Dreaming Out Loud

The early 90’s were a watershed time for me as a music fan. I had painfully weathered the “hairband” fad of the late 80’s with all their plastic superficialities, their big hair and power anthems, and suddenly found myself with bands like Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, and others who, at least for my musical sensibilities, had reclaimed the authenticity of rock and roll. When I think back to that cheesy spectacle of the mid to late 80’s, I consider myself more than a little thankful to have had a band like U2 to follow. I recall one music critic who wrote later that “they are the only band (from the 80’s) that mattered.” They had released “The Joshua Tree”, their Magnum Opus, allowing them to conquer to musical world in ’87. I clearly remember driving down Stewarts Ferry Pike, with windows down and singing “Still Haven’t Found…” at the top of my lungs and thinking that life could not get any better that this.

Yet, as the public witnessed their songwriting talent grow and mature, it was actually Bono’s lyrics that had me enthralled, for he was penning lyrics approaching the level of Lennon, Springsteen, and even Dylan on occasion. He clearly considered the world around him deeply and had a talent for metaphoric imagery that is rare. Just consider his lyrics to “Hawkmoon 269” to witness it. There he unloads a truckload of uniquely engaging analogies expressing his love for Ali, his wife. 

To their immeasurable credit as a band, U2 refused to allow “Joshua Tree” to be used as a template for future success. There would be no Joshua Tree 2.0 to cash in on. As Bono famously announced during the encore at the final Rattle and Hum show, “we have to go away now, and dream it up all over again.” The result of that dream was Achtung Baby.

I could spill a lot of ink on this album, for it shocked everyone. They had completely reinvented themselves, sonically, lyrically, and philosophically. Long gone were the simple days of “Rattle and Hum” with its “three chords and the truth” manta. With Achtung Baby they dove into Industrial Rock, and even Hip Hop for the first time, which would have been a sacrilege just a few years earlier. They succeeded by adapting all those influences to their own musical sensibilities, particularly how Edge reinvented and expanded what his guitar could do, as well as revamping their rhythm section to lay down something you could move your hips to, all of which opened up entirely new creative threads to investigate. To the shock of critics and the delight of fans, U2 had somehow delivered their second Magnum Opus. In fact, they produced them back-to-back.

Here I want to pause for a moment to clarify a key aspect from this period in their career, because they presented their new album and upcoming tour with a zeitgeist change of who they were, which is relevant to my purpose here. I was lucky enough to witness the spectacle of the ZooTV show several times, and I can tell you without hesitation they were once-in-a-lifetime experiences. The stage was massive, and on a scale that had never been seen before. There were dozens of video screens and TV monitors of various sizes all around the stage, employing a dozen directors and a crew of 19 video editors working round-the-clock delivered tabloid style headlines projected on-stage, there were several “Trabants”, each stripped out, fitted with spot lights and cameras, and attached to cranes that were incorporated into the light show, there was a Belly Dancer for “She Moves in Mysterious Ways”, there was a “confessional” booth where fans could record a “personal” message before the show, then watch it play on the big screen in front of the whole stadium. The line between public and personal blurred; the irony was dripping. It was a full-on assault to all the norms I held regarding rock and roll concerts. I believe I could speak for anyone who witnessed it that is was as an audio/visual experience like nothing ever seen before in the music industry. It was a barrage of media content thrown at the senses. No band had ever attempted anything close to this……it was altogether outrageous and disorienting, but transformative. 

Now I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, because I mention all of this in order to show that U2 had clearly faced, and embraced the future, in real time, and in public view. This is a key piece to point out, because they chose to walk away from the comfort and security of their success, as Bono pointed out of the end of that Rattle and Hum show. He was even quoted as saying that, “Achtung Baby is the sound of U2 chopping down the Joshua Tree.” After that final show on New Year’s Eve 1989, no one could have envisioned the Bono who bled sincerity adopting the “Fly” personae? It was all insane, but also a testament to the courage they showed in answering a single, fundamental question.

