I'm sure that you can tell I'm not in the writing about books mood...I don't know where you all find the time to read, write about reading, live, work, Goodreads, FB, twittering...I am envious.
Here's something I am thinking about as I read L. Frank Baum...no, really I'm reading a book for one of my challenges right now, I'm not not reviewing...
What do I think about this list? You ask, knowing full well, I couldn't leave it alone and have my answers...I'm with him on some, I've highlighted in red in my list below and have added a few others (can't believe there can only be 15!). Now, I'm sure the author picked his songs based on personal history, musicality et cetera in a way that I cannot, but here's my list.
What do you think? I do wonder what my list says about me...in the same way I wonder what his list says about him. I do know that my husband would agree with his list more than mine.
The 15 Best U2 Songs according to Stephanie “With or Without You”
“One”
“If God Will Send His Angels"
“Love is Blindness" “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
“All I Want Is You”
“Lemon”
“Bad”
"Where the Streets Have No Name"
“Walk On"
“Dancing Barefoot"
“Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"
“Original of the Species" “Miss Sarajevo”
“Acrobat"
even now the world is bleedin' but feelin' just fine all numb
in our castle where we're always free to choose never free enough
to find i wish somethin' would break cuz we're runnin' out of time
and i am overcome i am overcome holy water in my lungs i am overcome
these women in the street pullin' out their hair my master's
in the yard givin' light to the unaware this plastic little place
is just a step amongst the stairs
and i am overcome i am overcome baby holy water in my lungs i am overcome
so drive me out out to that open field turn the ignition off
and spin around your help is here but i'm parked in this open space
blockin' the gates of love
i am overcome i am overcome holy water in my lungs i am overcome
beautiful drowning this beautiful drowning this holy water
this holy water is in my lungs
and i am overcome i am overcome i am overcome i am overcome
Ten years ago on this day I was running late for school, this was not unusual. Because I was running late I did not have time to turn on the TV to watch the news liked I liked to do in the morning. I drove like hell the 5 minutes to the high school and was taking off my cardigan as I ran in the back doors, hoping to slip by everyone unnoticed. The halls were quiet.
"Stephanie, they think a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center", somebody says...all I know is that the person was male.
My friend and I go into my room and turn on the TV, we watch the newscasters frantic to understand what is going on..."Are you sure it was a plane? How does an accident like this happen?," I ask having missed the inital report and not wanting to wait. "Maybe it was an explosion?"
And, as we're talking...those of us who didn't have a class had gathered in my room around the TV waiting for the newscasters to tell us more...I am reminded of The Challenger explosion and tell my colleagues as much, talking about what happened in school when that happened. I talk about how we were all afraid, but we didn't know where to channel that fear. I didn't know that then the newscasters were also at a loss for words and frantically searching for answers, I was only 10. At 25, looking at the television and talking with my friends, I could tell that all the reporters were just as lost as we were and were guessing just as we were and were watching The World Trade Center just as we were, trying to make heads or tails of the situation that they were presenting to us.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh," one of my friends said and we all turned to look at the news. And, as if in slow motion we watched as the second plane, by then we knew it couldn't be anything else, flew into the second tower.
We are breathless. We are crying and the school (I can only assume every classroom had the news on) was in panic. Many were worried that Whiteman Airforce Base was next as it had Stealth Bombers and Missouri also has a nuclear reactor. We have students who parents were in lockdown at Fort Leonard Wood and one teacher was frantically trying to get ahold of her husband, as she wasn't going to be allowed on post anytime soon. She thought for sure that we were at war.
The terroist attack on the World Trade Center is the second disaster I have seen live on the news and it is the second disaster that binds me with millions of other people in my nation as we collectively mourn the lives of those who we know are lost, as we mourn lost innocence. I can tell you were I was and what I was doing during both. Later my mom tells me this is how she feels about the assasination of JFK and MLK and I think Oh my gosh my mother has been around for so much and I think I'm not sure that I can do this another time. My heart is hurting.
