimate and all time INXS song. It’s a sexy song
with haunting 80’s keyboards and one of the best lines of any INXS song --- fairytales
and I love you.
Spy of Love
Remember, the 80’s was home to some creepy videos. This song
about being a magical love spy has video with a literal take on the title.
Michael is smoking in a creepy trench coat, Andrew Farris is wearing a bowler
hat and balancing some glass Labyrinth-like object in his hand. Catchy tune,
creepy video. Oh, did I mention there is a weird moment that reminds me of the
Land Down Under video sing-along scene.
Fun fact, this song inspired the onomatopoeia that is the title of the album.
Soul Mistake
The “I’m never going to learn” love song fraught with regret and some seriously good lines:
In this meeting of the soul
My feelings are unknown
I learn with no regret
I'm getting what I get.
Here Comes
You want the 80’s in a song? This is it? The mysterious electronic
keys and lots of echoes make this song about the questions, answers, and mysteries of love.
Black and White
The vibe goes back to INXS’ first single Simple Simon.
Golden Playpen
This song is proof of Michael’s gifted lyric writing inspired
by his love of poetry and books. It’s not a prophetic song, it’s about sex, having
fun, and some odd dancing chair man.
Jan’s Song
The first of a few times INXS gets political. Jan is clearly
an activist. The song is Clash-y with those familiar 80’s vibes.
One World New Order
Pseudo political/cultural message of listening to what existed
millennia before us. Gotta remember, the 80’s were flashy, gaudy, over the top,
save the rainforests times.
Don’t Change
While INXS saw many of their hits off their sixth and
seventh albums, Kick and X, this song continues to be an anthem for the band. This
is such a positive song with a driving beat
Cash Box reviewed the "Don't Change" single
saying "churning rhythms and swirling guitars provide a straight ahead
forward thrust for singer Michael Hutchence's philosophical pronouncements.
*Rob, Tannenbaum; Marks, Craig (2011). I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution.
"He just sort of kicked everybody's ass and nobody seemed to fight back," Jimmie remembered. "Stevie was on a cloud or something." Buddy Guy didn't know where it was coming from, just that whatever Stevie was doing worked a strange number on even him. "I had goose bumps," he said.
August 26, 1990 Alpine Valley Wisconsin
August 27th, 1990, a foggy summer night, Stevie played at the Alpine Valley Amphitheater in Wisconsin before boarding a helicopter just after midnight that would never land at its final destination. Stevie left this world at the top of his game. He played the last song of that night with his heroes, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and his brother Jimmie. He played the last song of his life surrounded by guitar players who would soon revere him as one of the best blues guitar players that ever lived.
Stevie Ray, I believe, was so good at playing the blues because he'd been to hell and came back to tell the world about it. He overcame addictions and a broken heart and was proud to tell anyone that God got him through it. He believed that music could heal - that music was a part of everyone's soul. I think that is so true.
For me, it's personal. It's also been just as many years years since my dad passed, and Stevie Ray helped me stay strong through tough days at the hospital and nights when the house seemed so empty and life so alone. You could hear the heartbreak, soul and passion in Stevie's guitar. Tin Pan Alley, Rivera Paradise and Lenny speak for him. Life Without You was my song of mourning, You Better Leave My Little Girl Alone was my security blanket and Riviera Paradise was my song of meditation.
I think that saddest part about Stevie's death that he had made it from the bottom where he everyone was convinced he was going to die. Now, he was clean, in love, and playing the best he had ever played. He won the dance with the devil - only to be taken away by the angels.
I wish I had seen him play, to hear those notes sing in person, to watch his hands blur with the speed at which he played his emotions on his guitar Number 1. I cannot believe it has been so long since that day. I still cannot believe what emotions his music still brings to me, what memories they provoke.
Thank you, Stevie Ray Vaughan. You have unwittingly become a legend, one of the best blues guitarists that ever lived, an inspiration to those who face addictions and want to recover. To memorialize you, over 100 scholarships have been made possible for students who want music education in the Dallas area through events attended by fans such as myself. You will always be remembered.
