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  1. Originally posted by LikeASong[..]Well, that's another thing I'll never understand about One.
    WHY is it used for No Poverty message? It is a love (or anti-love) song!!


    It isn't, One is about so much things, it has been a charity single from the start.
    http://hem.bredband.net/steverud/U2MoL/AB/one.html

    As you can read there it's also about AIDS.
  2. Originally posted by LikeASong[..]Well, that's another thing I'll never understand about One.
    WHY is it used for No Poverty message? It is a love (or anti-love) song!!


    That's because your thinking of the song from the perspective of one lover to another. Or as Bono originally wrote it, from a gay man dying of HIV to his father who never accepted him. Which, don't get me wrong, I agree with (and I like that idea 'anti-love', what a word!)

    But the story works from another perspective as well. From a man who is losing everything (his family, his home, his country) to poverty and disease while another man in a rich nation who has the responsibility that comes with the luxury to do something; to share what he's been given to those who have been given less. In the case of lovers, its the love of companionship. In the case of father/son, its familial love. And in the case of the poor man to the rich man who comes to his home, its fellowship.

    'You act like you never had love/You want me to go without/Is it 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'

    'Have you come here for forgiveness?/Have you come to raise the dead?'

    'Did I ask too much? More than a lot? You gave me nothing now its all I got'

    'You say love is a temple, love the higher law/You ask me to enter, then you make me crawl/I can't be holding on to what you got/If all you got is hurt'

    The lyrics work really well I think in all the different perspectives which is what makes this song so great


  3. Ah...beat me to the post!

    But I agree. Ultimately its about diversity.
  4. Originally posted by rmann83[..]

    Ah...beat me to the post!

    But I agree. Ultimately its about diversity.


    Indeed, and diversity has many similarities with many poverty issues and since One is a ballad song too it's very usefull for charity events.
  5. You both are the Kings of theU2-Knowledge...


  6. Yeah, you're right.

    On the back cover of the single, it says:

    "The image on the cover is a photograph by the American artist David Wojnarowicz, depicting how Indians hunted buffalo by causing them to run off cliffs. Wojnarowicz identifies himself and ourselves with the buffalo, pushed into the unknown by forces we cannot control or even understand. Wojnarowicz is an activist artist and writer whose work has created controversy recently through its uncompromising depiction of the artist's homosexuality, his infection by the H.I.V. virus and the political crisis surrounding AIDS.

    U2's royalties from this single will go to AIDS research."

    from U2wanderer.com
  7. Originally posted by rmann83[..]

    Ah...beat me to the post!

    But I agree. Ultimately its about diversity.


    i agree with you!! it is indeed about diversity and i think that's why so many people relate to it! because it embraces so many subjects, and therefore can be felt in so many different ways by so many people! and that's the true magic about One!
  8. Originally posted by rmann83[..]

    That's because your thinking of the song from the perspective of one lover to another. Or as Bono originally wrote it, from a gay man dying of HIV to his father who never accepted him. Which, don't get me wrong, I agree with (and I like that idea 'anti-love', what a word!)


    Wanna hear a funny thing? Originally, One wasn't supossed to raise diversity issues. That's why there are 3 different videos for it. The first was Phil Joanou version (the bar one), which is obviously set on lover's perspective. It was until they realized how much the people liked the song when they decided to mix all the other ideas in and the buffalo video became the most widely shown.

  9. Originally posted by redguitaronfire

    Wanna hear a funny thing? Originally, One wasn't supossed to raise diversity issues. That's why there are 3 different videos for it. The first was Phil Joanou version (the bar one), which is obviously set on lover's perspective. It was until they realized how much the people liked the song when they decided to mix all the other ideas in and the buffalo video became the most widely shown.




