Feels later. My mind was going stream of consciousness
Feels later. Been listening to U2 X Radio. I love how they bring on friends and influences and even random fans to play songs and talk about their inspirations from the band and songs/artists that influenced the band
Gavin Friday, along with Guggi, has been friends with Bono since their teen years. He had some eccentric picks
Tom Waits with a version of Heigh Ho that would give Nick Cave the creeps. And Sinead O’Connor version of Some Day My Prince Will Come. Yeah. Disney tracks. Like never heard before!
And my son had crawled up and wanted his nightly head and back scratching.
Then Bono with an old Irish sailing song, A Dying Sailor to his Shipmates and then I skipped to what was live and it was a live version of Stay (Faraway, So Close) - which, btw, is an amazing film from Wim Wenders (if you saw City of Angels with Nicolas Cage, think its prequel)
Then a throwback, Seconds. And I think to myself I was just a couple years older than my son when that came out
Then I hear...the deeper, slower breathing
I look down and see my son is out.
And I wonder. How many kids these days get into music and have it become part of them, in a way, these days. So much music is passing these days. It’s a quick hit of a song. It’s not a series of songs that make up a side of an album, or the B side that becomes a fave moreso than the “hit” on the other side. And rock operas? Or albums with a story? Those days are gone. Long gone.
What was the last? Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut? A decent follow up but certainly paling in comparison to The Wall
The Joshua Tree has a vibe that evolves thru it. So did Rattle and Hum and even Achtung Baby but after that, even U2 wasn’t telling a story with an album
I think the last album that, to me, told a story was The Winter of Mixed Drinks from Frightened Rabbit. After Scott Hutchison’s death a couple years ago, I keep hearing that album as a cry for help from him.
Where was I. Ah. Yeah. I used to put some albums on the ol console and just sit in the living room and listen and let my mind interpret the lyrics as I read along with the liner notes. The Wall. Geez. How many times did I play that over and over...the introvert in me sinking into each song like a warm blanket
Then War from U2. Raw. Passion. Rock. Anger. Despair. Hope. No Ireland was much different in those days. Bombings seeming weekly. So many wasted lives. Those bloody Sundays
Then Unforgettable Fire came out. A whole new level. Boy and War were raw and powerful. October, the sophomore effort, felt disjointed and esoteric with sprinkles of that rawness. But Unforgettable Fire brought along Lanois (one of the great producers...with U2 for a few decades. And he did Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball, Willie Nelson’s Teatro and Last of the Mohicans soundtrack) and Brian Eno (wow. His work with Roxy Music, Talking Heads, John Cale and his own work - Music for Airports being my fave... 1/1 has been used in films and will stand the test of time)
But their influences are evident strongly throughout Unforgettable Fire (and Eno on U2’s Passengers effort) and I wore that album out playing it over and over. And the EP Wide Awake in America with its live version of Bad. Dear gawd. Perfection. The Three Sunrises. Uplifting and melodious
It’s amazing how one person’s inspirations become another’s influence and on and on and out and out
Anyway. I’m rambling. And “40” is on. “How long, to sing this song....” as my son snores next to me. 
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