Some songs you never really understand when you\u2019re young and innocent. When U2\u2019s Achtung Baby! was released in 1991, \u201cOne\u201d was an immediate standout track. A co-worker at my summer job in 1992 was talking to me about music one day, and said that he hated U2 but loved \u201cOne\u201d. I said I liked it, but didn\u2019t think it was the best song on the album. \u201cYou\u2019ve never had your heart broken, have you?\u201d he asked. I hadn\u2019t yet, but later when I did go through an especially messy breakup, I tracked him down and said, \u201cI understand \u201cOne\u201d now.\u201d During that period, I latched onto \u201cOne\u201d thinking that somewhere in the bitterness, anger, and sadness of the song there was a hidden answer to all my questions about love and loss. I was wrong about that, but it was comforting to know that others felt the same pain I felt at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne\u201d is a hauntingly beautifully song. It\u2019s understated musically, serving as a soundtrack to Bono\u2019s equally reserved vocals. For a band that made its name shouting out political anthems, the restraint used here makes the song even more effective. Bono\u2019s lyrics are some of the most pointed and brilliant of his career. It\u2019s difficult to listen to lines like:<\/p>\n
\u201cDid I ask too much, more than a lot? You gave me nothing now it\u2019s all I got.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or,<\/p>\n
\u201cYou say love is a temple, love the higher law. You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl. And I can\u2019t be holding on to what you got when all you got is hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
and not immediately place them in the context of a hurt you\u2019ve suffered. Every thing about the song suggests the nights when you sit alone, staring at the ceiling, replaying the conversations with your lost love over and over. Evaluating, deciphering, and tearing apart every word in an attempt to find an explanation for the pain you feel. There are thousands of breakup songs, but few are as effective as \u201cOne\u201d.<\/p>\n
Even if \u201cOne\u201d wasn\u2019t one of the best songs of the post-punk era, it would be tremendously important in the mythology of U2. In 1990 the band was based in Berlin and working on the tracks for Achtung Baby! They were the biggest band in the world and felt the pressure to explore new musical avenues. Bono and the Edge became enamored with the burgeoning electronic music scene that dominated German clubs. They kept pushing the band down a more modern, synthetic sound for their new songs. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen did not have the same connection with the new sounds. They were rooted in early R&B and classic rock and roll. They felt there was little room in the new sound for a traditional rhythm section. As tensions escalated, the band began to discuss throwing in the towel. The four had long had an agreement that if they ever reached the point where they couldn\u2019t make music together, they would chose friendship over the band and put U2 to rest.<\/p>\n
Then, one day, while working on yet another song that seemed to be going nowhere, Edge picked up his acoustic guitar and starting playing a riff he had been working on. Larry and Adam listened for several minutes, then joined in. Bono began improvising lyrics. By the next day, \u201cOne\u201d had been written and recorded. It was the first song during those sessions that spoke to each member of the band. From there, they ripped through the remaining tracks, and soon they had the second masterpiece of their career. In addition to being one of their finest moments both musically and lyrically, \u201cOne\u201d may literally have saved the band.<\/p>\n
I was lucky enough to stumble into free tickets to the Elevation Tour stop in Kansas City in November 2001. It became the most incredible concert experience I\u2019ve ever had, largely because of \u201cOne\u201d. After almost two hours of new songs, classics, and a few unexpected rarities, Bono gave a brief speech about how honored they were to be touring in the US in this very strange time, just ten weeks after 9\/11. He held a single finger up in the air, and Edge strummed out the familiar opening riff. As the band eased into the song, the names of each person who died on 9\/11 began to roll on the video screens behind the stage. Flight number, building, FDNY, NYPD, etc. served as the identifier for each group of victims. As each group was honored, applause rang through the arena. Along with \u201cBad\u201d and \u201cI Will Follow\u201d, \u201cOne\u201d was a song I HAD to hear that night. Quickly, my desire just to stand and sing along with Bono went away. Like 14,000 other people, I could only stare at the names. They went on and on and on. For some reason, nearly 5,000 deaths had lost its impact after viewing the footage over and over again. But as the list continued for nearly five minutes, even when displayed three columns across, the gravity of the loss came back. Suddenly, the song wasn\u2019t about someone who broke your heart in college (when you\u2019re supposed to break your heart). It was about the terror of that day, of mourning, and of coming together. A song written about the end of a relationship ended up being as uplifting as any forced, feel good song written in the immediate aftermath, \u201cOne life but we\u2019re not the same, we get to carry each other, carry each other, one\u2026.\u201d It was a truly profound experience in a night full of memorable moments. As the final names rolled off the screen during \u201cPeace on Earth\u201d looking around Kemper all you could see were palms pressed against cheeks as people wiped their tears away. For a long time afterwards, when we would hear it, S. would ask me to skip to the next song because she couldn\u2019t help but think about the concert and the seemingly endless list of names. For me, the memories of that lost love have been replaced. Now when I hear \u201cOne\u201d, I think of the emotional impact of that night. I think of the unity that was in the crowd. And I think of how a breakup song is really about collecting yourself and moving on. Thus, \u201cOne\u201d served as a perfect theme for the months after 9\/11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some songs you never really understand when you\u2019re young and innocent. When U2\u2019s Achtung Baby! was released in 1991, \u201cOne\u201d was an immediate standout track. A co-worker at my summer job in 1992 was talking to me about music one day, and said that he hated U2 but loved \u201cOne\u201d. I said I liked it, but didn\u2019t think it was the best song on the album. \u201cYou\u2019ve never had your heart broken, have you?