    Actually, the bar video was the last of the three to be filmed. That's why they used stocked live footage at the end. The first to be filmed was the berlin video with the band in drag and Bono's father. The song very much was about the HIV crisis at that point as well.

    http://www.music-videos.duncans.tv/2006/u2-one-music-videos/

    And in U2 by U2, Bono specifically quotes that the chorus came from a message he was sending to the Dali lama when invited to a Oneness (campaign was it?) and he sent a message back saying "one, but not the same'.

    Sorry mate, I don't mean to step on ya toes or anything and I can totally understand your view. But as Bono says in the Vertigo Tour when introducing the song 'To be one is a great thing but to respect difference is even greater'. Definitely the song's central theme is diversity.
  10. Originally posted by rmann83[..]

    Actually, the bar video was the last of the three to be filmed. That's why they used stocked live footage at the end. The first to be filmed was the berlin video with the band in drag and Bono's father. The song very much was about the HIV crisis at that point as well.

    http://www.music-videos.duncans.tv/2006/u2-one-music-videos/

    And in U2 by U2, Bono specifically quotes that the chorus came from a message he was sending to the Dali lama when invited to a Oneness (campaign was it?) and he sent a message back saying "one, but not the same'.

    Sorry mate, I don't mean to step on ya toes or anything and I can totally understand your view. But as Bono says in the Vertigo Tour when introducing the song 'To be one is a great thing but to respect difference is even greater'. Definitely the song's central theme is diversity.


    Spot on mate
  11. Originally posted by rmann83I can understand how you guys feel about One and how its Vertigo tour performance is not quite up to its Zoo TV performance but I have to say I don't agree that its life is over and it should be shelved in their catalogue and left to itself. I'm completely against that.

    One is a song that really means a lot to me, its the song that opened my eyes to U2 and what songs can really do and what they can mean. It's a gorgeous song with lyrics both universally broad and intimately personal at the same time. Amazingly enough, the music (not just the Edge but the bass & drums as well) perfectly reflect the singer's doubt, self-searching and climatic longing for something more.

    Bono has said many times, their songs' growth doesn't just end with the album but continue to evolve as the band evolves. This meaning and sense of struggle really is well captured in the song, not just in the album version but live as well and when it came out, it really came across with a message.

    Yes, 'One' Zoo TV was one of its peaks and the live orchestrated version as well but it has evolved I think into something different now. The song has a very powerful message and the boys are trying to use that message and that melody and that attachment people have with it to bring out a message of injustice in the world. And why not? When you hear the speeches Bono gives, it only seems detract people who just want him to shut up and sing. And I for one, don't. Yeah he rambles sometime but he's got a message that he doesn't want people to miss. It's like when you first hear Until the End of the World and you think its about a man and a woman, only to find out its a song about Judas, you see it in a different light, through a different lens. He wants this song to be seen through a certain lens and if you meet him halfway make the effort, I think the message comes across beautifully.

    I'm sure the sound they are working towards in their next album is going to be among their best and I would love to see what One becomes for that tour and the Vertigo tour version of One is not the best its been but I wouldn't have it any other way. If the band went through Pop and Zooropa to get to ATYCLB and HTDAAB, then who knows where One can go through the Vertigo Tour?

    I would absolutely hate to see a U2 tour without this song.

    (sorry for the huge speech, I just have a thing for this song and get really defensive about it sometimes... )


    You've summarised pretty well how I feel too - I have to say I was really surprised when I started reading this topic that there was such 'anti-One' feeling. I think it's a beautiful, gorgeous song with such emotion and meaning. It's my favourite song by some stretch, even over Streets. And live I feel they've made it even better - I love the "hear us coming etc" snippet (I do agree it was worse without it on Vertigo).

    I would still be gutted if I went to a U2 show and One wasn't played More so than any other song (yes, again, even more so than Streets)
  12. There is a big anti-one crowd here. Think everyones read into it too much. I like knowing what its about, but not in the detail some people here do. I like the mystery of it, the different interpretations of it. True the Vertigo era hasnt been its best live era but still an awesome song.