21 May 2011

U2 countdown: today is the day. day #1. ONE.

where do i begin?  simply put, it's the greatest song ever written.  it's a song that transcends musical genres, cultures, decades and the differences between people.  it's the epitome of a song that is a life philosophy rather than just a song.  what begins as a break-up song ("you act like you never had love and you want me to go without, well it's too late tonight to drag the past out into the light... you gave me nothing now it's all i got") turns into something much more, much deeper, in the realization that we are all human and all in this mess together.  the lyrics about the devastating heartbreak that we have all felt are somehow less sad than the unification sung at the end.  what's more, is that this song was actually written about bono's relationship with father, which makes the heartbreak that much more real.  it's not some lost love - it's the struggle within a family that we have all felt.  it's not being able to put the hurt of the past out of your mind to move forward with people who are essentially the same as you.  but in the end, we all need to "carry each other."  


one love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.
one life with each other: sisters, brothers.
one life, but we're not the same.
we get to carry each other, carry each other.
one, one



this is easily the philosophy of my life.  it's the lesson i've learned and continue to learn with every new person i encounter and every new heartache i become a part of.  and it's not just because this love of U2 and this song was somehow genetically passed to me by my father... it's because this is the decent thing that humans feel for each other.  no one's problems or heartaches are worse than the next person's.  no one has gotten through something that you won't be able to get through.  and even better - there are people who know what you are going through, have gone through, and people who will be there with you. 


if you think it's just me and my obsession... you're wrong.  it's popularity is indisputable.  voted #1 by Q magazine in it's list of "1001 best songs ever." voted #36 in rolling stone's list of "the 500 greatest songs of all time."  the UK voted bono's lyric "one life, with each other, sisters, brothers" the #1 lyric.  and it's been played at every U2 show since the song's debut in 1992.  the way the song's devastating and graceful lyrics are mixed with the edge's "crying guitar" at the end of the song makes for the perfect mix.  and the fact of the matter is that if the rapture really does happen today, there is nowhere i would rather be than at this U2 show with two of my favorite people in the world.


this is one, from 1991's achtung baby.


is it getting better, or do you feel the same?
will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame?
you say one love, one life, when it's one need in the night.
one love, we get to share it
leaves you baby if you don't care for it.

did i disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
you act like you never had love and you want me to go without.
well, it's too late tonight to drag the past out into the light.
we're one, but we're not the same.
we get to carry each other, carry each other... one

have you come here for forgiveness,
have you come to raise the dead
have you come here to play jesus to the lepers in your head
did i ask too much, more than a lot
you gave me nothing, now it's all i got.
we're one, but we're not the same.
Well, we hurt each other, then we do it again.

you say love is a temple, love a higher law
love is a temple, love the higher law.
you ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
and i can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt.

one love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.
one life with each other: sisters, brothers.
one life, but we're not the same.
we get to carry each other, carry each other.
one, one.

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