SOE
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U2 - American Soul
 Album:
Songs Of Experience (2017)
  1. Originally posted by cesar_garza01:I don't know why I'm adding more wood to the bonfire, but here I go:
    There is a lot of repetition in art, that is true.
    Thomas Bernhard used to repeat the same phrases in his novels, sometimes with little variation, one after the other. This was used on purpose to denote weariness, tedium and a contempt for society that now characterizes him.
    Cubist painters drew the same object in the canvas superposed one on top of the other to indicate a simultaneity of planes and angles. We could see the object as it is and as it appears to be at the same time.
    In music we have some musical pieces with the same melody but played with different instruments to represent different moods. Cellos add some drama and sadness to the music while the same piece with other instruments can bring a sense of hope and joy, etc.
    This long diatribe only means that I don't have a problem with repetition if it's something meaningful and you see the purpose behind him. I just don't see why they bring a mundane phrase like "You Are Rock N' Roll" to 2 songs that couldn't be more different thematically. It's like someone said "SOI and SOE are connected, hence why they repeat lyrics" and we took it as an act of faith. To me, the connections are already sensed in songs like Little Things, where the experienced man talks to his innocent self from years ago. I don't sense a purpose on these repetitions.
    You can say "I like the song, I don't care if it's the same bridge or chorus" and that's fine, you accept what the song is. I just don't think there's anything "artistic" to this. Just my 2 cents.

    P.S. I also think the theory of American Soul being before Volcano is paper thin at best.
    every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief... but when the poet steals from himself, what does that mean?
  3. This has been interesting to read back through. As one who ranks American Soul at the bottom of the SOE songs we've heard so far, yet who also likes certain aspects of it, I'll have a go at trying to defend the Volcano connection that others see as cheap, uninspired, lame, etc.:

    The bridge part of Volcano that AS takes its cue from of course starts with "you were alone and now you're not alone" before going into the big riff and "you are rock and roll, you and I are rock and roll" part that is now the chorus of AS. So, if Volcano is about the rage that Bono experienced as a teenager reeling from his mother's death, then the joy of rock and roll is part of what "saved" him, right? He obviously sings about this theme in other places like "The Miracle", too, for example.

    So, now we have AS taking that bridge part and making it the chorus of a new song...a new song about the joy being sucked out of American civic life due to a president who embodies the childish, self-centered, divisive behavior that so much of our politics has become. The "you and I are rock and roll" part might come off as lame - honestly, I was hoping for a better chorus - but as a connection to Volcano it makes sense: the joy that rock music expresses, "joy as an act of defiance", as Bono says, is sorely needed in this era we are living in for Americans.

    At least, that's my attempt to connect the two in a more organic way. Maybe Bono envisioned it this way, maybe not. But cheers to SOE in 10 days!
  4. Originally posted by bpt3:This has been interesting to read back through. As one who ranks American Soul at the bottom of the SOE songs we've heard so far, yet who also likes certain aspects of it, I'll have a go at trying to defend the Volcano connection that others see as cheap, uninspired, lame, etc.:

    The bridge part of Volcano that AS takes its cue from of course starts with "you were alone and now you're not alone" before going into the big riff and "you are rock and roll, you and I are rock and roll" part that is now the chorus of AS. So, if Volcano is about the rage that Bono experienced as a teenager reeling from his mother's death, then the joy of rock and roll is part of what "saved" him, right? He obviously sings about this theme in other places like "The Miracle", too, for example.

    So, now we have AS taking that bridge part and making it the chorus of a new song...a new song about the joy being sucked out of American civic life due to a president who embodies the childish, self-centered, divisive behavior that so much of our politics has become. The "you and I are rock and roll" part might come off as lame - honestly, I was hoping for a better chorus - but as a connection to Volcano it makes sense: the joy that rock music expresses, "joy as an act of defiance", as Bono says, is sorely needed in this era we are living in for Americans.

    At least, that's my attempt to connect the two in a more organic way. Maybe Bono envisioned it this way, maybe not. But cheers to SOE in 10 days!
    Love this.

    Also "Dream out loud" has been repeated in at least three songs I can think of.
  5. Originally posted by bpt3:This has been interesting to read back through. As one who ranks American Soul at the bottom of the SOE songs we've heard so far, yet who also likes certain aspects of it, I'll have a go at trying to defend the Volcano connection that others see as cheap, uninspired, lame, etc.:

    The bridge part of Volcano that AS takes its cue from of course starts with "you were alone and now you're not alone" before going into the big riff and "you are rock and roll, you and I are rock and roll" part that is now the chorus of AS. So, if Volcano is about the rage that Bono experienced as a teenager reeling from his mother's death, then the joy of rock and roll is part of what "saved" him, right? He obviously sings about this theme in other places like "The Miracle", too, for example.

