Acá está todo lo que debes saber acerca del disco más personal de la banda
U2 subió al escenario de la conferencia de lanzamientos de productos de Apple en Cupertino y lanzó sorpresivamente su disco nuevo Songs Of Innocence con unos cinco segundos de aviso. El disco, que fue distribuido de forma gratuita a todos los usuarios a través de iTunes (500 millones de ellos), es “muy personal”, tal como Bono lo cuenta en una entrevista realizada por la revista Rolling Stone.
The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
Producida por Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth y Ryan Tedder
Más que cualquier disco anterior de U2, Songs Of Innocence se adentra en Bono y a los años de la adolescencia del resto de sus compañeros de la banda en el Dublín de los setenta. La primera canción captura la gran explosión del despertar musical de Bono: la primera vez que escuchó a los Ramones. “Todo lo que había perdido ahora ha regresado,” canta Bono. “El más hermoso sonido que alguna vez escuché… Fuimos peregrinos en nuestro camino.” Acá suena como que la banda, muy resueltamente, no está tratando de sonar como los Ramones, a pesar que la canción empieza poderosamente, casi como “Mysterious Ways”, con la explosión de la guitarra de Edge, y es conducido por una alegre melodía y un sonorizado estribillo vocal de Bono.
Letra:
I was chasing down the days of fear
Chasing down a dream before it disappeared
I was aching to be somewhere near,
Your voice was all I Heard
I was shaking from a storm in me,
Haunted by the spectres that we had to see
Yeah I wanted to be the melody,
Above the noise, above the hurt
I was young
Not dumb
Just wishing to be blinded
By you
Brand new
And we were pilgrims on our way
I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred
Heard a song that made some sense out of the world
Everything I ever lost, now has been returned
In the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard
We got language so we can’t communicate
Religion so I can love and hate
Music so I can exaggerate my pain, and give it a name
I was young
Not dumb
Just wishing to be blinded
By you
Brand new
And we were pilgrims on our way
I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred
Heard a song that made some sense out of the world
Everything I ever lost, now has been returned
In the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard
We can hear you
We can hear you
We can hear you
I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred
I get so many things I don’t deserve
All the stolen voices will someday be returned
The most beautiful sound I’d ever Heard
Your voices will be heard
Your voices will be heard“Every Breaking Wave”
Producida por Danger Mouse y Ryan Tedder
La mayor balada clásica de U2 en Songs Of Innocence. “Wave” fue originalmente concebida para Songs Of Ascent (el abandonado sucesor de No Line On The Horizon); la banda tocó una versión despojada y radicalmente diferente algunas veces en 2010. Desde entonces la han cambiado dramáticamente, reescribieron completamente el estribillo y juguetearon con algunos de los versos. Songs Of Innocence no es un disco completamente conceptual sobre una banda joven, las letras de “Wave” parecen ocuparse más de cuestiones adultas: una relación a largo término, distracciones y las peleas que vienen de ambas: “¿Estamos listos para enamorarnos de golpe? / Y parar de perseguir / Cada ola rompiendo”.
Letra:
Every breaking wave on the shore
Tells the next one there’ll be one more
And every gambler knows that to lose
Is what you’re really there for
Summer I was fearless
Now I speak into an answer phone Like every falling leaf on the breeze
Winter wouldn’t leave it alone
Alone
If you go?
If you go your way and I go mine
Are we so?
Are we so helpless against the tide?
Baby every dog on the street
Knows that we’re in love with defeat
Are we ready to be swept off our feet
And stop chasing
Every breaking wave
Every sailor knows that the sea
Is a friend made enemy
And every shipwrecked soul, knows what it is
To live without intimacy
I thought I heard the captain’s voice
It’s hard to listen while you preach
Like every broken wave on the shore
This is as far as I could reach
If you go?
If you go your way and I go mine
Are we so?
Are we so helpless against the tide?
Baby every dog on the street
Knows that we’re in love with defeat
Are we ready to be swept off our feet
And stop chasing
Every breaking wave?
The sea knows where are the rocks
And drowning is no sin
You know where my heart is
The same place that yours has been
We know that we fear to win
And so we end before we begin
Before we begin
If you go?
If you go your way and I go mine
Are we so?
Are we so helpless against the tide?
