the saints are coming

so you've probably heard, U2 released a new album, U218 singles. amazing, of course. one of their new songs, 'the saints are coming' has a fabulous video with quite a moving message, which i have posted below for your viewing pleasure.



in addition to the video, i watched a new show on hbo this week, 'off the record' in which bono and the edge were the guests of honor. i learned a lot, but quite possibly the most interesting was the history behind one of my favorite U2 songs, "bullet the blue sky". i won't go into too much depth, but bono was on a tour of a country that the band was helping financially along with his young wife...there were small villages being bombed, apparently it was a pretty horrific experience that he was not expecting. he felt he had put them both in grave danger, which made him angry. bono eventually learned that the bombing was coming from the U.S., and out of this experience, "bullet the blue sky" came into existance. if you recall bono's rant in the song:

"This guy comes up to me
His face red like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colors of a royal flush
And he's peeling off those dollar bills
Slapping them down
One hundred, two hundred
And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
You take the staircase to the first floor
Turn the key and slowly unlock the door
As a man breathes into a saxophone
And through the walls you hear the city groan
Outside is America
Outside is America"

bono revealed the face (red like a rose bush) he was discussing in the song was that of ronald reagan.