The B-sides that changed the world.

ALWAYS (Oct. 9, 2000)

Here today, and gone tomorrow
Crack the bone, get to the marrow
To be the bee, and the flower
Before the sweetness turns to sour

What we have we’re gonna keep (Always)
What we’ve lost, we don’t need (Always)
What is it that won’t let you sleep (Always)

Be the apple, and the target
Put your head over the parapet
Be uncool, yes, be awkward
And don’t look in the obvious place
The soul needs beauty for a soul mate

Get down off your holy cloud (Always)
God will not deal with the proud (Always)
If you dream, then dream out loud (Always)
Eternally yours (Always)

I want you
I want you
I want you

Don’t you know desire?
I wanted to be your love
I wanted to call . . .

You say come, you know yourself (Always)
Go find yourself in someone else (Always)
And always wear a safety belt (Always)
Wait for me, I’m running late (Always)

This is the moment that we share, for Always
Turn each song into a prayer (Always)
Now and forever, for Always
For Always
For Always
For Always

SUMMER RAIN (Oct. 9, 2000)

When you stop seeing beauty you start growing old
The lines on your face are a map to your soul
When you stop taking chances you'll stay where you sit
You won't live any longer but it'll feel like it

I lost myself in the summer rain
I lost myself
I lost myself in the summer rain
In the summer rain

Tequila and orange, Jamaica and rum

At the Moreilla, honey on my tongue
In a small boat on a generous sea
You let me be your enemy
A tiny hand with a grip on the world
Holding our breath now, diving for pearls

I lost myself in the summer rain
I lost myself
I lost myself in the summer rain

Just as you find me always I will be
A little bit too free with myself
Just as you find me always I will be
A little bit too free with myself

I lost myself in the summer rain
I lost myself
Now there's no one else in the summer rain
Raining down
Raining down
Rain
Raining down
Raining down

Just as you find me always I will be
A little bit too free with myself
Just as you find me always I will be
A little bit too free with myself

It's not why you're running
It's where you're going
It's not what you're dreaming
But what you're gonna do
It's not where you're born
It's where you belong
It's not how weak
But what will make you strong

Mercy

-Encountered "Mercy" off the live Brussels recording on this site this past weekend. The official site does not have them. At any rate they will probably end up being more accurate than those posted by the Official u2.com. I'm saying this because there is a pronounced pattern of subtle innacuracies when it comes to U2's B-Sides, and at times this site scores better on those than their own official site (though they're wrong here too; it's "neither can resist, and neither can we trust". But it's more enlightening than I expected, meaning, they got them a little better than I did, at least, in my head. I hadn't transcribed that recording because I didn't trust myself to do it off of youtube. I don't have a turntable. But I guess here I will add my own certainty that this purportedly "live" take from Brussels in not actually Brussels. (I'm not alone on this one, just go listen to an actual live recording.) It has some of its elements but what's on the record sounds closest to the recording in Rome.

*Hearts* all the same. 

"Blow Your House Down" -U2 out take

Wake up...
Better wake up dead man
Better find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

You got to give so
Get by on the booze
Say all you gotta know
Get rocked, and baby
Disco in a hall
It's a generation come back
Now that you got it

You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
Better find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
Gotta find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

Wake up, wake up, wake up

She's got soul
She's blurry in the eyes
Got which days baby
Cut you to the eyes
Get sick with the hip
Get the right slip
If you want to, here she comes
Here she comes

Better wake up
Better wake up dead man

Better find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

What does it feel like when you heart it's full of soul
You kicking it farther, you dunk your body low
Why does it feel like you should know
The lights in the clouds and in your eyes
Round, round, round

You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
Better find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
Better find a new plan

Better wake up dead man

Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Sugar, sugar, sugar   (This is the Cave song, actual title (‘88),  a bit uncanny? In Blow Your House Down, Bono calls "her" Sugar over and over, exactly the way Cave did two years before.)
You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
Better find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
Better find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

You better wake up
Wake up dead man
It's in the new plan

(This is my baby, so why don't you leave me)

Check it out, check it out, check it out

You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
Gotta find a new plan
Better wake up dead man

You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
'Cause there's something in your hand
Better wake up dead man
You better wake up
Better wake up dead man
We took a new plan
Better wake up dead man

it's like being caught in a net.

