As someone living in the former United States of America, I tearfully thank you, U2.
"American Obituary" is from the new U2 EP "Days of Ash" out now.
The cover was photographed in Chapelle Saint-Pierre in the town of Villefranche-sur-Mer, one of my favorite places. The interior was painted by the legendary Jean Cocteau, previously here.
To observe National Poetry Month, I have been featuring lyrics of rock n' roll or pop songs that also double as exquisite poetry.
I am a fan of U2 for many reasons and one of them is their deft ability with lyrics. In his book SURRENDER, Bono says, "The greatest songwriting is never conclusive, but the search for conclusion," (Italics mine). In other words, it is the process that is important and not the result, it is the journey not the destination, it is life in its uncertainty and messiness and emotion that conveys meaning and not a neatly wrapped up ending. Bono has excelled at this approach for decades now, and this incredible song, "Zoo Station" which opens the phenomenal "Achtung Baby" album demonstrates a willingness to meet the world head on, whatever it is, even when it hurts: high and low, control and surrender, pain and ecstasy...often at the same time.
Zoo Station
by U2, lyrics by Bono
I'm ready
I'm ready for the laughing gas
I'm ready
I'm ready for what's next
I'm ready to duck
I'm ready to dive
I'm ready to say
I'm glad to be alive
I'm ready
I'm ready for the push, uh huh
In the cool of the night
In the warmth of the breeze
I'll be crawling 'round
On my hands and knees
Just down the line
Zoo Station
Got to make it on time, oh Zoo Station
I'm ready
I'm ready for the gridlock
I'm ready
To take it to the street, uh huh
I'm ready for the shuffle
Ready for the deal
Ready to let go of the steering wheel
I'm ready
Ready for the crush, uh huh
Zoo Station
Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass
I'm just down the line from your love (Zoo Station)
Under the sign of your love (Zoo Station)
I'm gonna make it on time, make it on time (Zoo Station)
Just a stop down the line (Zoo Station)
Just a stop down the line
On the heels of St. Patrick's Day, let's check in with a pair of very famous Irishmen: Bono and The Edge (if you have been living under a rock, they are part of a little band called U2 who have a had a few hit songs here and there) dropped in to the Tiny Desk at NPR--yesterday, on St. Pat's Day--to perform a low-key, charming set.
Tiny Desk says: "The performance was a preview of U2's new album, Songs Of Surrender, featuring stripped-down versions of songs from across the band's catalog. To help pull off several reimagined songs from the 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind, Bono and The Edge invited a teen choir from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., to join them. During rehearsals, Bono told the students to think of 'Beautiful Day' as the kind of 'post-drinking' singalong you'd bellow with friends after leaving a bar. He then quickly realized none of them are old enough to drink, before feigning a heart attack."
"Songs of Surrender," 40 U2 songs reimagined and re-recorded is out now. https://www.u2.com/
It's in your voice, I can feel it, I can tell (it)
It's in your voice, has me ringing me like a bell
Peace of mind, peace comes dropping slow
I'm in the mind, to let go of control
Spirit come on down, no I'm not coming down
In the backstreets, in the backstreets of our love
Through the locked doors, deep down, deep down is not enough
Spirit come on down, no I'm not coming down
Who can stop us now?
It's much too late
Can't slow us down
We can't hesitate
I want a love that's hard
As hard as hate
Levitate
To be the bee, to be the bee and the flower
Before the sweetness, before the sweetness turns to sour
I'm sure you've all seen this by now, but I just have to show some love for Bono's closing spoken word section in this song, "Get Out Of Your Own Way," which features anti-Trump sentiments and a message to us, the people of the United States who have the power to stop The Monster and his kind. For the closing section, Bono played off Trump's recent hateful words--ah, which of the many? you may ask--referring to certain countries as "sh*thole countries."
For the 2018 Grammys, U2 pointedly performed their song on a barge in front of the Statue of Liberty. Ahem... "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
"Blessed are the sh*thole countries for they gave us the American Dream. Blessed are the arrogant for theirs is a kingdom of their own company. Blessed are the bullies for one day they will have to stand up to themselves."
This makes me weep. Don't make me explain to you why...
From the NASA website:
"NASA Commander Mark Kelly Appears at U2360° in Seattle 06.06.11
U2 delivered a surprise to the crowds at Quest Field, Seattle last night with a video message from Commander Mark E. Kelly. Bono dedicated 'Beautiful Day' to Gabby Giffords, before asking, “Imagine a man looking down on us from 200 miles up. Looking down at our beautiful crowded planet… What would he say to us…? What is on your mind Commander Kelly?”
Commander Kelly, on a 16-day mission with the Endeavour crew, recorded the message aboard the International Space Station, 'Hello Seattle… from the International Space Station.' Before finishing on a line from David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' : 'I’m looking forward to coming home. Tell my wife I love her very much… she knows.'"
"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ museum/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”
I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.
Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft, please) and I will be happy to provide a link. If you are the owner of an image and would prefer it be removed, I am happy to do that as well (again, without accusing me of theft , please).
I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain me. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.
All-time Favorite Films
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)
Amelie
American Beauty (Alan Ball)
Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)
Belle et Bete (Cocteau)
Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)
Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)
Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)
Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)
Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)
Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)
Easy Rider
Edward II (Derek Jarman)
Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)
Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)
Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)
Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)
Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)