\u201d he asked. I hadn\u2019t yet, but later when I did go through an especially messy breakup, I tracked him down and said, \u201cI understand \u201cOne\u201d now.\u201d During that period, I latched onto \u201cOne\u201d thinking that somewhere in the bitterness, anger, and sadness of the song there was a hidden answer to all my questions about love and loss. I was wrong about that, but it was comforting to know that others felt the same pain I felt at the time. \u201cOne\u201d is a hauntingly beautifully song. It\u2019s understated musically, serving as a soundtrack to Bono\u2019s equally reserved vocals. For a band that made its name shouting out political anthems, the restraint used here makes the song even more effective. Bono\u2019s lyrics are some of the most pointed and brilliant of his career. It\u2019s difficult to listen to lines like: \u201cDid I ask too much, more than a lot? You gave me nothing now it\u2019s all I got.\u201d Or, \u201cYou say love is a temple, love the higher law. You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl. And I can\u2019t be holding on to what you got when all you got is hurt.\u201d and not immediately place them in the context of a hurt you\u2019ve suffered. Every thing about the song suggests the nights when you sit alone, staring at the ceiling, replaying the conversations with your lost love over and over. Evaluating, deciphering, and tearing apart every word in an attempt to find an explanation for the pain you feel. There are thousands of breakup songs, but few are as effective as \u201cOne\u201d. Even if \u201cOne\u201d wasn\u2019t one of the best songs of the post-punk era, it would be tremendously important in the mythology of U2. In 1990 the band was based in Berlin and working on the tracks for Achtung Baby! They were the biggest band in the world and felt the pressure to explore new musical avenues. Bono and the Edge became enamored with the burgeoning electronic music scene that dominated German clubs. They kept pushing the band down a more modern, synthetic sound for their new songs. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen did not have the same connection with the new sounds. They were rooted in early R&B and classic rock and roll. They felt there was little room in the new sound for a traditional rhythm section. As tensions escalated, the band began to discuss throwing in the towel. The four had long had an agreement that if they ever reached the point where they couldn\u2019t make music together, they would chose friendship over the band and put U2 to rest. Then, one day, while working on yet another song that seemed to be going nowhere, Edge picked up his acoustic guitar and starting playing a riff he had been working on. Larry and Adam listened for several minutes, then joined in. Bono began improvising lyrics. By the next day, \u201cOne\u201d had been written and recorded. It was the first song during those sessions that spoke to each member of the band. From there, they ripped through the remaining tracks, and soon they had the second masterpiece of their career. In addition to being one of their finest moments both musically and lyrically, \u201cOne\u201d may literally have saved the band. I was lucky enough to stumble into free tickets to the Elevation Tour stop in Kansas City in November 2001. It became the most incredible concert experience I\u2019ve ever had, largely because of \u201cOne\u201d. After almost two hours of new songs, classics, and a few unexpected rarities, Bono gave a brief speech about how honored they were to be touring in the US in this very strange time, just ten weeks after 9\/11. He held a single finger up in the air, and Edge strummed out the familiar opening riff. As the band eased into the song, the names of each person who died on 9\/11 began to roll on the video screens behind the stage. Flight number, building, FDNY, NYPD, etc. served as the identifier for each group of victims. As each group was honored, applause rang through the arena. Along with \u201cBad\u201d and \u201cI Will Follow\u201d, \u201cOne\u201d was a song I HAD to hear that night. Quickly, my desire just to stand and sing along with Bono went away. Like 14,000 other people, I could only stare at the names. They went on and on and on. For some reason, nearly 5,000 deaths had lost its impact after viewing the footage over and over again. But as the list continued for nearly five minutes, even when displayed three columns across, the gravity of the loss came back. Suddenly, the song wasn\u2019t about someone who broke your heart in college (when you\u2019re supposed to break your heart). It was about the terror of that day, of mourning, and of coming together. A song written about the end of a relationship ended up being as uplifting as any forced, feel good song written in the immediate aftermath, \u201cOne life but we\u2019re not the same, we get to carry each other, carry each other, one\u2026.\u201d It was a truly profound experience in a night full of memorable moments. As the final names rolled off the screen during \u201cPeace on Earth\u201d looking around Kemper all you could see were palms pressed against cheeks as people wiped their tears away. For a long time afterwards, when we would hear it, S. would ask me to skip to the next song because she couldn\u2019t help but think about the concert and the seemingly endless list of names. For me, the memories of that lost love have been replaced. Now when I hear \u201cOne\u201d, I think of the emotional impact of that night. I think of the unity that was in the crowd. And I think of how a breakup song is really about collecting yourself and moving on. Thus, \u201cOne\u201d served as a perfect theme for the months after 9\/11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15735,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/15735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}