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U2 - Zooropa
 Album:
Zooropa (1993)
  1. I recently re-discovered this amazing gem thanks to Steve picking a Zoo Wembley show for the Bootleg Round Table...I went back and played the studio version over and over and realized that it's so much more than just a song.

    In many, many respects, I see this as very similar to "Fez- Being Born". Arguably, "Fez" would have made a terrific show opener, or at least encore opener. The beginning of "Fez" is clutter. Marketplace sounds of Morocco. "Zooropa" obviously starts the same way, and is thus a perfect, reflective album opener. Gentle sounds fade in, combined with an overload of information- obviously the theme the band was caught up in at the time.

    It continues to segue into the guitar line and bass appearance later on, made apparent by Edge's wah-wah delay at 1:48. This line carries the first section into the "gentle zooropa" portion of "Zooropa" This portion seems to descend the listener into the depths of what the rest of the album is; Edge's fading wah sounds act as an escalator, slowly revealing more and more of what the next 45 minutes' sound will be like.

    The guitar line appears alone again- much like Brian Eno's synthesizer segues in "Fez- Being Born"- and is the last thing heard before the faster coda of the song begins. This is where Bono's lyrics truly shine. The wah delay turns into a stuttering wah in the background as Edge's backing vocals uplift. The chorus effect on Bono's vocals bring to mind a graduated version of his character "The Fly", with a fresh head. Instead of the cynical, truism bantering Fly that we've been used to, he's now admitting that he himself has no compass or map, but that there's nothing to worry about- he'll get you both through the night.

    And it is the night, isn't it. Because what would Zooropa be in the sunlight?


    I just wanted to get that little bit of theorizing and writing out of my system, it's been boiling up ever since I started really opening my ear to the song.

    So discuss! I want to know what everyone thinks about the tune...and really, to you- what is zooropa? At the risk of sounding like some gaudy university professor- I don't really think there's a wrong answer, really...I just want to know what it means to everybody else.
  2. Amazing song, better than Being Born, has so much more depth and meaning. Perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the consumeristic 90s (and indeed is still relevant today).

    Love the advertising slogans as verses and the sheer passion with which Bono sings the last verse (Let's go, let's go oveerground! / Get your head out of the mud baby!) and of course the 'dream out loud' coda.

    Lyrics like "don't worry baby/ it's going to be all right / You've got the right shoes to get you through the night" are also brilliant and among Bono's best work.

    Indeed the whole song is like what Radiohead would do much later on, except with less melody, cohesion and accessibility.
  3. Zooropa's one of my favourite songs from the album and indeed, their entire discography - I could, however, say that about many songs I agree with the comparison to Fez/Being Born; Zooropa was essentially two songs being spliced together. There's a particular passage in the song that I think could well be my favourite lyrics of all time;

    'And I have no compass
    And I have no map
    And I have no reasons, no reasons to get back    '

    Mr. Hewson, take a bow. In an album full of some of Bono's greatest lyrical work, that section right there would get my choice as the best - so simple, yet so emotive.

    That's what I think, anyway
  4. Originally posted by WojBhoy:Zooropa's one of my favourite songs from the album and indeed, their entire discography - I could, however, say that about many songs I agree with the comparison to Fez/Being Born; Zooropa was essentially two songs being spliced together. There's a particular passage in the song that I think could well be my favourite lyrics of all time;

    'And I have no compass
    And I have no map
    And I have no reasons, no reasons to get back    '

    Mr. Hewson, take a bow. In an album full of some of Bono's greatest lyrical work, that section right there would get my choice as the best - so simple, yet so emotive.

    That's what I think, anyway


    That line more than any was what led me to the whole "graduated-Fly" comparison...it just seemed so much like The Fly was trying to get to that point throughout ZooTV.
  5. My favorite off that album and maybe all of the 90s work. Probably my favorite song ever. It just works perfectly.
  6. Zooropa is a great song.

    In my opinion, the "similiar thing" between Zooropa and Fez-Being Born is the sublime air of the song. They have something special into it, somethings that make you think about things.

    On te other hand, I have to sa that Zooropoa is a revolutionary song. It's a song that kicks our way of life right in the face, and Fez-Being Born is a tranquilizer song (at lest for me). It makes me calm down and breathe.

    Greetings from Brazil
  7. Originally posted by EyesWithPrideB3:That line more than any was what led me to the whole "graduated-Fly" comparison...it just seemed so much like The Fly was trying to get to that point throughout ZooTV.

    I get what you mean, but I feel The Fly was much more dark in the attitude and ideas the character conveyed, whereas Zooropa, particularly the song itself, felt much more positive, albeit coming from an uncertain frame of mind.
  8. Originally posted by WojBhoy:[..]
    I get what you mean, but I feel The Fly was much more dark in the attitude and ideas the character conveyed, whereas Zooropa, particularly the song itself, felt much more positive, albeit coming from an uncertain frame of mind.


    Point taken. It's a farfetched theory- probably, if not definitely, not what the band had in mind- but it was an interesting spin on the song for me.
  9. I checked my 'play count' on my iPod the other day and Zooropa has been played more than any other song on there. It is my favourite song. For me it completely encapsulates a 'let it all go and things will get better' kind of attitude. Stop worrying about possessions. Stop worrying about where you think you 'should' be going. Stop worrying about what you think other people think of you or want from you. Just get out from underground and DREAM OUT LOUD!!!!

    Magnificent song.
  10. Tremendous tune - severly underrated too.

    Made its live debut at Paradise (Celtic Park) in August 1993 too!
  11. Amazing song indeed, once you discover the magic of it, it's hard to put it away, and Bono does an amazing job of singing this one...
  12. This one is sick. There are many stand-out songs from their experimental era, but Zooropa is right at the top of them all. A work of genius.
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