Re: Why Are The GH Songs Arranged In This Order?

Josh Faul ([email protected])
Tue, 10 Nov 1998 17:05:41 -0600

Here are my thoughts. Ok Pride is first because that's U2's big hit. Think about it. When I think about U2, about what other people would recognize, this song comes to mind. Pride is like, well it's like one of the songs that defines U2. They play it all the time at their concerts. It's one of those songs that gets you pumped but carries with it a deeper meaning you can take it at face value or delve deeper and find that it's really about something. I think it makes perfect sense to start Best of with it. Next is New Year's Day a more serious song but still with an upbeat tempo it takes you from the feel good Pride and gets you into a mood where you're ready to hear more serious things. Then comes With or Without You another song that defines U2. Probably the most popular song among the both the casual fan and the dedicated one. New Year's Day is a perfect lead in to this song. WOWY is a deep song with deep lyrics. You can feel what Bono is feeling. The pain, the uncertainty. !
Now onto I Still Haven't Found..... Also a serious song but it offers more hope than WOWY. WOWY is like desperation. I can't live with or without you. But ISHFWILF offers hope. The word still in the title suggests the hope. He's still looking. Sunday Bloody Sunday. Here I wondered where the connection was why this song was after a song such as ISHFWILF and what I came up with is that this song carries on the thought. Maybe to almost suggest that you can't find what you're looking for in this world. You can't find what you need in the governments of today because they're to busy killing eachother. Next is Bad, another perfect transition. While SBS instills within the listener some sort of action (it makes you want to get up and march), Bad is a more analytical song. It's passive. It makes you think and think hard about what's important in life. And what really matters. Where the Streets Have No Name is next again perfect transition. I want to run I want to hide....where the str!
eets have no name. Wanting to get away from all of this. I Will Fo
exactly to Streets but, I think it does fit. Streets is about wanting to get away and I Will Follow is too. IWF is escaping but escaping into death. Where as Streets is just running away, running way to somewhere other than where you are. The Unforgettable Fire is a song with several levels and can be construed in many different ways. With this song you can see that the others can also be taken in ways beyond what is written. It relates to I Will Follow in that IWF is about a relationship. I think it's about a mother son relationship but also about a man woman relationship. I'll follow you wherever you go, in life. I'll be there and UF is about an end of a relationship, still wanting to follow. Stay..stay tonight..ever after. The Sweetest Thing carries on this thought. I'm loosing you. Not so much about an end of a relationship but the fear that it might end. Desire fits again in this same line of thought. That wanting that desire when you love someone. Fever getting higher..!
when I'm beside her. When Love Comes to Town another song about love but with biblical references. This shows how a lot of what U2 writes has a religious background. I don't know what everyone else thinks this song is about but I think it's about a fear of commitment. When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that train. I think it relates with Desire in that Desire is about longing for someone but when you finally get what you want that desire you're seeking you're afraid to commit to it. Angel of Harlem almost out of place on this album when you try to connect the songs by their meanings. But I think in a way it does fit. This is kind of a stretch but stay with me here. Angel of Harlem is almost like an escape it's a song that's not uniform to U2. It's one of those songs that lets you forget what's bothering you and take a break and remember what was once right with the world. I don't
think GH would have been complete without it. GH then tumbles back into reality with All I Want is You. A symphonic ballad. A perfect ending. In that's what it comes down to. All I want is you, that special someone.
Then of course we have the secret October track. To me it seems almost like an after thought and I think it is. It doesn't fit anywhere on the album with the meanings and such but it is one of their best songs and in the end I think it compliments the others. A good way to finish the album.

Ok there you have it.
Josh

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