Elizabeth Scalia
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The last few weeks have left me tired. Taking a break until tomorrow.
Also, my son just got a didgeridoo for his birthday. I need to process it…
All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt…Hello, Hello
I’m at a place called Vertigo
Lights go down and all I know
Is that you give me somethingI can feel your love teaching me, how
Your love is teaching me how,
how to kneel.
kneel.
[...] Didgeridoo to You A didgeridoo has entered the life of the Anchoress by way of her son. She may never get the rest she craves. Here’s [...]
[...] Didgeridoo to You! A didgeridoo has entered the life of the Anchoress by way of her son. She may never get the rest she craves. Here’s [...]
Elizabeth Scalia is a Benedictine Oblate and the Managing Editor of the Catholic Portal at Patheos. She is a writer, speaker and a regularly-featured columnist at First Things and at The Catholic Answer.
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It’s quite something that U2 is cranking out rocking tunes like this one 25+ years after their first album.
As for Bono’s political lecturing, that’s another story.
I don’t have that U2 album. Love the song. I think I’ll pick it up at next opportunity. I’ve heard that song amny times and while i’ve noticed the disconcerting progression starting the song (1,2,3,14), I’ve never noticed the other lyrics. Other lyrics in that song that caught my eye:
I can sell the beat
I’m askin’ for the cheque
Girl with crimson nails
Has Jesus ’round the neck
Swinging to the music
Swinging to the music
Woooao
Cool. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
In case there is anyone on the planet who still doesn’t get that Bono is seriously Christian and that U2′s music is full of Christian and biblical references, I urge you to take a listen. (I am a right-wing, conservative Catholic who doesn’t view him as a political activist, but a Christian activist.)
One of my favorite lyrics is from “Walk On” off the album All That You Can’t Leave Behind. It was written about a friend who was dying. Goes something like: “You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been/A place that has to be believed to be seen.”
On the cover of the album, the band is shown in an airport. The clock says 3:33. I read an interview with Bono who said it is a reference to Jeremiah 3:33: “Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell to you things great beyond reach of your knowledge.” He said something like “It’s God’s telephone number.”
You should love this: link
Ann–if you haven’t listened to Moment of Surrender, from No Line On The Horizon, you should. It’s about your cell phone with no signal starting to ring at 3:33 in the morning… A beautiful, haunting song that has closed each of their shows on this tour.
Oops–I meant Unknown Caller, not Moment of Surrender. But both are great…
I think the lyrics of Vertigo itself refer to the temptation on the mount, i.e., “all of this can be yours, just give me what I want, and no one gets hurt.” I think that’s Bono doing his Mephistopheles character from the ZOO TV tour.
I’ve thought of that piece of the song as referring to the same thing that Jeff sees. It’s like Satan begins wearing the mask of the reasonable bargainer, and at the end it’s ripped off to see the hostage-holder making his threats.
Good band. Good tune. My cover band does this tune. It’s quite nice to play if you’re a musician. The middle gets a little tricky with the off beat measures during the guitar chord hits G, D, to A.
Wow… I felt lost after watching the video, and now after reading the comments, I realize I am hopelessly out of touch with the music scene. I feel old and I’m only 39. (sad face)
Maybe I just don’t like hard, drum and guitar-driven music… too “metal” for my taste.
Interesting video, though.
All great, but my favorite of their prayer songs is Mysterious Ways:
Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain
Let her talk about the things you can’t explain
To touch is to heal
To hurt is to steal
If you want to kiss the sky
Better learn how to kneel
Vertigo = purgatory??