Baby every dog on the street
Knows that we’re in love with defeat
Are we ready to be swept off our feet
And stop chasing
Every breaking waveCalifornia (There Is No End to Love)
Producida por Declan Gaffney, Paul Epworth y Danger Mouse
Un himno brillante y de medio tiempo que comienza con voces superpuestas que suena como un homenaje a los Beach Boys. Trata sobre el primer viaje del grupo a California a principios de los 80. “California, atardecer naranja sangre te pone de rodillas,” canta Bono. “Lo he visto por mi mismo / No hay final para la pena.”
Letra:
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
California, then we fell into the shining sea
The weight that drags your heart down
Well that’s what took me where I need to be
Which is here
Out on Zuma
Watching you cry like a baby
California, at the dawn you thought would never come
But it did
Like it always does
All I know
And all I need to know is there is no end to love
I didn’t call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone’s a star in our town
It’s just your light gets dimmer if you have to stay
In your bedroom
In a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby
California, blood orange sunset brings you to your knees
I’ve seen for myself
There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
That’s how I know
And why I need to know that there is no end to love
All I know and all I need to know is there is no end to love
(Guitar solo)
All I know
And all I need to know is there is no end to love
We come and go
Stolen days you don’t give back
Stolen days are just enough“Song For Someone”
Producida por Ryan Tedder y Flood
Una tierna canción de un torpe primer amor que suena como si se tratara de la esposa de Bono, Ali; la pareja se conoció cuando Bono tenía 13 y Ali 12. “Si hay un beso que le robé de su boca”, canta. “Y si hay una luz, no dejes que se apague.” “Song For Someone” comienza con guitarras acústicas suaves antes de construir gradualmente un crescendo al estilo “Walk On”.
Letra:
You got a face not spoiled by beauty
I have some scars from where I’ve been
You’ve got eyes that can see right through me
You’re not afraid of anything they’ve seen
I was told that I would feel nothing the first time
I don’t know how these cuts heal
But in you I found a rhyme
If there is a light you can’t always see
And there is a world we can’t always be
If there is a dark that we shouldn’t doubt
And there is a light, don’t let it go out
And this is a song, song for someone
This is a song, song for someone
You let me in to a conversation
A conversation only we could make
You break and enter my imagination
Whatever’s in there it’s yours to take
I was told I’d feel nothing the first time You were slow to heal but this could be the night
. If there is a light you can’t always see
And there is a world we can’t always be
If there is a dark within and without
And there is a light, don’t let it go out
And this is a song, song for someone
This is a song, a song for someone
And I’m a long long way from your Hill of Calvary
And I’m a long way from where I was and where I need to be
If there is a light you can’t always see
And there is a world we can’t always be
If there is a kiss I stole from your mouth
And there is a light, don’t let it go out“Iris (Hold Me Close)”
Producida por Paul Epworth y Ryan Tedder
La canción más emocionalmente cruda en el disco, “Iris” confronta la pérdida de Bono de su madre, que falleció después de un colapso en el funeral de su abuelo cuando él solo tenía 14 años. Bono canta “el dolor de mi corazón” que “es una parte tan importante de lo que soy.” El primer hit de U2 “I Will Follow”, de Boy de 1980, y “Tomorrow”, de October de 1981, también tratan sobre la madre de Bono, Iris Hewson, pero “Iris” es desde la perspectiva de un hombre en sus cincuenta haciendo una retrospectiva a una madre que se ha ido cuatro décadas atrás, y cómo su pérdida ha dado forma a su vida. “Abrázame fuerte,” canta Bono. “Tengo tu vida dentro mío.”
Letra:
The star,
that gives us light
Has been gone a while
But it’s not an illusion
The ache
In my heart
Is so much a part of who I am
Something in your eyes
Took a thousand years to get here
Something in your eyes
Took a thousand years, a thousand years
Hold me close, hold me close and don’t let me go
Hold me close like I’m someone that you might know
Hold me close the darkness just lets us see
Who we are
I’ve got your life inside of me
Iris... Iris...
Once we are born, we begin to forget
The very reason we came
But you
I’m sure I’ve met
Long before the night the stars went out
We’re meeting up again
Hold me close, hold me close and don’t let me go
Hold me close like I’m someone that you might know
Hold me close, the darkness just lets us see
Who we are
I’ve got your life inside of me
Iris... Iris...
