Uno, dos, tres, catorce! / One, two, three, fourteen!
(Turn it up loud Captain!)
Lights go down, it's dark
Your jungle is your head
Can't rule your heart
A feeling so much stronger than
I thought your eyes are widened
Though your soul, it can't be bought
Your mind can wander
Hello, hello (hola!)
I'm at a place called vertigo (dónde está)
It's everything I wish I didn't know
Except you give me something
I can feel
Feel
The night is full of holes
There's bullets ripping sky
Of ink, with gold
They twinkle as the boys
Play rock and roll
They know that they can't dance
At least they know
I can't stand the beats
I'm asking for the check
Girl with crimson nails
Has Jesus 'round her neck
Swinging to the music
Swinging to the music
Hello, hello (hola!)
I'm at place called vertigo (dónde está)
It's everything I wish I didn't know
But you give me something
I can feel
Feel
(Check mated!)
(Shadows fall)
(She'll make it)
All of this
All of this can be yours
All of this
All of this can be yours
All of this
All of this can be yours
Just give me what I want
And no one gets hurt
Hello, hello (hola!)
We're at a place called vertigo (dónde está)
Lights go down and all I know
Is that you give me something
I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how
How to kneel
Kneel
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Miracle Drug (3:59)
- We go from the
heaviest song on the album to one of the tamest. Don't get me wrong, it's a
beautiful piece, but I could argue with it's placement on the album (namely
bump "Love And Peace Or Else" to between this track and the last
one). The song seems to be about things we want, but are sadly impossible to
acquire. The first couple verses are about Bono wishing he could know what is
in the other person's head and to truly know them. Then we quickly cut to how
tantalizing the notion of freedom is, then back to the love song. Bono argues
here that these things aren't really impossible, just that we think they are
(thus making them impossible). But the hope that he can TRULY understand a
person through their soul (and that bit about freedom) is as appealing idea as
a miracle drug...and Bono's not giving up on it. It's an okay
song.
I want a trip inside your head
Spend the day there
To hear the things you haven't said
And see what you might see
I want to hear you when you call
Do you feel anything at all?
I want to see your thoughts take shape
And walk right out
Freedom has a scent
Like the top of a newborn baby's head
The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I've seen enough, I'm not giving up
On a miracle drug
Of science and the human heart
There is no limit
There is no failure here sweetheart
Just when you quit
I am you and you are mine
Love makes nonsense of space
And time will disappear
Love and logic keep us clear
Reason is on our side, love
The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I've had enough of romantic love
I'd give it up, yeah, I'd give it up
For a miracle
A miracle drug (a miracle drug)
God I need your help tonight
Beneath the noise
Below the din
I hear your voice
It's whispering
In science and in medicine
I was a stranger
You took me in
The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I've had enough of romantic love
Yeah, I'd give it up
Yeah, I'd give it up
For a miracle
Miracle drug
Miracle, miracle drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your
Own (5:08)
- There is a lot
of hype about how emotional this song is. How much of a personal and deep song
it is. Well, let me say for the record, it's not THAT good. I get a little more
choked up with "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)". A few things to note
here. First of all, I can't help but notice that U2 seems to like songs with
inspirational (and long) titles. The first thought that came to mind when I saw
this song title is "Wow, that sounds like 'Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get
Out' or 'Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World'." Go through every U2
album, and almost every one has a title like that. But yeah, the song is a
little on the boring side until you get to the bridge and chorus. Then it hits
me and I fall in love with the song. Bono sings some falsetto that we haven't
heard enough of in a while. Now, this is a very personal song to Bono, as it
deals with the death of his father (the old guy in the first "One"
video). If you're not sure what the song is about...look at the
title!
Tough
You think you've got the stuff
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough
You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
We fight all the time
You and I, that's alright
We're the same soul
I don't need
I don't need to hear you say
That if we weren't so alike
You'd like me a whole lot more
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can you hear me when I sing...
You're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me
Where are we now?
I've still got to let you know
A house still doesn't make a home
Don't leave me here alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Sometimes you can't make it
Best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Love And Peace Or Else
(4:50)
- And here we
have a gritty dirty song, not too dissimilar from the mood of "Bullet The
Blue Sky". First, we start off with a great, but subtle, synth tune
courtesy of Brian Eno. Well, not too much to say about this song. It's very
obviously a cry for change and a need for world peace. Heard the message
before, but it's been repackaged into a nice song.