Thank you for sharing your gift of music with us - we will never forget you.
"In the song 'Tick Tock,' he sings the refrain, 'Remember.' And what Stevie was trying to tell me, and I guess all of us.. he was trying to tell me, 'Nile, remember my music. Remember how important music is to all of us. And just remember that it's a gift.' Stevie was truly touched by the hand of God. He had a powerful gift. And through his music he can make us all remember things that are very, very important, like love and family. " ~ Nile Rodgers
If
you grew up in the last breaths of the Cold War, the Netflix series Stranger
Things is a nostalgic lifeline to the fond memories we collectively share
about our youth. There are the unique characters, the bond of friends, the
alienation of being different that creates those cliquish, the varied music
that was our therapist, the constant threat of world annihilation, the roller rinks
and arcades, and the pop culture references to items that sustained us.
We
can all associate and name someone that reminds of us the characters on the show.
Each of us has a Nancy, Lucas, Max, Will, Mike, Steve, Eddie, Dustin, or Joyce and
Hopper that they can refer to from their childhood. The scenes of houses with
bikes piled up in yards, going home at dark, wanting to fit in, and
joining forces to save the world … these scenes so accurately depicted it’s
like watching a VHS tape of our own memories.
While
the show uses a lot of music, it is season 4’s use of music to save those from
the evil forces of Vecna. The importance of music on the show is what I relate
to most. Music is a character – let’s face it. When you hear the opening chords
of The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go, Dusting and Suzie singing Limahl’s
Neverending Story theme song, or Eddie summoning the demobats with Metallica’s
Master of Puppets, you know associate those songs with specific scenes
and characters just as many of us do with music throughout our lives.
There
was something incredibly fantastic and magical about music in the 80’s. GenXers
were on the cusp of freedom from the Cold War, technology was giving us cool
music videos and computer games, but we still relied on our imagination, a
curfew of “when the streetlights come on,” and much of our activities revolved
around music. While the global world order is passively referenced (using the
Hawkins lab for work against Russia or the shenanigans of Enzo and Yuri around the
gulag), the plight of saving the world moves from fiction (D&D) to fact (Demogorgon,
Mind Flayer and Vecna). The use of music moves from background (Twist of Fate
– Olivia Newton John) to life and death (Running Up that Hill – Kate
Bush). Music was just always there thanks to radio and MTV/VH1. We had a
soundtrack every waking moment of our days. Music was also different in that
its accessibility was either on the radio, on the TV, or in the record stores. You
had to wait for albums. You had to fast forward through cassette tapes. For God’s
sake you had to memorize and guess lyrics.
There's a parable to Eddie's story, really, that is poetic, powerful, and beautiful ~ Joseph Quinn
The Duffer Brothers were too young to recall the years in which the first four seasons
of Stranger Things took place (they were born in 1984) but they did a fantastic
job capturing the feelings of the time. From social cliques to the fear of
metal music and Dungeons and Dragons, the undertone of world demise (Russians
or the Upsidedown), and the importance and constant presence of music, Stranger Things is a portal for the GenXers to reminisce and bask in the glory of complex, but simpler times.
Season
5 should take us at least two years possibly into the future which means a
post-Chernobyl and Live Aid, U2 releases Joshua Tree and George Michael releases
Faith to the world.
Paula’s
Upside Down, Save Me From Vecna Playlist (1980-1986)
Don’t
Dream It’s Over
– Crowded House
Unforgettable
Fire – U2
Orion – Metallica
Love
Twist –
Culture Club
Harden
My Heart –
Quarterflash
Listen
Like Thieves –
INXS
Let’s
Dance –
David Bowie
Everybody
Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears
Recently, a friend had asked if I had ever listened to Desert Island Discs? I hadn't. But then they told me what it was. I was immediately struck by the fact that I had never heard of it.
The BBC4 radio programme, hosted currently by Lauren Laverne, has been on the air since 1942. That's ~3,000 episodes! Each guest, or castaway, is asked what eight recordings (doesn't have to be music), a book, and a luxury item that they would take with them if they were cast off to a deserted island. For each selection, the guest discusses a bit of their life as part of this choice and the reason for the selections. At the conclusion of the episode, they pick their all-time favorite recording.
