Still hadn't found what you were looking for when you first heard that song?
Did you get a history lesson on April 4 or Bloody Sunday?
Sometimes feel lost in Zooropa?
Does One make sense in your heart but your tongue can't speak it?
Ever gone back to the Discotheque when you should've cooled your heels instead?
Did a Beautiful Day make feel like you could change the world?
Does the news induce Vertigo?
Share a thought here of what you heard, what mattered, in the music...
(click comments to add yours)
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7 comments:
All the Colors
One of the most interesting discussions I had about U2 was also rather humbling.
I was a budding white male liberal in college in the late 80s. I loved lyrics like "I believe in the Kingdom Come, then all the colours bleed into one" from "I Still Haven't Found..."
Our campus ministry group had been studying the problem of covert racism.
My editor at the school newspaper was quizing me on why I liked U2 and I quoted that line above, among others.
She said something like, "I'm proud of my black skin and the thought of losing that identity in the afterlife isn't comforting."
Now there's a lot to think about.
-Shane
I have 2 questions/comments. First, I don't really know anything about U2. Do they have any formal education in religion? If we were looking at the theology of a historic songwriter (e.g. Issac Watts) or writer (e.g. John Donne), we would examine his/her theological background. He/she would likely have been educated at some seminary. What about these guys? Do they have any theological training or is their music more in the nature of an "average man's" response to God?
Second, I was surfing channels this afternoon and came across a show about the top 100 celebrities selected on Forbes Magazine and U2 and Bono were listed in the top 5. So, I'm curious about their lyrics, have they decided that words and singing are not what they are looking for? Are they suffering a mid-life crisis, maybe the $500M is not what it's all about? Can a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven? Also, it easy to talk about the environment and helping the poor and writing a check for $1M when you have $499M more. Maybe they haven't found what they are looking for because they should have been out there doing something all this time rather then wondering about finding faith, hope and love. Maybe its been out there the whole time in feeding the poor and helping the homeless. What do you think?
Thanks to the 45 of you that showed up on Sunday and the 30 of you that showed up on Monday night! While yesterday was our first class, it was also a tragic day at Virginia Tech. This morning I was listening to Sunday, Bloody Sunday and while that song was written for a very different context the words were powerfully haunting in light of what happened at Virginia Tech. It also reminded me of what we were talking about last night, that the songs can say different things to us depending on our own context and do not have ONE MEANING FOR ALL TIME.
As far as what Tim said (thank God somebody made a comment) I agree with him up to a point and confess that I find my own giving lacking in light of God's call of justice for the poor and solidarity with the outcasts. But even during the crazy Zooropa years U2 was working with Amensty, War Child, and fighting Aids in Africa. And then when the band began to connect with Jubilee 2000 which advocated for debt relief in 3rd world countries, they began to step up the commitment to the poor in terms of money and time. Bono and Ali's month in Ethiopia in a relief camp seemed to have an especially powerful effect on them. He writes that this is when he saw that "more than a band-aid was needed" and that he had to give up being a "cool rock star" for the cause of justice.
At both classes, Shane and I claimed that U2 only sings of faith, hope, and love after looking straight into the pain of life. They sing songs of hope and thanksgiving, but also songs of lament and grief. Are there any songs you have been singing this week in light of the shooting at Virginia Tech?
"Beautiful Day" is one of my favorite U2 songs. This song speaks very directly to me about paying attention to the present moment and trying to live there and see the key to happiness right in front of you. Don't let it get away! Also hope...the dove finding the leaf after the flood and all.
Another one...can't think of the title...goes like this: "Let it go, slowly fade away (repeat)...I'm wide awake, I'm wide awake, wide awake, I'm not sleeping.. no more." I listen to this when working out a lot and it always comes on when I'm at that point where I'm reaching "the zone" ...it's so powerful for me when I visualize my hurt in a boat sailing out to sea and fading away (something Brent told me to visualize once...thanks Brent!) Then comes an "awakening" along with those endorphins and the fog of depression lifts. I realize it probably is meant to mean waking up to God...but in my mind waking up to yourself is part of God's love for us as well. I play these two songs, as well as "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "I Will Follow" all the time when I teach my spin classes at the YMCA...hoping it will inspire people in class to reach for more...in class and out. :)
-Melissa Kenny
I am glad Melissa mentioned Beautiful Day because we will be hearing it and talkng about it in Class 4!
Your comments about being wide awake remind me of Bono's quote--
“There’s two kinds of people, there’s those who are asleep and those who are awake. I’ve used my music to wake me up and if it wakes other people up on the way that’s okay because we get used to the sound of a bomb going off in Belfast and to the roll call of bad news on television, we get used to the fact that third of the population on earth are starving. We get used to all these things and we eventually fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom.”
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