Which leads me to “Zooropa”, the opening track to their follow up album by the same name. By positioning it as the opening track, they were clearly granting it more narrative weight, since it could then be used to announce an intention not otherwise stated. And in this case, the song appears to have been conceived as an the answer to the philosophical question just mentioned.

It also helped that at this point, the band was humming along nicely, firing on all cylinders, and with this title track I believe they created an impressive piece of Pop Art, in both form and content. As with nearly all examples of high art, regardless of whether its classical or popular, Zooropa deploys a number of metaphoric threads throughout its course, all in order to draw attention to the intended associations. In fact, it starts off by presenting a clearly metaphoric montage of sonic threads, meant to lay the groundwork for the proposition to come.

They accomplished this by strategically utilizing what are clearly allegorical threads, loosely melodic, beginning with a simple organ that establishes a level of tension right out of the gate, which is soon joined by highly distorted, digitalized voices, seemingly chattering all at once. This is then joined by a thread of static that helps create a high degree of tension, apparently indicating a disorienting future in some form. Then a solemn, even stately piano is introduced, vying for our attention, attempting to cut through the chaos to recover some order, which I believe is meant to represent a type of “old-world” sensibility, a reminder of a bygone age, if you will…..trying to establish the emotional comfort and predictability of our far simpler past.

Both threads continue along in an uneasy co-existence, with both the piano (a return to simpler times) and digital static (the future) vying for our attention, and allegiance. Then near the end of this nearly two-minute intro, the piano slowly fades away and surrenders to the static, while Edge enters the song with a highly futuristic guitar riff that unmistakably cuts the past away and places the future squarely in our face. Thus, the entire opening montage presents us with a clearly defined story thread, illustrating the cultural collision between past and future, with the latter being irreversibly now!

But that begs the question…… what kind of future is Bono alluding to? All of it, apparently, but to be more specific within the song, it’s the pace of change itself, as well as the subtle manipulation of our attention by the consumer centric economy we live in. To break down what I’m referring to there, I believe the song is presented as two clearly opposing halves, offering the two paths we can take to the proposition at hand. This was no accident of songwriting. Even without considering the lyrics, if we simply interpret the sonic moods elicited by each half, we’ll discover the additional allegorical thread at play there. In other words, the first half sounds clean (comforting), the second half dirty (challenging).

To my point there, it’s basic psychology that our minds require a sense of order, with rules and limitations designed to give us a predictable framework in which to navigate. We develop habits and hold beliefs regarding many things, all to help us create a degree of predictability, but that is ultimately a false sense of certainty. In a way, I believe the first half reflects this comforting façade. Once Edge’s guitar riff kicks off the song, we are presented with an orderly, even subdued melody. Listen carefully for the contrast it presents against the second half. This is a sanitized environment, safe and orderly, but ultimately artificial. Sonically, it feels like an interior space, almost like a protective cocoon, with not a hint of anxiety to be detected. Just listen to Bono’s lack of engagement. The only lyrics are sales pitches that are delivered with the detachment of a Corporate “Spokesman”, a salesman delivering each hook with self-assured banality.

Be a winner
Eat to get slimmer

A bluer kind of white
It could be yours tonight

We’re mild and green
And squeaky clean

Now allow me a moment to frame what I believe is going on here. The song’s introduction provided the necessary setup by positing (metaphorically) a theme of tradition and comfort, pitted against an unpredictable and stressful future. That much appears clear to me. The use of a Grand Piano next to digital static are unmistakable clues. Then once the first half begins, we’re offered the above-mentioned consequence of choosing safety and comfort, which is a sterile choice.

Interestingly enough, just before Bono begins singing the opening lines, he poignantly asks, “what do you want?” Listen closely. He is dropping a hint to what this is all about.

I believe we should all realize by now that Bono is a deeply penetrating lyricist, there can be no debate on that, and at this time he and the band were peaking creatively. Achtung Baby had just conquered the globe, and when they went into the studio to record a quick EP of three or four songs to drum up support for the European leg of “ZooTV”, they hit a creative burst that ended up becoming an entire album of new material, the resulting “Zooropa”.