    So, now we have AS taking that bridge part and making it the chorus of a new song...a new song about the joy being sucked out of American civic life due to a president who embodies the childish, self-centered, divisive behavior that so much of our politics has become. The "you and I are rock and roll" part might come off as lame - honestly, I was hoping for a better chorus - but as a connection to Volcano it makes sense: the joy that rock music expresses, "joy as an act of defiance", as Bono says, is sorely needed in this era we are living in for Americans.

    At least, that's my attempt to connect the two in a more organic way. Maybe Bono envisioned it this way, maybe not. But cheers to SOE in 10 days!
    ok. i like it...
  6. Originally posted by bpt3:This has been interesting to read back through. As one who ranks American Soul at the bottom of the SOE songs we've heard so far, yet who also likes certain aspects of it, I'll have a go at trying to defend the Volcano connection that others see as cheap, uninspired, lame, etc.:

    The bridge part of Volcano that AS takes its cue from of course starts with "you were alone and now you're not alone" before going into the big riff and "you are rock and roll, you and I are rock and roll" part that is now the chorus of AS. So, if Volcano is about the rage that Bono experienced as a teenager reeling from his mother's death, then the joy of rock and roll is part of what "saved" him, right? He obviously sings about this theme in other places like "The Miracle", too, for example.

    So, now we have AS taking that bridge part and making it the chorus of a new song...a new song about the joy being sucked out of American civic life due to a president who embodies the childish, self-centered, divisive behavior that so much of our politics has become. The "you and I are rock and roll" part might come off as lame - honestly, I was hoping for a better chorus - but as a connection to Volcano it makes sense: the joy that rock music expresses, "joy as an act of defiance", as Bono says, is sorely needed in this era we are living in for Americans.

    At least, that's my attempt to connect the two in a more organic way. Maybe Bono envisioned it this way, maybe not. But cheers to SOE in 10 days!
  7. Originally posted by bpt3:This has been interesting to read back through. As one who ranks American Soul at the bottom of the SOE songs we've heard so far, yet who also likes certain aspects of it, I'll have a go at trying to defend the Volcano connection that others see as cheap, uninspired, lame, etc.:

    The bridge part of Volcano that AS takes its cue from of course starts with "you were alone and now you're not alone" before going into the big riff and "you are rock and roll, you and I are rock and roll" part that is now the chorus of AS. So, if Volcano is about the rage that Bono experienced as a teenager reeling from his mother's death, then the joy of rock and roll is part of what "saved" him, right? He obviously sings about this theme in other places like "The Miracle", too, for example.

    So, now we have AS taking that bridge part and making it the chorus of a new song...a new song about the joy being sucked out of American civic life due to a president who embodies the childish, self-centered, divisive behavior that so much of our politics has become. The "you and I are rock and roll" part might come off as lame - honestly, I was hoping for a better chorus - but as a connection to Volcano it makes sense: the joy that rock music expresses, "joy as an act of defiance", as Bono says, is sorely needed in this era we are living in for Americans.

    At least, that's my attempt to connect the two in a more organic way. Maybe Bono envisioned it this way, maybe not. But cheers to SOE in 10 days!
    I mean, sure....

    but it's still a totally shit chorus too.

    I'm not going to get into it again about how I don't mind them doing something like this, I just wish it was more subtle/clever and with a better part of SoI.
  8. I could be wrong (and often am) but I remember Bono referring to SOI and SOE as companion albums and that he thought of both albums as personalities, so Volcano and American Soul are companions and linked, just as Bono refers to himself likely as younger in American Soul and older in Volcano, referring to himself as "You and I"

    Bono is a lot smarter than credit given, he uses words in ways that can be interpreted differently, and is playing on the Innocence / Experience aspect. See it how you want to. A lot of "Innocence" will be on SOE and vice versa, but... who knows what the original thought was now... reference to democracy seems to be a central theme for this album, from the tracks previewed so far. All songs so far have referenced America in some way.

    It's not recycled, it's meant to be a reference to another image or time and bring the listener back to a previous or future place depending on how you listen to each track.

    Or it's just a shit song like Volcano according to a large group of fans here
  9. fans getting mad because U2 used the same melody to compose two different songs, but for me it's great because Volcano and American Soul are great songs, the Beatles have already done it and no one ever thought it was lacking in creativity or anything.
  10. I’m liking what I’m hearing!