During that year I will see several students graduate to fight in Operation: Iraqi Freedom, I will listen as we, as a nation, try to make sense of how these attacks (there were two more one on the Pentagon and one thwarted heading to the White House) happened in a nation with such a strong military force and government. As a nation we are shaken, I am shaken as I learn to differeniate between a nation and its criminals and as I learn to teach others to try to do the same. One teacher is reprimanded for playing the Dixie Chicks in her class, a school trip we were going to take to Boston in November is canceled and I revamp my War Fiction Unit to incorporate what is happening as we go to war in March of 2002 .
Later that year, when I think my heart is fine, my friend and I will take a recent graduate to New York City, we'll see Audra McDonald and Hugh Jackman at Carnegie. We'll also go visit the site of The World Trade Center still in devastation with sidewalks torn up and fences surrounding where the buildings use to be. It's eerily quiet and I can hear the other tourists around us sniffling and patting their eyes with tissues and the backs of their hands holding back tears. We're hugging strangers, as we look through the barracade at the humongous hole in the ground. It smells like wet cement and soil. We read signs and notes dedicated to those lost and to those fighting for the cause overseas.
We are overcome.
U2 will bring a crowd to tears when they dedicate "Walk On" to 9/11 during their Elevation Tour, they will do it again during the Superbowl when we are watching their 9/11 Tribute using "Where the Streets Have No Name".
They are so classy, spirtual and patriotic.
Two years ago my aunt, niece, sister and I go to New York, it's late at night when we walk to the construction site of the Memorial to be, my aunt is overcome by the site, as we walk around looking for it. I have to look up on my phone what it looks like now and tell them that we have passed it several times. We settle on a bench overlooking the water. I'm amazed at New York City's ability to heal. We are a nation that perseveres, we are a nation that stands strong.
Saddam Hussein is dead, Osama Bin Ladin is dead, Libya is all but crushed, our war on 'terror' is still raging on. I am sad thinking about the roles that my former students have played in this battle, I am sad for the former student that has been lost in this battle, I am sad for my friends who have fought and who have been changed because of our nations need to insure that the world is free of terror.
I think about the work that has been done, I think about the work still yet to do, I think about the lives that must be dedicated to make sure that freedom stands for everyone. I am divided about my role, I am divided about our agenda in this affair. I am also proud of my nation and I am proud to be an American.
"It is a song about coming together, but it's not the old hippie idea of 'Let's all live together.' It is, in fact, the opposite. It's saying, We are one, but we're not the same. It's not saying we even want to get along, but that we have to get along together in this world if it is to survive. It's a reminder that we have no choice" ~ Bono about the song "One"
I think there are two camps when it comes to U2 fans, those who think that The Joshua Tree is their definitive work and those who think that Achtung Baby is their definitive work. Frankly, I'm torn between the two, and usually come to the following conclusion. While the former may be the album that defines the band and their sound, the song "One" from the latter defines the band and their reason for being.
If you think about it this song really defines the way we should live. We should live with others in mind and love one another even if they don't agree with us and we don't agree with them. If we could all act this way and feel this way, really why would we fight each other? And, when you go to a U2 concert it is the closest you will get to going to church and talking to the Lord. I love going to U2 concerts because of this song; it's an alter call to and for the masses.
Get out your cell phones and your lighters, close your eyes and listen to the words. It makes me want to make the world a better place.
One
Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton, Larry Muellen Jr.
Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say...
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it
Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...
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
Carry each other
One...
Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...life
One
The 30 Day Song Challenge
Day 01 – Your favorite song Day 02 -- Your least favorite song
Day 03 -- A song that makes you happy
Day 04 -- A song that makes you sad
Day 06 -- A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 -- A song that reminds you of somewhere
Day 07 -- A song that reminds you of a certain event Day 08 -- A song that you know all the words to Day 09 -- A song that you can dance to Day 10 -- A song that makes you fall asleep
"As an artist, I see the poetry of it. It's so brilliant. That this scale of creation, and the unfathomable universe, should describe itself in such vulnerability, as a child. That is mind-blowing to me. I guess that would make me a Christian. Although I don't use the label, because it is so very hard to live up to. I feel like I'm the worst example of it, so I just kinda keep my mouth shut."
