The greatest rock band of my life just graced the world with their latest collection of tunes, affectionately dubbed "songs of innocence ". I've listened to the album dozens upon dozens of times. It didn't take long for U2 to work their magic and this most personal of collections worked its way into my soul. I beseech any citizens of the iTunes world that have yet to partake in this most glorious and free gift to stop whatever it is you're doing and for Gods sake, change your life. I've taken the past couple of weeks to do a lot of soul searching on just what this band of four lads from Dublin has meant to my life. What they meant and probably of equal or greater importance what they continue to mean. The following is one persons story. Mine as it were. It's not overly dramatic or edge of your seat kind of stuff. No, it's just an honest reflection of how my love affair with U2 began.
I'm writing this with "the miracle(of Joey Ramone) pulsing through my brain via iPod. This song is a perfect one from which to pay homage to this most exquisite band. I'm not concerned with reviewing the song or the album for you. Not here. I'm absorbing the lyrics. And I find it amazing at how much Bono's words and tributes to Joey Ramone Echo mine. Not for Joey, but for U2 and for the sound of its lead singer.
"I was chasing down the days of fear, chasing down a dream before it disappeared "
I didn't immediately discover U2 when they and their songs initially hit the world. God, I wish I would have. Wish I would have been packed into some of those early clubs and shared the defining moments of the group that would go on to become the most powerful and without argument the most important band of my lifetime. I would have loved to heard 11 o'clock tic toc in those little dive bars and tiny venues. That's something that will never happen again. It was during those early to mid 80's that I was in fact chasing down a dream. I just didn't know what it was at the time. My younger brother was actually quite into U2. And, one couldn't adopt a band that your younger brother was flaunting?! Oh foolish pride. I like a big chunk of the globe heard "Joshua tree" and things began to ...happen?
"I was aching to be somewhere near, your voice was all I heard"
Bono and the idyllic tunes that make up the single greatest album ever, slowly started to sway my head and heart. I was still woefully unprepared for the impact, for the meaning. My brother was on his way to becoming a true fan and I caught myself humming along to "with or without you". It was during this period where music was becoming more vital to me. The soundtrack of my life was being produced. My inner self was aching for something real. For a voice. And in 1989, I found it.
"I was shaking from a storm in me, haunted by the specters that we had to see. Yeah, I wanted to be the melody above the noise, above the hurt".
During that fall, I began going home on many weekends with my roommate at the time. His family lived in gods country, so to speak, central Illinois. These weekends contained a lot of solo driving through the farms and country sides of Illinois. Fall vistas. Spring and summer dioramas. The majesty of heavens canvas splayed out all around me. All above and beneath me. It was now that I fell in love. With a bunch of artists from Ireland. I close my eyes and I can taste the air as it rushed in from open windows as the world whisked by me. I smell the country. I can feel the power of memory. And...I can hear. Oh, can I hear. A simple and well worn cassette tape. Turning off the highway and onto the back roads of Illinois. The click of the cassette as it crackled to life.
"I was young, not dumb, just wishing to be blinded, by you, brand new and we were pilgrims on our way"
My world was about to change. 25 years later, I can look back to those weekend jaunts around central Illinois as the point where I was blinded. My roommate and I would split time helping local small churches and the rest of the time just being Kids. Searching for the answers to questions we didn't even know yet.
"I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred. Heard a song that made some sense out of the world. Every thing I ever lost now has been returned, In The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard"
So Bono, you are crooning to Joey ramone. I hear this song and I croon to you. You and Larry and Adan and yes, to the Edge. Driving around the farms of Illinois in 1989, windows down and the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. I'll never be the same. And I have a feeling I'm not alone.
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