12.03.04

Song of the Week - 12/3/04

Posted in Song of the Week at 12:56 pm by Adriene

I was about to do it again! I took a week off last week due to the holiday, but I’m back now with a Song of the Week, just a little late this time.

This week’s band should be no surprise, considering I’ve been gushing over their new CD. But I decided to go a little farther back into their catalog to dig this one up, since I essentially reviewed every song on their new CD in my post a few days ago.

“Stay (Far Away, So Close!)” - U2

“Stay” is probably my favorite song off of U2’s 1993 release, Zooropa. Zooropa is an odd bird, in that it was originally meant to be nothing more than an EP recorded while the band was on their Zoo TV tour. However, it morphed into a full-length album. It’s very experimental, and was probably one of their less-well-received releases, and it definitely has its detractors. However, it’s one of those CDs that grows on you the more you listen to it, as Jeff could tell you (he used to hate it, now he admits it’s got some good stuff on it).

I guess probably why this is my favorite off of Zooropa is that it’s probably the most typical of U2 songs on there. (I’ll give them this, they have a formula, and when they stick to it, it’s usually a good song. ) It starts off with some low-key strumming by the Edge, but in typical U2 fashion, it swells as it goes, as it heads toward the last part of the song with Bono calling:

Stay, with the demons you drowned
Stay, with the spirit I’ve found
Stay, and the night would be enough…

Then, per usual, it dies back down toward the final line:

Three o’clock in the morning
It’s quiet and there’s no one around
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel runs to ground
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel hits the ground.

Add to the fact that I love the video for this song. It was filmed by Wim Wenders, and features the band as somewhat angelic figures shadowing people going through their everyday lives. The song was featured in Wenders’ movie Wings of Desire, on which 1998’s City of Angels was based, so you can see where the inspiration for the video came from.

So, that’s my recommendation for this week. Listen to it or you’re a loser.

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