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U2 - Stand Up Comedy
 album:
No Line On The Horizon (2009)
  1. I don't think its as bad as some of their other recent album tracks like say Crumbs, which actually is crap
  2. I'm not gonna say it's crap, but to me it's in the same line with All Because Of You, Crumbs From Your Table, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Stuck In A Moment, Wild Honey, If God Will Send His Angels, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, So Cruel, Love Rescue Me, Angel Of Harlem, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Trip Through Your Wires, Mothers Of The Dissapeared, 4th Of July, Red Light, Surrender, October and An Cat Dubh...

    Take it in whatever way you want it to take
  3. Excuse me while I ramble on again. I promise, I don't do this every night. My own interpretation, YMMV etc etc....

    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love


    Bono likes love, a lot. And he loves to sing about it. But don't be fooled; as with a lot of U2's work, all is not as it seems. There are darker forces at work here. This is classic U2, serious themes hidden under a poppy veneer.

    I got to stand up and take a step
    You and I have been asleep for hours

    We're back in familiar territory with this song (Get on your boots!) Wake up and look around, there are things going on in the world. Important things. Pay attention, you dozey buggers.

    I got to stand up
    The wire is stretched
    In between our two towers

    I don't think any of these words are there by accident. The world's in a fairly precarious state and it could go one way or another, just like a tightrope walker teetering across that highwire.

    Stand up in this dizzy world
    Where a lovesick eye can steal the view
    I’m gonna fall down if I can’t stand up
    For your love

    The world's moving so fast it could make you dizzy, but pay attention, stand up because if you're not standing up, the lovesick eye of the fanatics and extremists is going to tear down the beauty in the world. Stand up against fanaticism.

    Stand up, this is comedy
    The DNA lotto may have left you smart
    But can you stand up to beauty
    Dictator of the heart

    The essence of comedy is....timing. And time's a really important theme in this song, the album and the tour (What time is it in the world?) You're smart, maybe, but don't kid yourself that's anything but the luck of the draw (some of us really need to remember that, oh yes) and it's what you do with it that really matters. Stand up against fanaticism.

    I can stand up for hope, faith, love
    But while I’m getting over certainty
    Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady


    Here's where it gets personal. Certainty belongs to fanaticism, but Bono's always been very certain about God (faith, hope, love) and I think he's admitting the need to guard against faith, hope and love degenerating into blind certainty and fanaticism. Because God (in what ever incarnation if you believe in the concept) doesn't actually need you to defend Him (Her/It), because, hey, omnipotent.

    Oh, oh
    Out from under your beds
    C’mon, ye people
    Stand up for your love

    More of the same, really. Stop cowering under your beds, let love win over hate.

    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love

    [Yes, Bono, we know you love love]

    I gotta stand up to ego but my ego’s not really the enemy
    It’s like a small child crossing an eight lane highway
    On a voyage of discovery


    Disingenuous? Maybe. Of course Bono has an ego, you can't succeed as a performer with a solid chunk of self-belief. It's an interesting verse this, his ego isn't the enemy, but it's heading off into dangerous places nonetheless.

    Stand up to rock stars
    Napoleon is in high heels
    Josephine, be careful
    Of small men with big ideas

    Think for yourself, don't take things for granted. People aren't as big (as good, as clever, as far-thinking) as they might appear. Including him.

    Oh, oh
    Out from under your beds
    C’mon, ye people
    Stand up for your love

    See above

    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love

    And ditto Because here's about the point the ideas ran dry.

    God is love
    And love is evolution’s very best day

    The peak achievement of humanity is the ability to love in all its forms. It makes the world go around, makes us do things and want things. But of course there's a fine line between love and obsession/fanaticism. I'm reminded of a much quoted line, "together since the world began, the madman and the lover'.

    Soul rockin’ people moving on
    Soul rockin’ people on and on
    C’mon, ye people
    We’re made of stars
    C’mon, ye people
    Stand up then sit down for your love


    Honestly, I'm so annoyed by this verse I don't know that it's anything more than filler. If someone wants to suggest something more, I'm all ears. Or eyes at least.

    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love

    Shock news! Bono likes to sing about love! Next in our bulletin, water wet, pope Catholic.

