Well, I hit another post milestone and I enjoyed doing the last one, so I thought I'd do it again.
Originally posted by Wikipedia:
"Native Son"
During the Atomic Bomb recording sessions, "Vertigo" was originally recorded as a song called "Native Son" with a similar riff and bassline. "Native Son" is about a native man who was against his country due to his lack of freedoms, originally inspired by Leonard Peltier. It was later rewritten into "Vertigo," which appears on the album. At 3:08 long, "Native Son" is just a few seconds short of the run time of "Vertigo." The track "Native Son" has since been released on the digital album Unreleased and Rare, which is only available through purchasing the entire digital box set, The Complete U2
Originally posted by Rolling Stone interview with Band, Dec 2004:
How would you describe your first set of lyrics to "Vertigo"? Originally, it was called "Native Son" -- a reference to the jailed American Indian activist Leonard Peltier.
It was a new-journalism approach. I don't think this man should be in prison. But the song just didn't change the molecules in the room. We made the mistake of sending "Native Son" to Interscope, because we were jumping up and down over it at first. And they started jumping up and down. And then we sort of stopped. It wasn't as good as we thought.
Knowing that a strong first single was U2's greatest concern, Lillywhite, 49, who has produced the band on and off since 1980, decided to re-record a promising track called Native Son. He set the group up in a Dublin warehouse to get a martial drum sound reminiscent of its early days and persuaded the Edge to "stop worrying about the fine line between White Stripes and Whitesnake"--or between art rock and arena rock — and just let loose. When the music started to smolder, Bono grabbed a microphone. "He was awful," says Lillywhite. "The song was all about gun control — an extension of his political beliefs. Bono doesn't try that kind of thing much anymore, but when he does, you can feel the ambivalence from the band, and so can he. They want the rock star." Native Son was rewritten, stripped of politics and retitled Vertigo. Gradually, it emerged as the most rousing — and ironically, seemingly effortless — opener of U2's career.
Lyrics:-
Yeah, it’s on the street, it’s under your feet
It’s everywhere but if you’re looking for free
Don’t look at me
My enemy became my country
On the run
Officer put down the gun
Native son
I never wanted to own one
Native son
Both of us want to be someone
It’s so hard
Is it so hard for a native son to be free
Tears falling from the sky, falling to the ground
Bullets start to fly
He’s hurt, he’s in the dirt
On my word
Don’t want to run away
I’m safer in my father’s place
I know that I can’t stay
But if I stay, I know what’s next
On the run
Officer put down the gun
Native son
I never wanted to own one
Native son
Both of us want to be someone
It’s so hard
Is it so hard for a native son to be free
Free
On the run
Officer put down the gun
Native son
I never wanted to own one
Native son
Both of us want to be someone
It’s so hard
Is it so hard for a native son to be free
Free, free
So, anyway, thanks as always to all of you for making this site such fun and so bloody addictive
I've just added a little more from Macphisto.net. The whole article makes for interesting reading as to why they changed it to Vertigo.
I do really like it but I really like Vertigo too. Not sure which side I ultimately fall, It depends on the day!
Nice article with a good reason why Vertigo and not Native Son. I prefer the 'Free' shout at 2:18...gives me shivers everytime I hear it. Vertigo misses that, I think. But whatever, they both rock!