"I love the bit when Christ asked for his greatest hits and he says, 'OK, love God, and love your neighbours as yourself.' Christianity is not complicated, that's what it is."
"And this wise man asked me to stop. He said, Stop asking God to bless what you're doing. Get involved in what God is doing -- because it's already blessed."
"You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that 'as you reap, so you will sow' stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff."
When I was in college I met a boy who had (if you can believe it) a deeper love/obsession for U2 than I ever could dream. I think that guys are like that you know, they have that one thing that they obsess about and know everything about...football, college basketball, classic cars...et cetera, for this guy it was U2. We had great conversations about Christianity and about being Christian and walking in Christ and often these conversations would come back to U2 and their search for something more than the secular.
When Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 first came out he recommended the book to me and I read it pretty much in a day. What I like about this book is that it talks about how each member of the band, in his own way, has figured out what it means to be a follower of Christ. The first edition goes up to the Elevation tour and the second edition is supposed to be an update, covering the Vertigo tour and beyond.
What I like about this book is that it talks about the inspirations for and lyrics behind some of the band's most popular and prominent songs. It also talks about the fact that what Bono seems to struggle with most is not there's a God or a Jesus in Heaven, but that there are people who judge the band and don't seem to understand that to be Christian means to be imperfect and flawed.
U2 is spiritual and faithful, this book just shows you how, just incase you couldn't see it because you were too busy looking at all the swearing and drinking.
My Top Ten U2 Songs of Spirituality
(For another list check out @U2 and Into the Wild)
Ok, so I've noticed that many blogs use 30 day challenges to talk about things that interest them (you know who I'm talking about Ashley--I'm especially loving the 30 pieces of clothes for 30 days...wow! and I'm not sure I'm ready to do the 30 days of truth, powerful stuff). I've also seen 30 Day photo challenge, 30 Days of Giving etc. and I thought, I wonder what challenges are out there that relate to my reading oriented blog, but can still tell you a little bit about me and I found this one (songs, after all, are words). So, every Wednesday will be devoted to...The 30 Day Song Challenge
Day One: Your Favorite Song
Asking me to tell you my favorite song is tantamount to asking me to tell you my favorite book. The question gets asked and like 100 float in my head immediately vying for the coveted #1 spot. But, because this is a challenge, I'm not going to do my usual cop-out of making a list of favorites in no particular order, which means this post is taking about 30 minutes longer than expected, and I may be late for school! Today I have chosen *drum roll, please* Original of the Species by U2.
It is, literally, the first song I thought of when I found out I was pregnant. I love it because I read somewhere that Bono wrote it for his eldest daughter (which I am the eldest of three...so, I loved this song before I knew I was going to have a daughter), I've also read that Bono wrote it for The Edge's only daughter (which makes it relate even more). I don't really care which of these stories is true. This song just strikes at the core of me, the foundation of who I am--woman/mother/girl/daughter/wife. I hear it and I laugh and cry because I am the girl in the song, my daughter is the girl in the song and I feel like every girl needs to know what this song is and what it is about; the perfection that is them. It is my favorite because I am a girl and this is one of those powerful 'girl love yourself' songs. I know all the words. My husband, some friends of ours, and I went to see U2 in Chicago (please note my blogger profile pic is from said concert). When the beginning chords started, it was a moment that felt like it was just my husband and I and we were singing along, at the time I was pregnant and was due in less than a month. I will never forget this, a perfect moment, holding hands with my husband and feeling, no, realizing, that my life had changed forever and nothing else mattered but this tiny little girl that hadn't been born yet.
I hope that my daughter feels even 1/2 of the power of this song. I sing it to her at night...it's her lullaby.
Feel free to join in by commenting below (I really do love comments, on fb or here), or doing this challenge on your own blog. And, thanks Ashley for inspiring me, again.