The stars are bright but do they know
The universe is beautiful but cold
You took me by the hand
I thought that I was leading you
But it was you made me your man
Machine
I dream
Where you are
Iris standing in the hall
She tells me I can do it all
Iris wakes to my nightmares
Don’t fear the world it isn’t there
Iris playing on the strand
She buries the boy beneath the sand,
Iris says that I will be the death of her
It was not me
Iris... Iris...
Free yourself, to be yourself if only you could see yourself
Free yourself, to be yourself if only you could see...Volcano
Producida por Declan Gaffney
“Volcano”, impulsada por un bajo pesado, podría tratar de un joven y enojado Paul Hewson, peleando con la muerte de su madre. “Alguien en ti quiere explotar,” grita Bono
Letra:
The world is spinning fast tonight
You can hurt yourself tryin to hold on
To what you used to be
I’m so glad the past is all gone?
Been out in the wild
Been out in the night
Been out of your mind
Do you live here or is this a vacation?
Volcano, you don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
Volcano
Something in you wants to blow
Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
Your eyes were like landing lights
They used to be the clearest blue
Now you don’t see so well
The future’s gonna land on you
Been out in the wild
Been out in the night
Been out of your mind
Do you live here or is this a vacation?
Volcano, you don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
Volcano
Something in you wants to blow
Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
You’re on a piece of ground above a volcano
You were alone,
Now you’re not alone
You were alone
But now
YOU ARE ROCK N ROLL
YOU AND I ARE ROCK N ROLL
YOU ARE ROCK N ROLL
YOU AND I ARE ROCK N ROLL
Volcano, you don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
Volcano
Something in you wants to blow
Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
You’re on a piece of ground above a volcano“Raised by Wolves”
Producida por Declan Gaffney y Danger Mouse
La única canción abiertamente política en el disco, ésta cuenta la verdadera historia de un auto bomba en Dublín que explotó cerca de casa. “En cualquier otro viernes hubiera estado en esa tienda de discos, pero fui en bicicleta al colegio aquel día”, dice Bono. La bomba destrozó la calle. Escapé pero uno de mis compañeros estaba cerca de la esquina con su padre, y fue una cosa muy dura para él ser testigo y no estoy seguro que realmente lo haya superado.”
Letra:
Face down on a broken street
There’s a man in the corner in a pool of misery
I’m in a white van as a red sea covers the ground
Metal crash I can’t tell what it is
But I take a look and now I’m sorry I did
5:30 on a Friday night 33 good people cut down
I don’t believe anymore
I don’t believe anymore
Face down on a pillow of shame
There are some girls with a needle tryin to spell my name
My body’s not a canvas
My body’s now a toilet wall
I don’t believe anymore
I don’t believe anymore
Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
Raised by wolves
We were raised by wolves
Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
If I open my eyes,
You disappear
Boy sees his father crushed under the weight
Of a cross in a passion where the passion is hate
Blue mink Ford, I’m gonna detonate and you’re dead
Blood in the house,
Blood on the street
The worst things in the world are justified by belief
Registration 1385-WZ
I don’t believe anymore
I don’t believe anymore
Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
Raised by wolves
We were raised by wolves
Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
If I open my eyes,
You disappear“Cedarwood Road”
Producida por Danger Mouse y Paul Epworth
Bono creció en el Nº 10 de la calle Cedarwood Road en Dublín junto a sus amigos Guggi Rowan y Gavin Friday, de quienes se mantiene cercano hasta estos días (“Road” está dedicada a Guggi). “No puedes regresar a donde nunca te fuiste,” canta Bono en esta canción acerca de la amistad y de recuerdos agridulces. “Era una zona de guerra en mi adolescencia / Aun estoy de pie en esa calle.”
Letra:
I was running down the road
The fear was all I knew
I was looking for a soul that’s real
Then I ran into you
And that cherry blossom tree
Was a gateway to the sun
And friendship once it’s won
It’s won... it’s one
Northside just across the river to the Southside
That’s a long way here
All the green and all the gold
The hurt you hide, the joy you hold
The foolish pride that gets you out the door
Up on Cedarwood Road, on Cedarwood Road
Sleepwalking down the road
Not waking from these dreams
‘Cause it’s never dead it’s still my head
It was a warzone in my teens
I’m still standing on that street
Still need an enemy
The worst ones I can’t see
You can... you can
Northside just across the river from the Southside
That’s a long way here
All the green and all the gold
The hurt you hide and the joy you hold
The foolish pride that sends you back for more
Up on Cedarwood Road, on Cedarwood Road
If the door is open it isn’t theft
You can’t return to where you’ve never left
Blossoms falling from a tree they cover you and cover me
Symbols clashing, bibles smashing
Paint the world you need to see
Sometimes fear is the only place we can call home
Cedarwood Road
A HEART THAT IS BROKEN
IS A HEART THAT IS OPEN“Sleep Like a Baby Tonight”
Producida por Danger Mouse
Bono trae brevemente su falsetto de la era de “Lemon” en esta inquietante canción acerca de un hombre infeliz cuyos ojos están “tan rojos como Navidad” y que lee “sobre amantes de políticos” por encima de su mañana “tostada, te y azúcar.”
