| Clutch – Army of Bono Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I'm kind of in the middle about this song too, but I'm leaning toward Metathought's reasoning that this might actually be PRO-Bono (no pun intended!) It's trendy to immediately jump to bashing Bono, but the song might actually be FOR his case instead of against it. Politics and celebrity are the same...Bono has used his celebrity successfully AGAINST politics. Some people claim Bono has a messiah complex, but the lines, "When the World is Over..", "pray that they see the new Messiah" - "and somewhere in the darkness a flag goes running by, the smell of cigarettes and love are incense to the fly" are not about Bono being God...but about Bono being right about God.(?) When people wake up and realize that God is supposed to be about Love, the world will be over and Bono will be saying "I told you so..." (...just FYI, I am non-Christian so I am not religiously biased..) I don't know anything about this band, Clutch, but they seem to know a good bit about Bono and U2 by their (very old!) references. The "Fly" was a stage-persona Bono played during the Zoo TV tour in the early 1990's, and U2 is infamous for their white-flag/anti-war routine from the early 80's. Even Bono himself jokes about having a messiah complex...the casualness of wiping stigmata with a napkin (as if it were spilled ketchup) would totally go along with the joke. You can probably tell I'm a U2 fan; even if this song were Anti-Bono I'd still give it kudos for at least being a million times more intelligent than most of the stuff I've seen/heard/read. |
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| U2 – Stand Up Comedy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Forgive me for such a short reply, but I really can't add anything... I so love your interpretation of this song and explanation! Have you do write regularly? I would love to read anything else you have written about anything. You have a very down to earth way of explaining your points. =c) Please email me anytime! |
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| U2 – Stand Up Comedy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Hi Orrin! Yes, I do check up these every once in awhile; I like to see if there is further conversation. Thank you for your very thoughtful reply. I think I was just having a really rough time with that line at the time that I originally posted. Notice it is very close to when the album was released and I hadn't had time to listen to it over and over to really let it sink in. - This whole last album (No Line On The Horizon) has such a strange feel for me. The more I listen to it, the more I like it...and I'm enjoying it very much for that. I'm still a little uncomfortable with it which makes me sad because I LOVE U2, but it's growing on me. I cringe that I posted about this at all because I am usually not one to ever talk about spiritual things to other people. I don't think I can express my thoughts through words as intelligently as I'd like and it makes me nervous that someone will misinterpret me. (A little of which I think went on here, but it's okay.) The line just blew me away and I couldn't quite wrap my head around it at first - not the meaning of it, which as you explain is powerful...LOVE is the most useful and beautiful thing to come out of religion AND science, --- but that it was coming from Bono, whom I am ashamed to have somewhat misinterpreted and doubted after being a fan for so very long and whom I respect more than ever now that I finally get what he's trying to say with this song. You are right...too much talk of Jesus and the Bible starts to make me cringe a bit. It's just a personal problem of mine and something I need to get over before I go around talking about people not being open-minded. When I first started listening to U2 I would have probably considered myself Christian but since then my spiritual views have changed radically and now I would rather not be tagged with any faith label, though I call myself non-Christian or pagan because it's easier to explain. - I never deeply studied the Bible, but I do catch the references in U2's music and try to look them up when I don't understand. There are usually beautiful, thoughtful messages to find. There is in all religions. I think we may have more in common with our beliefs than we realize. =c) I do believe that science and religion can coexist, and quite beautifully and wonderously. I am a big fan of Albert Einstein's spiritual thoughts about this. Namaste! =c) |
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| Desmond Dekker – Israelites Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Wow, what interesting information! =c) I've always liked this song and pretty much had what was going on right. Nunaya, your description of the Rastas and their appearance not being acceptable in main stream society reminds me of what I have been told about American "hippies". A lot of people my age (30) think that in the 60's everyone thought hippies were out and about everywhere, and everyone loved them, but some people thought they were just lazy, dirty, weird, dreamers. |
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| U2 – Stand Up Comedy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The line, "God is Love, and Love is Evolution's very best day." has bothered me ever since it first hit my ears because I never thought that Bono would be one of those creationist people that truly believes that God is all there is...that science and evolution is false. He is so open-minded and I would absolutely lose admiration for him if that were the case...(no offense anyone, we all can have our opinions..) I am definitely on Team Evolution, but I think that it all started from somewhere...even somewhere supernatural..science itself can be supernatural sometimes. So I am going to say that the line, "God is Love, and Love is Evolution's very best day." may be Bono's way of saying his subscribes to both theories...as I've explained, that there is such a thing as evolution, though it was started by God (the name of which still bothers me, because I am Pagan and don't believe that the Christian God is all there is) but I'm open-minded enough to think that this "God" could also be a generic term for any higher power. God for Bono...The All, the Universe, etc. for everyone else non-Christian. |
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| U2 – No Line On The Horizon Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I agree with RayMan the most, except for as as scammaj12 says that Bono has not professed to any religion except Christianity as a whole. I am intrigued by RayMan's explanation though and as a Pagan, I can offer some insight from some other cultures' thoughts on the imagery in this song : I do believe that Bono is literally referring to his awe of a Goddess..though maybe not necessarily Mary in particular. The Christian Mary shares many attributes to goddesses all over the world. Her name has a few different interpretations (according to how open-minded the interpreter is!), though they always seem to come back to some derivation of "mar" or "maris" which means "the sea". Something I'm more familiar with are the African Goddesses, particularly Yemaya, who is an ocean goddess and mother goddess who rules the upper level of the ocean...where the light hits the horizon...and is also known for her ability to remain constant though ever changing. (Your momma will always be your momma though sometimes she's firm, and sometimes she's tender.) What immediately made me remember her (well I oouldn't remember her name!) was that it is said that she is the goddess that gave us the gift of seashells...from which ocean goddesses could hear the sounds of the universe (and the hum that you hear is supposed to be that..the sound of the All, not the ocean as we tell little kids) The lyrics could definitely be interpreted in an even bigger concept which is all of life and spirituality. ---- In the Tarot, the Lovers card depicts a man and a woman. The woman is looking Heaven-ward and the man is looking to the woman. She is guide to all that is ruled by the moon..mentality and spirituality..and she is the life giver. RayMan, I think you've got it spot on with the "traffic cop" explanation. I absolutely agree. It must be very frustrating sometimes doing the work Bono does. |
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| U2 – Stand Up Comedy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Sorry, I didn't mean to reply to you personally, just to thank you for mentioning John Lennon and possible inspiration... =c)Thanks! | |
| U2 – Stand Up Comedy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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bigrobbo2006, thanks for posting this...it puts me at a bit of ease. I am very concerned about the line, "God is love. Love is evolution's very best day." What does that mean? |
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