Also, guests are given
the Complete Works of Shakespeare and the appropriate religious/philosophical work for them. They are allowed to select one more book to take with them.
And one luxury itemis also allowed with specific instructions that it cannot be used to escape the island and cannot be living. John Cleese got around this by asking for Michael Palin ... dead and stuffed.
Coincidentally, the first episode I listened to was Robert Plant. While closely matching his most recent answer to what his favorite ten songs of all time. I am so excited now to be obsessed with the show and cannot wait for the newest episode of the lovely Scottish actor, Alan Cumming.
So, I figured I would answer these questions myself and take a deep dive into music that has been a part of my life.
This was very difficult, I have to say. I looked at it through the lens of remembering music early on and its deep impact, through major music "ah ha" moments, as well as music that defines parts of my life. While noticeably missing bands and musicians like Led Zeppelin, The Clash, U2, Tina Turner, Crowded House INXS, Culture Club, David Bowie, Queen, The Doors, Neil Diamon, The Band, Edith Piaf, Victor Jara, The Police, Madonna, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Bill Withers, and Metallica ... you get the idea.
So here we go.
Disc One: American
Trilogy – Elvis
Elvis was very present in my early life. My grandmother loved Elvis gospel. My mother loved Aloha from Hawaii. This one really always stuck with me for some reason. There is a passion, his iconic voice, and that note shift at the end. It's all magic and a reminder to me that music has always been present in my life.
Disc Two: Do They Know It’s Christmas – Band Aid
You may say it's cheating, it kind of is, but so many of my 80's artists are in this song. These are the ones who I listened to on my cassette player obsessively. This also reminds me of Christmas and I would want that feeling if I were a castaway.
This also takes me back to the feeling that Live Aid gave me and to understand that music can do good for others.
Disc Three: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles
This one was so very difficult to chose one - but The Beatles definitely had a dramatic impact on my life. I was obsessed with them after I graduated from high school and it really pushed me to want to move to NYC more than Tina Turner or Cyndi Lauper had. There are so many different feelings to The Beatles, from young and innocent, to angry, to love.
Don't Let Me Down is the one I would take with me because it has all of The Beatles (including Billy Preston), is a very powerful song that also was written at a pivotal time in The Beatles career, and you can really get a sense of each Beatle's influence in the song.
Disc Four: Life Without You – Stevie Ray Vaughan
The blues were introduced to me at an early age by my neighbors. There was something about Stevie Ray. Stevie died a week after my dad and there was something so raw in my reaction. I realized his music was what I had been turning to for therapy when my dad was sick. Stevie was his music and his guitar was a part of him. He was 100% in his music. Stevie was also love and light to me. He came so close to losing it all and poured his heart and soul into his guitar and music. This song, it captures my soul every time to hear the passion, his plea for love, and that talent that he had and that we lost.
Disc Five: Just for Today – George Harrison
Another difficult one. George is my spiritual guru. He's who I look to if I need peace and if I need to not take myself so seriously. This one reminds me of when I first was introduced to George. Could Nine's big hit at the time was Got My Mind Set on You. I would play it every time I went to Pizza Hut for my Book It personal pan pizza. While there are so many wonderful and moving George songs, this is the one for its purity and reminder to be in the present.
Disc Six: Grace – Jeff Buckley
What can I say about Jeff? I was thousands of miles away from home in Sydney when I first heard his voice. Grace to me is a reminder of our fragile state and being ready for the inevitable fate that we all have. Jeff completely changed me.
Disc Seven: Sinnerman – Nina Simone
It was through Jeff Buckley that I was introduced to Nina's powerful music. While a powerful and wonderful talent, it's her activism, and her drive that is a standard that I want to always have with me.
Disc Eight: Crush – Dave Matthews Band
You may be thinking ... what? Dave Matthews Band has been a soundtrack in my life since the band formed. Introducing my then boyfriend (no my mister) to Dave in 2002 was special. This song, when he finally "heard" it and understood what it was about when we were at The Gorge in 2018 has to be on my list. It was the first time I ever saw someone "get" a song. When we got back to Seattle, he told me that if he could write ever write a song, that was the song he'd write for me.