Letra:
Morning, your toast, your tea and sugar,
Read about the politician’s lover
Go through the day like knife through butter
Why don’t you
You dress in the colours of forgiveness
Your eyes as red as Christmas
Purple robes are folded on the kitchen chair
You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
In your dreams, everything is alright
Tomorrow dawns like someone else’s suicide
You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
Dreams,
It’s a dirty business, dreaming
Where there is silence and not screaming
Where there’s no daylight, there’s no healing
You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
In your dreams, everything is alright
Tomorrow dawns like a suicide
But you’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
Hope is where the door is
When the church is where the war is
Where no one can feel no one else’s pain
You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
In your dreams, everything is alright
Tomorrow dawns like a suicide
But you’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
Sleep like a baby tonight
Like a bird, your dreams take flight
Like St Francis covered in light
You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight“This Is Where You Can Reach Me”
Producida por Danger Mouse
Mencionada por primera vez por Bono como una contendiente para el disco en febrero en una entrevista con LA Times, “This Is Where You Can Reach Me” está inspirada por un concierto de los Clash al cual U2 asistió en 1977. “Renunciamos a nuestras vidas”, canta Bono. “Entrega completa / La única arma que conocemos.”
Letra:
Soldier soldier
We signed our lives away
Complete surrender
The only weapon we know
Soldier soldier
We knew the world would never be the same
Soldier this is where you can reach me now
We come from an ancient place
Beyond what we can see
We’ve come to colonise your night
And steal your poetry
Old man knows that I never listen
So how could I have something to say
Old man knows how to cheat ambition
You don’t lose if you don’t play
1, 2, 3, 4, was enough
Soldier soldier
We signed our lives away
Complete surrender
The only weapon we know
Soldier soldier
We knew the world would never be the same
Soldier this is where you can reach me now
On a double decker bus
Into College Square
If you won’t let us in your world
Your world just isn’t there
Old man says that we never listen
We shout about what we don’t know
We’re taking the path of most resistance
The only way for us to go,
hup, 2, 3, 4, was enough
Soldier soldier
We signed our lives away
Complete surrender
The only weapon we know
Soldier soldier
We knew the world will never be the same
Soldier this is where you can reach me now
This is the site
This is the season
This is where you can reach me now
This is the time
This is the number
This is where you can reach me now“The Troubles”
Producida por Danger Mouse
Otra canción que fue mencionada por Bono a principios de este año, “The Troubles” se presume que es otra canción de U2 sobre la situación política en Irlanda del Norte, pero es más acerca de Bono aprendiendo a moverse en sus propios problemas. La cantante invitada, Likke Li, repite el estribillo “alguien entró en su alma”, y Bono reflexiona sobre su propia redención: “Tengo voluntad para sobrevivir / Así que puedes herirme un poco más / Puedo vivir con la negación / Pero tu no estás más en mis problemas.”
Letra:
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till someone else was in control
You think it’s easier
To put your finger on the trouble
When the trouble is you
And you think it’s easier
To know your own tricks
Well it’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do
I have a will for survival
So you can hurt me and then hurt me some more
I can live with denial
But you’re not my troubles anymore
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till somebody else was in control
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till someone else was in control
You think it’s easier
To give up on the trouble
If the trouble is destroying you
You think it’s easier
But before you threw me a rope
It was the one thing I could hold on to
I have a will for survival
So you can hurt me then hurt me some more
I can live with denial
But you’re not my troubles anymore
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till somebody else was in control
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till somebody else was in control
God knows it’s not easy
Taking on the shape of someone else’s pain
God now you can see me
I’m naked and I’m not afraid
My body’s sacred and I’m not ashamed
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till somebody else was in control
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till someone else was in control
Fuentes: U2.com y RollingStone.com