Lay down
Lay down
Lay your sweet lovely
On the ground
Lay your love
On the track
We're gonna break
The monster's back
Lay down your treasure
Lay it down now brother
You don't have time
For a jealous lover
As you enter this life
I pray you depart
With a wrinkled face
And a brand new heart
I don't know if I can take it
I'm not easy on my knees
Here's my heart, I'll let you break it
We need some release, release, release, release
We need love and peace
Love, love and peace
Lay down
Lay down your guns
All your daughters of Zion
All your Abraham's sons
I don't know if I can make it
I'm not easy on my knees
Here's my heart, I'll let you break it
I need some release, release, release
We need love and peace
Love and peace
Baby don't fight
We can talk this thing through
You with me, me and you
I'll call or you'll phone
The TV is still on
But the sound is turned down
And the troops on the ground
Are about to dig in
I wonder where is the love?
Where is the love?
Love and peace
Where is the love?
Where is the love?
Where is the love?
City Of Blinding Light
(5:47)
- What a great
song! One of the best on the album, that's for sure. Finally, we get to hear
some more piano, and a good deal more of a melody. This is a complex song
musically, with many elements put together, but all revolving around a single
theme, and that is the first line of the chorus ("Oh, you look so
beautiful tonight!"). The song itself is about an expression of how
beautiful this one woman is, and how beautiful everything looks when she is
there. I'd like to point out as well that the song title bears a striking
resemblance to The Unforgettable Fire (I'll bring up this point
again later): "These city lights, they shine as silver and
gold..."
The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now
Neon heart, day-glow eyes
The city lit by fireflies
They're advertising in the skies
For people like us
And I miss you when you're not around
I'm getting ready to leave the ground
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights
Don't look before you laugh
Look ugly in a photograph
Flash bulbs, purple irises the camera can't see
I've seen you walk unafraid
I've seen you in the clothes you've made
Can you see the beauty inside of me?
What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?
And I miss you when you're not around
I'm getting ready to leave the ground
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights
Time...time...time...time...
Time won't leave me as I am
But time won't take the boy out of this man
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
Yeah, the city of blinding lights
The more you know, the less you feel
Some pray for, others steal
Lessons not just for the ones who kneel
Luckily
All Because Of You
(3:39)
- This is a
pretty good song. As the second single, it had to follow "Vertigo"
but not lose momentum (and sales). This was a safe bet. The song is about how
dull and ugly life is until this person finds his soulmate. Pretty simple
song...in fact, I'm noticing a lot of love songs here! The music video is
pretty simple, and follows up on the "Where The Streets Have No Name"
idea. Basically U2 is on a float going down the crowded streets of New York,
with huge crowds all around them. Pretty simple.
I was born a child of grace
Nothing else about the place
Everything was ugly but your beautiful face
It left me no illusion
I saw you in the curve of the moon
In the shadow cast across my room
You heard me in my tune
When I just heard confusion
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am
I am
I am
I like the sound of my own voice
I didn't give anyone else a choice
An intellectual tortoise
Racing with your bullet train
Some people get squashed crossing the tracks
Some people got high rises on their backs
I'm not broke but you can see the cracks
You can make me perfect again
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am
I am
I'm alive
I'm being born
I just arrived
I'm at the door
Of the place I started out from
And I want back inside
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am
A Man And A Woman (4:30)
- So here we
have another title that seems to have been taken from a line from a previous
song. "Do You Feel Loved?" is the song I'm thinking of:
"Stick together, a man and a woman, stick together...". But
that aside, this is a ridiculously awesome song!! My favorite off the album,
and a very good subject. Not your usual romance song, in fact, quite the
opposite. Bono sings a song of love gone complacent and stale, and the
temptation to go seek a new romance. But Bono realizes that this would be a
folly, for the love between a man and a woman is the only thing he can count
on. The "little sister" isn't a sister literally, it's his lover, but
they have grown so close that the love is more similar to best friends or
siblings, than hot passionate lovers.
Little sister
Don't you worry about a thing today
Take the heat from the sun
And little sister
I know that everything is not ok
But you're like honey on my tongue
True love never can be rent
But only true love can keep beauty innocent
But I could never take a chance
Of losing love to find romance
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
No I could never take a chance
'Cause I could never understand
The mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
You can run from love
And if it's really love it will find you
Catch you by the heel
But you can't be numb for love
The only pain is to feel nothing at all
How can I hurt when I'm holding you?
