Sing, Song, Sung

By now U2 is a well known band. The story is simple: four boys from Dublin get together when one of them posts a note on a school bulletin board. Their parents think they're crazy, especially the drummer's parents, who had him in formal lessons, never dreaming that - horror of horrors - he would turn to rock & roll. They were a heavily Christian band (with the exception of their bassist) until they realized it was taking them off point at the time (and out of the mainstream). From day one, they had a political objective and something to say about a whole host of things. So they said them and have continued to say them for over thirty years now.

One of the joys of going to a U2 concert is that you can tell the real fans from the casual fans right away. How? The casual fans know the songs. The real fans are the songs. They almost always have an intimate story of how one song or another affected them personally. I love getting to a gig early and swapping these stories because it makes the event much more holistic. You're there for a beer and some good music, yes, but you also discover how the same song not only helped you through the loss of your first love in high school but also, 1500 miles away, helped a young girl through her unplanned pregnancy. I'm sure fans of Springsteen and other bands have the same experiences. That's one of the special beauties of music: it connects us all in a very unique way. Think about it, we rarely talk about how the same novel, or movie, or play, or painting helped us through a moment in our lives. As a writer it pains me to admit that but I think it's true. Each form of art may have its own ability to influence, inspire and affect us (that's a topic for another day) but I think music is special.

As for me? "Eleven O'Clock, Tick Tock" will always be the soundtrack to the night I went to my first junior high dance, quaking in my Vans (where I did a great job of holding up the wall all night). "The Unforgettable Fire" will always remind of that bitch who ripped my heart out : ) "Surrender" will always be the song I wrote one of my first short stories to. "Bad" will forever be the song that made me sit still, and heal, for the first time in my life. "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of" came along to coax me on, about a year after my father died, when I just couldn't get past my grief. "It's A Beautiful Day" will never stop being the song that came on the radio as I drove, worried sick and terrified, to the hospital where my son, having been born eleven weeks early, had been rushed, fighting for his life...as soon as I heard that song I promise you that I knew that Anthony would be just fine. Then there was "Lemon", an older song that I rediscovered by accident around the same time that Sophia's adoption process took a complicated turn, and those closing lyrics ("Midnight is when the day begins...") guided me with hope each day. And, lastly, spanning like a bridge from my 14 year old self to the old turd that writes these words today, there will always be "40", the lyrics  lifted from Psalm 40. Which, of course, led me to the Bible.

I smile as I write that. Because, you see, you can find entire websites now that break down the many hundreds of biblical references and/or quotes in a library of songs that covers over thirty-six U2 albums (singles and compilations included). The Christian band never stopped being so. They just went covert, amazingly weaving the soft whisper of scripture in between two guitars, a drum set and one of the most unique voices ever.