U2start.com | The Little Things That Give You Away

I can't stop listening to this song.

it ---- is ------ STUNNING.

epic U2. really in love with this song right now.

I think last nights version was slightly different with Larry coming in a bit more for the second verse and the whole outro being a bit 'bigger' for want of a better word. It sounded like a more full song, I really liked it. I keep on going back listening to it thinking nah I'm getting carried away it isn't that good but then once I've finished listened to it I realise it's still amazing.

BigGiRL

8 years

Originally posted by DutchU2Fan:[..]
I like the idea, but I still think my theory is the right one

A song about Climate Change makes perfectly sense though in the context of the last part of the show where contemporary issues are addressed. Like refugees in Miss Sarajevo, women/gender equality in UV, and, classically, poverty in One.

I think the idea of Little Things being about breaking up is too much fueled with the fear that such a thing might actually happen. And, again, to me it doesn't make much sense within in the context of the last part.
U2 has always treated their shows from a highly conceptual perspective - well at least since the original JT tour, or maybe even TUF 84/85 tour. It seems, then, so unlikely to have a final song so out of context about "breaking up" (unless they are actually breaking up

- but no, there is just too much at stake, as underlined once again with the above named previous songs. And, most importantly, there are no real other clues or indications that U2 is about to break up).

Still, and I'm the last to deny this, songs - good songs, that is - are very well capable of speaking for themselves and connect with the individual listener on a very deep personal level. So I can imagine, for instance, The Little Things becoming a song for someone in relationship crisis. Or someone fighting with an illness.
In fact U2 themselves has given Ultraviolet (Light My Way) a brand new meaning with the tribute to all women in their life and around the globe.
What I am saying is that I truly advocate the idea that there is no such thing as definite meanings in lyrics and poetry. It's always subjective. Not in the least because songs and poetry need the imagination to become meaningful.

Bullet_Blue

8 years

I don't think it's about Climate Change. I've just translated to italian and most of the lyrics seem to reference about some sense of impotence by Bono to propose something new and rilevant to the masses.
The first eight verses (The night gave you a song [...] There's something wrong there?) are about the young Bono, the one that went from Cedarwood Road to the top of the world.
Then I'm not a ghost there [...] You need to see me in my opinion is referred to the new generation of music listeners that don't reward that much their effort of being modern and listenable for most of them (All my tasks are so thankless)

The chorus looks like a regret: he probably would've done and said something different than what he did and said in the last years. He didn't just because he needed to embrace the new generations and bring them by his side. So he has become the prey, the mercenary rather than the artist.

Then, from I saw you on the stairs to A hurricane being born I've got some doubts about the person mentioned. It may be Allison, but I can't see any connection between her and the meaning of the song. If you have some ideas about it, just tell me.

What was freedom/It migh cost you liberty is pretty similar to What you thought was freedom/It was greed from Gone, my favourite Bono's lyrics and another example of introspection where he recognized for the first time of being gone away from the passionate flame he was at the beginning (freedom) because of fame and money (greed). These lines go together well with the previous ones in what I suppose to be a J'accuse to himself.

Then, the final part (Sometimes)
In this part he tells about this impotency by telling us his weaknesses and dejection.
He wake(s) at 4 in the morning [...] full of angry and grieving, far away from believing that any song will reappear. He is conscious that he has nothing more to say, and that he keeps going on for something different from passion and inspiration.
The end is here because he understood that U2 need to exist only if they're still able to be relevant musically and socially, and (that's my opinion, feel free to disagree) that hasn't happened in the last 13 years.
The only positive note is the several sometimes, that may means this is a feeling he has occasionally, and that somehow he still has the unforgettable fire.

Honestly, I found it the heaviest Bono's lyrics since Pop. I wish he'd find back the same ispirations of that days.

bartajax

8 years

Cool idea but if it was about climate change they would have poured a shitload of visuals to strengthen their point.

u2joost

8 years

Originally posted by bartajax:Cool idea but if it was about climate change they would have poured a shitload of visuals to strengthen their point.

Good point...

DutchU2Fan

8 years

I think the song looks and sounds too emotional for a climate change song, at the end of the songs they stand really close to each other.

BigGiRL

8 years

Originally posted by u2joost:[..]
Good point...

Yes, good point

But... it's not necessarily an argument against the interpretation of climate change:
1) There are already so much visuals
1b) they can still come
1c) or "another" speech...

2) No, I think it's more about the emotional impact of CC...let it sink in
3) Last night Bono introduced the song with the words: "We're warming up."

Alvin

8 years

Originally posted by BigGiRL:[..]
Yes, good point
But... it's not necessarily an argument against the interpretation of climate change:
1) There are already so much visuals
1b) they can still come
1c) or "another" speech...

2) No, I think it's more about the emotional impact of CC...let it sink in
3) Last night Bono introduced the song with the words: "We're warming up."

warming up for more new songs?

BigGiRL

8 years

another argument:

Why shouldn't there be a song about Climate Change in a country of which it's president thinks it's a hoax...and wants to pull out of the Paris agreement(s)?

(But then again, why not make it more explicit? I don't have that answer, I agree - but remember where you heard it first!)

BigGiRL

8 years

Originally posted by DutchU2Fan:I think the song looks and sounds too emotional for a climate change song, at the end of the songs they stand really close to each other.

Why shouldn't a song about climate change not be emotional?

I mean it's a very serious and devastating thing: thousand of species threatened with extinction, coral reefs disappearing, poor countries becoming even more poorer because there will be more drought for them. Irreversible processes. The bloody ignorance of people...
The horrible future of our children... And their children. All because we failed to take action. Because we are so selfish...
I mean, if that doesn't makes one cry...

kris_smith87

8 years

I really don't think it makes sense to say "breaking up". Ending. Sure? But breaking up to me sounds like it implies a rift or something. This band is not "breaking up" after 40 years. Retiring maybe.

Remember in U2 By U2 they joked that they wouldn't break up or they would over something so trivial as how someone squeezes the toothpaste tube.

Maybe SOE will be their last album? I can't really see them stopping all together. Maybe they will move towards releasing singles or EPs or whatever.

The Little Things That Give You Away

U2 - The Little Things That Give You Away

what they said

did you know

you

forums

U2start