And I could never take a chance
Of losing love to find romance
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
And you're the one, there's no-one else
And it makes me want to lose myself
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
Brown eyed girl across the street
On rue Saint Divine
I thought this is the one for me
But she was already mine
You were already mine
Little sister
I've been sleeping in the street again
Like a stray dog
And little sister
I've been trying to feel complete again
But you're gone and so is God
The soul needs beauty for a soul mate
When the soul wants, the soul waits
But I could never take a chance
Of losing love to find romance
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
For love and faith and sex and fear
And all the things that keep us here
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
You'll see
You'll see
How can I hurt when I'm holding you?
Crumbs From Your Table
(5:03)
- This is an
okay song. Pretty basic song, but very catchy. This is a song about how the
rich countries of the world barely give anything to the third world countries.
It's a very sad song about how priveledged we are, and how we don't
share.
From the brightest star
Comes the blackest hole
You had so much to offer
Why did you offer your soul?
I was there for you baby
When you needed my help
Would you deny for others
What you demand for yourself
Cool down mama, cool off
Cool down mama, cool off
You speak of signs and wonders
I need something other
I would believe if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table
You were pretty as a picture
It was all there to see
Then your face caught up with your psychology
With a mouth full of teeth
You ate all your friends
And you broke every heart thinking every heart mends
You speak of signs and wonders
But I need something other
I would believe if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table
Where you live should not decide
Whether you live or whether you die
Three to a bed, Sister Anne, she said
Dignity passes by
And you speak of signs and wonders
But I need something other
I would believe if I was able
I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table
One Step Closer (3:51)
- This is
another simple song. Basically, Bono is on the path to an epiphany about the
meaning of life (or whatever) and he's about to come to a fantastic
conclusion...about stuff. I don't know. It's really kind of a boring song. And
for the longest time, I wasn't sure what he was saying. It was almost like
"One step closer to nowhere" but it sounded more like
"One step closer to Norway", but the lyrics saying
"One step closer to knowing". Maybe it's his Irish accent, but
I hear an 'R'.
I'm 'round the corner from anything that's real
I'm across the road from hope
I'm under the bridge and a rip-tide's taken
Everything I call my own
One step closer to knowing
One step closer to knowing
I'm on an island in a busy intersection
I can't go forward now, can't turn back
Can't see the future
It's getting away from me
I just watch the tail lights glowing
One step closer to knowing
One step closer to knowing
One step closer to knowing
Knowing, knowing
I'm hanging out to dry
With my old clothes
Finger still red with the prick of an old rose
Well the heart that hurts
Is a heart that beats
Can you hear the drummer slowing
One step closer to knowing
One step closer to knowing
One step closer to knowing
To knowing
One step closer to knowing
One step closer to knowing
One step closer to knowing
To knowing
To knowing
Original Of The Species
(4:41)
- This is a good
song. Slow verses, but it builds to a climactic chorus. Basically, I believe
that the song is about Bono singing to his child about all the new experiences
it will encounter and all that life is about. That's about it. Good song
though.
Baby slow down
The end is not as fun as the start
Please stay a child somewhere in your heart
I'll give you everything you want
Except the thing that you want
You are the first one of your kind
And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel 'cause I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing that you're not
Everywhere you go you shout it
You don't have to be shy about it
Some things you shouldn't get too good at
Like smiling, crying, and celebrity
Some people got way too much confidence baby
Baby...
I'll give you everything you want
Except the thing that you want
You are the first one of your kind
And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel 'cause I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing that you're not
Everywhere you go you shout it
You don't have to be shy about it, no
Oh no
Oh no no no no
(Here's a thought)
Sugar come on
Show your soul
You can keep in your love
Under control
Everywhere you go you shout it
You don't have to be shy about it
Everywhere you go you shout it
Goodbye, oh, my, my
And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel 'cause I want you some more
Now I want you some more
I want you some more
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no
Yahweh (4:21)
- Now for the final
song, a worship song. For those of you who don't know, Yahweh is Hebrew for God
(or Father...can't remember). Bono seems to plead to have God use him for his
purposes, and to not forget about him. This song is a little more upbeat than
the last couple, and a great way to end the album. All the band members come in
triumphantly, and this rounds up the theme of the album. From the first song,
about very personal feelings, to the last song, about a metaphysical use and
something grander in life. Introspection at it's best.
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before the child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist, no
Take this mouth
So quick to criticize
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Still waiting for the dawn
The sun is coming up
Sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn
Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own
No man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break