"Mercy" (Zurich premiere)

"It's Sunday night, what are you going to do? Experiment on yourself."

I was drinking some wine
And it turned to blood
What’s the use of religion
If you’re only good

I know I’m weed killer, honey
And you’re sugar
If you’re the prosecution
I get away with murder

You’re gravity searching for the ground
I’m [You're - Paris] silence searching for a sound

Your heart is aching
Your heart is my home
It’s fascinating
I know I’ll never be alone

You’re gonna [wanna] kill me and I wanna die
We were meant for each other, you and I
Souls allowed to love
And there’s nowhere else to turn
[there's no where left to go
and no one left to trust - Paris -all 3]

You’re not sorry, you’re not gonna cry
You put the blue back in my eye
It’s just us
Because, because, because we can
We must

If you’re hunger, baby let me feed it
If your heart is full, baby let me bleed it
And happiness is for those who don’t really need it
You love me too much

You wanna kill me and I wanna die
We’re a perfect match, you and I
Slaves without the drug
And there’s no one else to trust

I’m not sorry, you’re not gonna cry
You put the blue back in my eye
It’s just us
Because, because, because we can
We must

I’m gonna kill me and I wanna die
We were meant for each other, you and I
Souls allowed to trust
And there’s no one left to trust

I’m not sorry, you’re not gonna cry
You put the blue back in my eye
It’s just us
Because, because, because we can
We must
Because, because, because we can
We must
Because, because, because we can
We must

This is the counterpoint; you know what it means. Hell-O...
'it takes a crime to cry'


"North Star" (Turin premiere)

Forty-five light years from home
Is where you are and where I wanna be
Beside you

Looking for directions
Stars are your reflection
To the space between you and me

I, I can’t wait any longer for your love
I can’t wait, I can’t wait
I can’t wait any longer for it
I can’t wait any longer for your love

Birds still singing for their rent
They fly above the government
It’s not a song of discontent
I’ve money now
It’s me that’s spent

Here I am, a space cowboy
Looking out for love and logic
In the universe, yeah, yeah

I can’t wait any longer for your love
I can’t wait, I can’t wait
I can’t wait any longer for it
I can’t wait any longer for your love

And the day packs it in
And you watch as the sun goes down
Pray that the night will come quickly
You hope, you pray
That those clouds leave the sky alone
‘Cause there’s only one light that can guide you
Guide you home, home

Say it, say it, say it, say it

I can’t wait any longer
I can’t wait any longer for your love
I can’t wait any longer for your love
I can’t wait, I can’t wait
I can’t wait for your love
For your love
It’s like the circles in the song
Well, the lights have been shining
You want it, you got it
You take a lot of loving inside

"A love song to the universe"


Every Breaking Wave (Helsinki premiere)

Every breaking wave
On the shore
Tells the next one there’ll be one more

Every gambler knows
That to lose
Is what you’re really there for

Somewhere else there's fearlessness
Now I’m speaking to an answer phone
And every sighing leaf
On the breeze
Winter wouldn’t leave her alone

Hey hey now
Hey hey now

I don’t know if I’m that strong
I don’t know if I’m that strong
Don’t know if I’m that strong
To be somebody
To need someone

Every sailor knows that the sea
Is a friend made enemy
Every shipwrecked soul
Knows what it is
To live without intimacy
I thought I heard the master’s voice
It’s hard to listen while you preach

Like every broken wave
On the shore
This is as far as I can reach

Hey hey now
Hey hey now

I don’t know if I’m that strong
I don’t know if I’m that strong
Don’t know if I’m that strong
Enough to be somebody
To need someone

The waves know
We’re on the rocks
And drowning is no sin

And you know
My heart is
The same place yours has been

And we know
The fear of winning
So we end, before we begin

Oh oh oh oh 3xs

The waves know
We’re on the rocks
And drowning is no sin

You know
My heart is
The same place yours has been

And we know
The fear of winning
So we end, before we begin


"Glastonbury" (Turin Premiere)

