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............... The Bomb Squad


U2's track-by-track guide to 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'
Q magazine, October 02, 2004

Vertigo

U2 as garage band. Over power chords, Bono sings about boys who play rock 'n' roll. Adam Clayton: "It was originally called Native Son and had a very different feel. Bono and Edge rewrote it when we started work with Steve Lillywhite. The bass and drums have a little bit of Echo & the Bunnymen in there -- a nice wink to where we came from."


Miracle Drug

The sort of wide-eyed anthem that should by now carry a U2 patent. Bono: "It started off being about the Irish writer Christopher Nolan, who was at our school (Nolan, who was born with cerebral palsy, won the 1988 Whitbread Prize for his autobiographical novel Under the Eyes of the Clock). But in a more oblique way it's probably as much about AIDS and the drugs developed to arrest it. I couldn't write specifically about that without feeling an idiot."


Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own

Bono on his father's death. As stately and emotive as "One." Bono: "There's a line, 'You're the reason I have the operas in me.' My old man was a beautiful tenor. He was this working-class guy who loved opera. He used to sit conducting the stereo with knitting needles."


Love and Peace or Else

As close as U2 have come to being Led Zeppelin. The Edge: "I'm delighted about this one. It's been around since the last record. All we had was an amazing keyboard part of Brian [Eno]'s and a rhythm section Larry and Daniel [Lanois] had worked up. I fought for hours trying to figure out what to do with this fantastic raw track. We cracked it this time."


City of Blinding Lights

Back to the wide-open terrain of The Unforgettable Fire, via a vintage Edge motif. Bono: "It's a New York song. About going there for the first time. We were the first band to play Madison Square Gardens after 9/11. During 'Where the Streets Have No Name' the house lights came up and there were 20,000 people in tears. It was beautiful."


All Because of You

Three minutes of gleeful stomping and a likely single. Sample lyric: "I like the sound of my own voice." Adam Clayton: "Often when we have something which is straight rock it never goes anywhere -- we just keep churning it around. But this was one or two takes."


A Man and a Woman

Motown by way of the Rolling Stones' "Waiting on a Friend." Bono: "The sound of sitting on a stoop in New York in the summer. I wanted a song that rolled up the Clash and Marvin Gaye into one."


Crumbs From Your Table

The Edge breaks out "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"'s ringing guita. Bono rails at the AIDS crisis. Bono: "I went to speak to Christian fundamentalist groups in America to convince them to give money to fight AIDS in Africa. It was like getting blood from a stone. I told them about a hospice in Uganda where so many people were dying they had to sleep three to a bed. Sister Anne, who I mention in the song, works at that hospice. Her office is a sewer."


One Step Closer

Bono ponders the meaning of death over a hushed backdrop. Bono: "Noel Gallagher gave me that line. We were in Birmingham on the last U.K. tour. I was telling Noel my old man had lost his faith and didn't know where he was going. And Noel just said (adopts passable Mancunian drawl), 'Well he's one step closer to knowing, isn't he?' "


Original of the Species

A strident torch song. Contains the lines, "Some things you shouldn't get too good at/Like smiling, crying and celebrity." The Edge: "The last time I cried was listening to that song. It was a song Bono started on the last record about my daughter Holly. He's her godfather. The lyric became more universal. About being young and full of doubt about yourself. He probably won't agree, but I think it has connotations for Bono, looking back to when he was 20."


Yahweh

Quintessentially U2 -- from soaring chorus to a title that co-opts the Hebrew word for God. Bono: "I had the idea that no one can own Jerusalem, but everybody wants to put flags on it. The title's an ancient name that's not meant to be spoken. I got around it by singing it. I hope I don't offend anyone."


Fast Cars

Bizarrely, U2 come on like the house band in a Moroccan bazaar. Bono: "We did this on the very last day in the studio. It was really just for fun, but it came out so well it'll be an extra track on the record in some countries."


© Q magazine, 2004.

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...................... I am feeling deep things as I blog ....... different things are collision in my soul right now ........ I will tell you who I am as much as I dare ...... and as would rightly be for others with their own level of confidentiality.

The work I do and want to do with groups - does never ever raise to my expectations. I have great hopes always.
Here, just behind me is a tough session of group work. Not tough and nasty but tough in terms of progression to meaning, human development and satisfaction for most if not all.
So that delivers some failure feelings as I reflect.
It leaves me with regrets.
The dynamics were all wrong and I am part - big part of this.
I yearn for a dynamic of depth and openness - often it is and I buzz like mad because I believe there are humans stepping forward .....
Not just now. hmm

Contrast.
A human who has been bashed by life - said to me today - verbal words not the more often 'slight touch of the hand on my upper arm'.
Real words saying that I do fantastic things and fantastic 'being'.
From those lips especially - so beautiful.
In itself SO developmental.

