When Fact Is Fiction and TV A Reality: U2 War

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.

Be the Song That You Hear in Your Head ... Appreciating U2's POP

Released in March of 1997, Pop is probably one of the most despised of U2's albums, but I love it. First and foremost, it was a huge risk on U2's part. They had just come off a huge tour and poor reception to Achtung Baby's follow up album, Zooropa. It was far different from anything people heard. But I always felt there was something there. With time, this album has aged gracefully. Okay, maybe not the lemon spaceship and muscle shirts. 

The lyrics are heavy; a lot of contemplation, but at the same time, serious fun with a more mature tone. Hanging with Frank Sinatra pre-recording this album definitely translated into some of these vibes. 

Let's review - one of U2's least liked albums, Pop.

Discothèque
So this song confused the hell out of people. Maybe it was Bono's mid-mid life crisis after he had the existential Machphisto

mid-life crisis, Discothèque was an interesting choice to open the album too because there is nothing else on the album like it. And then there is the video --  



Do You Feel Loved
Bono really experimented with lyrics on this album - it isn't clear exactly what this song is about, some say ecstasy, others Bono's fame and fan worship of him, and then other always point to religion. Whatever it is, Adam Clayton is getting some bass love on this album.

Mofo
Bono always seems to pen one song about his mother who was lost to him at a very young age. This song might be the most revealing about Bono -  as it captures so many questions of his existence, sans mother, including filling the void of her loss, his religion, and becoming a father. It also includes many artistic references that many will miss including two quotes from both Salman Rushdie and William Butler Yeats.


If God Will Send His Angels
A beautiful song that never got the recognition it deserved. It is full of so many vivid images of the world we live in, the despair, hope, and questions of the world and the spirituality that many question everyday. Again, Bono goes after faith and the selling of religion, the commercialization of it, and the loss of its true meaning.

Does love...light up your Christmas Tree
The next minute your blowing a fuse
And the cartoon network turns into the news

Staring at the Sun
Bono again goes with the internal review of self with this song. It's catchy, acoustic, and again bass heavy. Let's look at the title alone - what happens when you stare at the sun? Everyone does it right, because you're not supposed to. I'm not the only one whose happy to go blind, Bono sings. We do what we aren't supposed to and then tell others not to do it. Will we ever live in peace? 'Cause those that can't do often have to, Those that can't do often have to preach. It's as much a song about practicing what you preach as it is about looking past the burning blindness of the sun and seeing the real truth. See, I told you this album was deep.

Last Night on Earth
While the video seems very apocalyptic, it's semi-obvious that it is probably about Paul Yates, ex-wife of Bob Geldof, lover of Michael Hutchence, and tabloid fodder. This is what gave it away for me:

She's not waiting on a savior to come
She's at a bus stop with the News of the World
And the
Sun
Sun here it comes
She's not waiting for anyone

The tabloids, News of the World, the Sun and a sad prediction:

The future is so predictable
The past is too uncomfortable

Gone
This is a very rock and roll song and a special one for such a family man. Bono wrote this about loving rock but missing his family while on the road. And again, praise the bass lords on this album.

Miami
This is a silly little ditty, no message but relaxing on the beach.

The Playboy Mansion
There are blurred lines here between the heaven of Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion and the religious heaven. It's a little Vegas at time's and you can feel Bono channeling the Riviera Hotel's  vibes in this song. And again, our sneaky song writers show that years of study at Mount Temple. Then will there be no time for sorrow, then will there be no time for pain is a reference to Revelations 21:4 - curious blurred reference indeed.

If You Wear the Velvet Dress
This is a haunting song about the moments of temptation and the morning after when life seems more clear than the moon that casts shadows and false images:

Sunlight
Sunlight fills my room
It's sharp and it's clear
But nothing at all like the moon

 

Please
A very timely and foreshadowing song, Please was written about the Northern Ireland Peace Process. It's about the love of country that gets people killed. Love is hard, love is though but love is not what you're thinking of. While written and recorded in 1997, in 2001, the following lines would echo in our ears, an eerie premonition from Bono:

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

Wake Up Dead Man
My favorite song on the album. It's a prayer made in time of question and desperation and an order to wake up, wake up and take care of me and my needs.

Jesus, Jesus help me
I'm alone in this world
And a fucked up world it is too
Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

Jesus, I'm waiting here boss
I know you're looking out for us
But maybe your hands aren't free
Your father, made the world in seven
He's in charge of heaven
Will you put in a word in for me?

 

Bono and the boys were approaching the ago of 40 when this album was written and released. It's a time of reflection and recollection of those lost and moments that could have been different. For these lads, 1980-1997 was a blur. Red Rocks, Live Aid, Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, using satellites to talk to the world. You also take stock in the fact that you've worked hard enough and earned those times of joy, whether it's at the Playboy Mansion or at Miami.