BOOK CHOICE: The Master and Margarita –
Mikhail Bulgakov
Easy peasy choice. This is my all-time favorite book and I can't imagine not having this with me at any given time. I learn more about it each time I read it, which is every October.
Luxury item: Moisturizer
Castaway's favorite: Crush - Dave Matthews Band
So, did you think you were going to guess all my choice? As I wrote this, I made a point to listen to each song and it was an amazing experience of reflection. Even if you don't blog it out, try it. Listen to those songs and why you might choose them.
War seemed to be the motif for 1982 ... Everywhere you
looked, from the Falklands to the Middle East and South Africa, there
was war. By calling the album War we're giving people a slap in the face and at the same time getting away from the cosy image a lot of people have of U2.~Bono(War and Peace NME - 1983)
On this final day of February in 1983, U2 released its third album, War. Boy and October introduced us to the religious youth from Ireland with a few whispers of the political 80's, War gave us the first hint of the politics that would shape this band's songs and their hearts. The Edge honed his signature sound on songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Two Hearts Beat as One, not to mention his signature cold notes on the piano. He also had one of very few opportunities to sing co-lead on the Cold War atomic song, Seconds. It was also the advent of the video age and U2 was eager to take part, freezing on horseback for New Year's Day, the track first released to the world. It was a heavier sound that most were used to with U2, but it worked well with the politics of the tracks. The album ends with one of the most iconic U2 songs, 40. Was Bono telling us more songs were on their way in only the way expected of U2, through a Psalm? Sunday Bloody Sunday Bono's mother was a member of the Church of Ireland and his father was Catholic making him both unable and unwilling to choose a side in the violence. The band tried to stay away from, ironically enough, the politics of Ireland. The song's main anthem is How long must we sing this song? That is the point of the song. One of the most gut-wrenching versions of this song was seen on The Rattle and Hum tour. Bono, angered by the events of a bombing in Enniskillen, sang an impassioned version of this song. The version most are familiar with is however, is the below iconic Red Rocks version.
Seconds The Soldiers Girls and the atomic annihilation inspiration for this song. So many angry comments of the times yet echo so into the future. Also one of the few times we see Edge on lead vocals!
New Year's Day It is NOT, I repeat NOT a song about celebrating the start of the New Year. It is in fact a song about Polish Solidarity, a worker's party that was gaining popular support in the push towards the end of The Cold War. Adam's pulsing bass lines dancing with The Edge's tight piano notes are one of the iconic moments on this album.
Trivia (U2's little known except by fanatics as myself, Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop, was a B-Side to this single. And now you know).
Like a Song... You think Larry Mullen was on fire for Sunday Bloody Sunday, he's the entire drum line on this song. This is a song about the generation of the 80's that was tired of war and fighting and revolution. In fighting, out fighting ... when does it stop?
But I won't let others live in hell
As we divide against each other
And we fight amongst ourselves
Too set in our ways to try to rearrange
Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song
Drowning Man This song is not political but a cry to help their own bassist who was struggling with his own demons and the least religious in the band. There are so many layers to this song both beautiful and chaotic.
The Refugee Okay ... a bit of a departure. The refugees are moving to America ... wait a minute.
Two Hearts Beat As One Okay, a love song this time. Bono wrote this while on his honeymoon with his wife Alison. Just take a moment to appreciate Adam's bass line in this one.
Red Light No overt political statements here ... love, red light ... and one of the stand-in back-up singers stripped to her bra under the red lights of the studio.
Surrender So many ways to interpret this song. Drugs, love, God ...
40 Only U2 could get away with singing David's 40th Psalm. Here is a clip from Madison Square Garden in 2015. Chills every time.
If you want the full experience, you must watch the film and listen to the recordings. Some of the show's highlights were not included in the final cut. But Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson gave us 11 songs that are a snapshot of an era. The additional songs by the artists are simply the gratuitous adornments to an already glittery affair. 