Contrast.
reading a blog of a friend which was all about
"Why am I afraid to tell you who I am ........... "
(remember it is the title of my favourite book ever)
These words were brave beyond all words by really telling 'who I am' ...... and I am feeling it - disturbed deep in my soul.
I want to be.
I want to feel it because at second hand it can never be like first hand.
Beautiful imperfection.

Contrast.
Two humans today - communicated to me with natural warmth. I have not known them long and with no real meaningful conversations, well 'yes' a bit, but their warmth, from terrible experiences of life, oozed acceptance of me. I believe that is good for the interior person - as well as the exterior person (me).

Today.
I said to the taxi man -
"Look after her - she is precious"

I
say
of
you
to
the
eternal
taxi
man

"Look after .......... you are precious"


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.........OLA ........

IMGP6201.JPG
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

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..... this is Ola at the wedding of Anita and Tomek in Poland ...... it was beautiful and I wanted to show you more pix .....

bhp
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....... you are ...YOU ARE .....

hp_scanDS_31_311474232
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

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... just a reminder to you whatever you are doing,thinking, reflecting, hoping or maybe .....


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......... Brant was at Greenbelt this year - from US.
His website
www.brantchristopher.com
is well worth a visit ........ this is a bit from his home page .....;

Greenbelt Rocked! Brant returned from his week in the UK with newfound friends and fans. Greenbelt is like nothing you can experience in the US. We have our share of festivals...but nothing like the social consciousness of Greenbelt. Getting to sit back and listen to Martyn Joseph, Cathy Burton, Nathan Johnson, Peter Case and others was incredible. Some of the highlights included meeting up with author Steve Stockman (Walk On - Relevant Books) and playing at his venue, participating in a panel discussion with Publisher Gordon Charlton (Reverb Music) & Producer Jude Adam (BBC Radio 6), appearing on Greenbelt Radio hosted by Ruth Liskutin, and attending a songwriters workshop called The Rising with Martyn Joseph each morning. Brant also got to hang out with Dove award-winning songwriter Paul Field (Testify to Love)...more to come on that relationship in the near future!
Finally, Brant got to meet Greenbelt legend Pip Wilson and spend many hours into the night with Pip and his buddies.
Wonderful conversation about "Beautiful Imperfection."
Brant will be returning to the UK in early December for a 10 day tour. Be sure to check out the links page for more info on all the people Brant met and show them some support! Peace.

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...Blackpool Tower ..

...Blackpool Tower ..
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

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........ yes Blackpool Tower and we are at Place De La Concorde which is on an island south of England ........ unlike me the are all very clever here ...... they can all speak French - even the children!

Last night we had a nice meal out.
I did not go for the Frog Fritters or the Snails in Puff pastry - but I usually go for the stretch marks courses when I am out for a meal. Sometimes I am disappointed in what it tastes like ...... but I don't often play safe.
How do yo eat out?
safe?
same?
new?
bold?
risk?
adventure?
Maybe we eat just how we live?
Maybe we live our principles out like we eat?
risky/safe/routine/stretch?
What do you think?
www.pipwilson.com

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.....The French have style eh?

IMGP6411.JPG
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

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........ here we are in central Paris and tasting the delight for the eyes and the taste buds ....

enjoying .....
"non, je ne regrete riene" ..... would be the theme ..... it is certainly the song running through my head all the time ....... can you guess the singer of the famous version?

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Joan .... the woman I love ....

Joan .... the woman I love ....
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

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....... here we are in Paris France and loving it LOVING IT .........

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.......... well ..... here I am on Friday new month ....... Paris France.
It is great to drink champagne on the eurostar
wi-fi in the hotel - not bad eh?
and ............. I talked to a man from Iraq with now hope - yesterday
I love the walk through late night Paris and a meal and drinks with the woman I love
Yesterday I had dinner with a man who cannot phone home to Iraq
He wants Saddam back
Water electricity and telephones are worse now - he says.
He has no hope
I talked to him about having hope.
A glass half empty or a glass half full.
And here I am enjoying myself and enjoying Cointreau in the country of birth

....... and I am thinking about how you are because there is conflict and pressures in life and I don't know who you are unless you tell me ......

bless you in your becoming ......

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....... thank you for hitting me ........
... over twenty five thousand times
..... in September 2004
...... my website that is .......

Every click considered to be a finger tip, a unique finger tip, pressed this way.

I will try to blog from Paris .............. if not ...... Monday will be picturesque ...



... breath deeply and slowly and say ........ breath on me breath of God ..........



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