    Despite the snarking, I think 75% of this song is really pretty good. I don't know what happened in the end, but I suspect the Block That Dare Not Speak Its Name may have had something to do with it. It's a shame, because there's a lot of promise here. And the music rocks.
  4. Just listened to it there, up loud, and felt like dancing! Maybe it is a really good song.
  5. Originally posted by sonia_lastrega:Soul rockin’ people moving on
    Soul rockin’ people on and on
    C’mon, ye people
    We’re made of stars
    C’mon, ye people
    Stand up then sit down for your love
    [/i]

    Honestly, I'm so annoyed by this verse I don't know that it's anything more than filler. If someone wants to suggest something more, I'm all ears. Or eyes at least.


    I'm not sure what the "soul rockin' people" part means aside from it trying to be funky or groovy. The "stand up and sit down for your love" means two things to me. One it shows how people are fickle; one minute they are ready to fight (stand up) for something and the next they forget about it. Secondly I read that the song is written about the whole "Stand Up Against Poverty" initiative which means Bono is asking everyone to collectively stand up, and then sit back down to show support for this movement.
  6. Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]

    I'm not sure what the "soul rockin' people" part means aside from it trying to be funky or groovy. The "stand up and sit down for your love" means two things to me. One it shows how people are fickle; one minute they are ready to fight (stand up) for something and the next they forget about it. Secondly I read that the song is written about the whole "Stand Up Against Poverty" initiative which means Bono is asking everyone to collectively stand up, and then sit back down to show support for this movement.


    Soul rockin' - trying to be Bob Marley or James Brown. It doesn't quite work.

    If you stand up you're for the campaign, but if you sit down doesn't that mean you're effectively throwing away your support? Odd bit of the song.
  7. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    Soul rockin' - trying to be Bob Marley or James Brown. It doesn't quite work.

    If you stand up you're for the campaign, but if you sit down doesn't that mean you're effectively throwing away your support? Odd bit of the song.


    I almost see it as reflecting what you do at a protest (yes, I'm lefty scum and I've been part of many protest marches). You stand up, but if you really want to make your mark, especially in a peaceful protest, you'll sit down. It's peaceful and non-threatening and yet usually effective. Unless they tear-gas you, and then it's kind of bad.

    As for 'soul rocking'...I'm still at a loss to adequately interpret it.
  8. Originally posted by sonia_lastrega:

    Honestly, I'm so annoyed by this verse I don't know that it's anything more than filler. If someone wants to suggest something more, I'm all ears. Or eyes at least.

    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love
    Love love love love love

    Shock news! Bono likes to sing about love! Next in our bulletin, water wet, pope Catholic.

    Despite the snarking, I think 75% of this song is really pretty good. I don't know what happened in the end, but I suspect the Block That Dare Not Speak Its Name may have had something to do with it. It's a shame, because there's a lot of promise here. And the music rocks.


    Yay, finally someone agrees and has an impressive argument to back it up.

    I have a feeling Eno didn't like that ending either. There really should be someone keeping Bono's post-2000s propensity to write cheese in check.
  9. Originally posted by sonia_lastrega:[..]

    I almost see it as reflecting what you do at a protest (yes, I'm lefty scum and I've been part of many protest marches). You stand up, but if you really want to make your mark, especially in a peaceful protest, you'll sit down. It's peaceful and non-threatening and yet usually effective. Unless they tear-gas you, and then it's kind of bad.

    As for 'soul rocking'...I'm still at a loss to adequately interpret it.


    Got it now. Just an odd way to present that to someone who is uninformed (like myself).


    Interpretations and more...

    http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858762863/#73015711905
  10. Opinion validation - hooray!
  11. Originally posted by markp91:I'm not gonna say it's crap, but to me it's in the same line with If God Will Send His Angels, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, So Cruel, Angel Of Harlem, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Mothers Of The Dissapeared, Surrender

    Take it in whatever way you want it to take


    Epic fail. I'm in a little bit of a chock you don't like/ understand these songs. Some of their best in there.

    Well well, each to their own.

  12. Originally posted by zooTV4all:[..]

    Epic fail. I'm in a little bit of a chock you don't like/ understand these songs. Some of their best in there.

    Well well, each to their own.



    I don't know how he can lump ISHFWILF, So Cruel, WGRYWH, IFGWSHA and October with stuff like Love Rescue Me and Crumbs.

    SUC definitely belongs with the latter and not the former