As mentioned above, the ZooTV tour explicitly exploited the very theme of our changing times, particularly at its disorienting pace, and the fracturing of social norms, so Bono was saturated with this topic precisely during this period. Therefore, I believe he intended to use this song as an attempt to frame his concerns more precisely, by presenting the question that he had in mind as simply and artistically as he could. What he is offering is one of two choices, the first being loosely represented by the first half of the song, as just described. But that is a false comfort, a choice that is not really a choice. Bono’s use of advertising slogans alludes to this, where we are being sold a predefined, sanitized lifestyle from a false premise, where we are choosing to accept and conform in order to be protected from the unknown. But there is no individual growth there. It’s Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” all over again. 

Now I realize this theory would appear to be a bit of a reach, perhaps stretching metaphors beyond their intended purposes. And given the absence of any meaning lyrics by this point, I get it….. and I would even agree, but trust me, once the second half kicks in, all of the allegorical dots begin to connect, because that artificial comfort appears to have been a deliberate setup for the conversation about to explode into view.

A Song within a song

In my opinion, the second half of this song is one of the most stirring stretches of pure musical theater in the U2 catalog, both musically and lyrically. And this for a band famous for their “stirring” music. It is a surging slab of rock and roll, with poignant metaphors being thrown down with sublime intent, passionately delivered, and with a closing phrase that perfectly incapsulates the inspiration needed to address the fundamental question at hand. It’s a tour de force. Full stop.

Lyrically, it is structured around a conversation between our supposed protagonist and a guardian angel of some sort. With Bono, I’ll go with Guardian Angel. The character in question is a “she”, based on the last stanza, and I wonder if Bono is linking back to the protagonist from Achtung Baby, who is also female and appeared to be lost and looking for direction. Either way, it’s clear that WE are the intended protagonist, because each of us are faced with the same choice, whether to withdraw from the apparent upheaval of constant change or to embrace it and work out our own relationship to it.

In contrast to the “sanitized” environment of the opening half, the back half is chaotic, unleashing a whirlwind of musical mayhem that is undeniably in our face and demanding a response. The transition between the two halves feels equivalent to stepping out of a St. Patrick’s Cathedral onto Time Square… at rush hour. She is disoriented, on her own, and expresses that clearly. For some allegorical clarity, circle back to Plato’s Cave analogy, specifically the sole individual who took the risk and sees the sun for the first time.

And I have no compass
And I have no map
And I have no reasons
No reasons to get back

And I have no religion
And I don’t know what’s what
And I don’t know the limit
The limit of what we’ve got

With her fear and trembling evident, the inspiring reply drops in, with poignant allusions at every turn. “It’s cold outside, but brightly lit” ….. yes it’s confusing, but there is a path. “Skip the subway” ….. don’t go underground, don’t hide, step outside and embrace it, go “overground.” “Put flowers in the mud” ….. plant your future in the confusion.

Don’t worry baby, it’ll be alright
You got the right shoes
To get you through the night
It’s cold outside, but brightly lit
Skip the subway
Let’s go to the overground
Get your head out of the mud baby
Put flowers in the mud baby
Overground

Then she begins to find her footing.

No particular place names
No particular song
I’ve been hiding
What am I hiding from

And then comes the money line, “uncertainty can be a guiding light”, Bono’s sublime proposition.

Don’t worry baby, it’s gonna be alright
Uncertainty can be a guiding light
I hear voices, ridiculous voices
Out in the slipstream
Let’s go, let’s go overground
Take your head out of the mud baby

Then to draw this densely packed narrative to a close, Bono drops the ultimate maxim, and one that circles back to their intent when signing off at that last Rattle and Hum show.

She’s gonna dream up
The world she wants to live in
She’s gonna dream out loud
She’s gonna dream out loud
Dream out loud

 A response that we should all carry until the very end.