Take me to the mountain green
You know it but I’ve never been
I was packing since the 10th of May
A few distractions along the way

Pale as snow
The flowering rose
For a flowering rose I would bend my knee
Came to find
The flowering rose
The flowering rose of Glastonbury

You are a pocketful of sunshine
You are the miracle I came here to find
Some things you just can’t control
Sometimes you just let it go

Morning, it was heaven-sent
And music is a sacrament
You pilgrims on a mountain green
You knew it but I’d never been

Pale as snow
The flowering rose
For a flowering rose I would bend my knee
Came to find
The flowering rose
The flowering rose of Glastonbury

You are a pocketful of sunshine
You are the miracle I came here to find

Alright, friend of Jimmy’s club

Down by the river where the village is sleeping
Under the flower of American dreams
Send in saints and a thought worth keeping
Even in the dreams you can't seem to sleep in

You are a pocketful of sunshine
You go, come over to Dublin all the time
You are a pocketful of sunshine
You are the miracle I came here to find
The miracle I came here to find
Miracle I came here to find 2xs

First discovery of "Mercy" was the Paris performance. Bang, Bang.

"you can walk it, or wade it
you know that you can stay inside your heart" - closing "North Star", Paris

Lyrics were referenced from here and here, with a slight bit of tweaking/correction.

Now that's the way to spend a Full Moon/Fall Equinox. (I had a sense it was really the 22nd. Hells yes!)

These are the original lyrics to "Mercy":

I was drinking some wine... and it turned to blood
What's the use of religion... if you're any good
I know I'm weedkiller honey... and you're sugar
If you're the prosecution... I get away with murder
If you were ice... I'm water
And with your telescope... I can see further
We're binary code... a one and a zero
You wanted violins... and you got nero
You're gravity... searching for the ground
You're silence... searching for a sound

Your heart is aching... your heart is my home
It's fascinating... I know I'll never be alone
I'm ripping the stitches
We've got two hands to rub
I'm digging the ditches
Of someone else's love

Love hears when I lie
Love puts the blue back in my eye
Love will come again
I'll be gone again... again

If you're hunger... baby let me feed it
If your heart is full... baby let me bleed it
And happiness is for... those who don't really need it
You love me... too much
You always loved me... too much

When I'm ripping the stitches
We've got two hands to rub
I'm digging the ditches
Of someone else's luck

Love hears me when I lie
Love puts the blue back in my eye
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love's got to be with the weak
Only then love gets a chance to speak
Love will come again
I'll be gone again... again

I... I can't escape myself

I hear you talk
Fear nothing
I fear nothing
Feel....
I hear so much
Fear nothing
I hear so much
Fear... nothing

Love has come again
I am gone again

Love is the end of history
The enemy of misery
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love is justice, not charity
Love brings with it a clarity
Love has come again
I'm alive again
Alive...

I am alive,
baby I'm born again and again
And again, and again and again and again
Again


These are the original lyrics to "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" (Batman Soundtrack):

You don’t know how you took it,

you just know what you got

Oh lordy you’ve been stealing

from the thieves and you got caught

(repeat reference from The Fly

"Every artist is cannibal, every poet is a thief,

All kill their inspiration and speak about their grief")

In the headlights, of a stretch car, you’re a star

Dressing like your sister, living like a tart

("sister the Moon" in "Mysterious Ways", i.e., The Holy Spirit)

They don’t know what you’re doing, Babe it must be art (This is the Big Secret.)

You’re a headache, in a suitcase, in the star

I know that we’ve shined, you don’t have to go blind,

HM, TM, KM, KM

You don’t know how you got here,

you just know you want out

Believing in yourself almost as much as you doubt

You’re a big smash, you’re very like hash, Star

I know that we’ve shined, It takes a crime to cry,

HM, TM, KM, KM

They want you to play Jesus, they’ll go down on one knee

But they’ll want their money back if you’re alive,

Honey plea

And you turn them tricks, with your crucifix,

oh Star, ah child

Of course you’re not tired, you don’t have to deny, love,

HM, TM, KM, KM