With their third album, 'War', U2 have found just such a perspective and with it, have generated their most fulfilling work yet. War makes for impressive listening, but more important, it deals with a difficult
subject in a sensible way. That subject is the sectarian strife in
Northern Ireland, or what the Irish call "the troubles." U2 are not the first group to play soldiers with this topic; Belfast's Stiff Little Fingers have dealt with the problem explicitly, the Clash somewhat more obliquely. But no one has caught the paradox between stance and action so accurately.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday," which opens the album, apparently
addresses Bloody Sunday, a 1972 incident in which British paratroopers killed thirteen civilians in an illegal civil-rights
demonstration in Londonderry. As an acoustic guitar and a sizzling hi-hat build tension, vocalist Bono Vox sings, "I can't believe the news today . . . . " The band slips into some lush, sustained chords as he wonders, "How long? How long must we sing this song?" then jumps back into a militant, jagged dance beat.

It's great drama, and it lends a certain amount of credence to the
song's wistful chorus, "Tonight, we can be as one. Tonight!" But Vox tips his hand when he sings the urgent disclaimer, "I won't heed the battle call/It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall."

What Vox and the band are saying, then, is that it's pointless to take irresponsible risks when confronting irresponsible authority - but one must still take some sort of stance.

U2 don't pretend to have the answers to the world's troubles.
Instead, they devote their energies to letting us know that they are concerned and to creating an awareness about those problems. And
not only is that refreshing, but it makes sense, because U2
understand that it's the gesture, not the message, that counts.

Complementing U2's lyrical growth is a newly developed dark sense of humor, which the band uses to striking effect throughout the album.
"Seconds," for example, opens with a sleepy funk riff driven by a
cheerful toy bass drum. It's a pleasant juxtaposition, but as the
song's subject matter becomes clear - the insanity of nuclear
blackmail, where, as Bono Vox puts it, "the puppets pull the strings" -you realized that this jolly noise-maker is no more an innocent plaything than is the one in Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum. Similarly, "New Year's Day" includes the wisecrack, "So we are told, this is a golden age/Gold is the reason for the wars we wage" - a remark far wiser than it at first seems.

Yet War isn't all jaded ideals and sour wit, for as Bono Vox makes his pronouncements, his vocalise reveals the full flower of U2's melodic abilities. In between the bitter humor of "Seconds," he breaks into joyous flights of wordless melody, his voice soaring in multi-tracked
polyphony over the song's slippery rhythms. "Surrender" is lighter still, thanks to its airy melody and the Edge's coolly sustained guitar. In fact, this song is the one instance where the music says more than lyrics ever could, because hearing Vox's blissful tenor floating over the backing vocals (courtesy of Kid Creole's Coconuts) is a better definition of "Surrender" than anything in Webster's.

Generally, the album's musical strengths are largely the product ofwell-honed arrangements and carefully, balance dynamics. Even as the Edge spins increasingly sophisticated guitar lines, he maintains the minimalist bluntness that sparked Boy. And while bassist Adam Clayton
and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. have swung to more dance-oriented rhythms. their songs hurtle along with the sort of brusque purposefulness more frequently associated with punk.

Copyright © 1968-1999 Rolling Stone Network. All Rights Reserved.

I can't believe the news today,
I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long? Tonight we can be as one.
Broken bottles under children's feet,
Bodies strewn across a dead end street,
But I won't heed the battle call,
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

And the battle's just begun,
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug within our hearts,
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long, Tonight we can be as one.
Tonight, tonight.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

Wipe the tears from your eyes,
Wipe your tears away,
Wipe your blood shot eyes.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

And it's true we are immune.
When fact is fiction and T.V. is reality,
And today the millions cry,
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.
The real battle just begun.
To claim the victory Jesus won,
On a Sunday bloody Sunday,
Sunday bloody Sunday.

It takes a second to say goodbye,
Say goodbye.
It takes a second to say goodbye,
Say goodbye, say bye bye where are you going to now?

Fall, rise and . . . Fall, rise and . . .
Lightning flashes across the sky,
From east to west you do or die.
Like a thief in the night,
You see the world by candlelight.

Fall, rise and . . . Fall, rise and . . .
In an apartment on Times Square,
You can assemble them anywhere.
Held to ransom, hell to pay,
A revolution everyday.
U.S.S.R., D.D.R., London, New York, Peking.
It's the puppets, It's the puppets who pull the strings.

Say goodbye, say goodbye.
It takes a second to say goodbye,
Push the button and pull the plug, say goodbye.

Fall, rise and . . . Fall, rise and . . .
They're doing the atomic bomb,
Do they know where the dance comes from?
Yes they're doing the atomic bomb,
They want you to sing along.
Say goodbye, say goodbye.

All is quiet on New Year's Day,
A world in white gets underway,
And I want to be with you,
Be with you night and day.
Nothing changes on New Year's Day.
I will be with you again.
I will be with you again.

Under a blood-red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white.
Arms entwined, the chosen few,
Newspapers say, it says it's true.
And we can break through,
though torn in two we can be one.
I will begin again, I will begin again.
Oh and maybe the time is right,
Oh maybe tonight.
I will be with you again.
I will be with you again.

And so we are told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage.
Though I want to be with you,
To be with you night and day.
Nothing changes on New Year's day.

Like a song I have to sing,
I sing it for you.
Like the words I have to bring,
I bring them for you.
And in leather, lace and chains,
We stake our claim,
Revolution once again.

But I won't,
I won't wear it on my sleeve.
I can see through this expression
And you know I don't believe.
I'm too old to be told,
Exactly who are you?
Tonight, tomorrow's to late.

And we love to wear a badge, a uniform,
And we love to fly a flag.
But I won't let others live in hell,
As we divide against each other,
And we fight amongst ourselves.

Too set in out ways to try to rearrange.
Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song.
Let the bells ring out, is there nothing left?
Is honesty what you want?

A generation without name, ripped and torn,
Nothing to loose, nothing to gain,
Nothing at all.
And if you can't help yourself,
Well take a look around you
When others need your time.
You say it's time to go it's your time.
Angry words won't stop the fight.
Two wrings won't make it right.
A new heart is what I need,
Oh God, make it bleed,
Is there nothing left?

Take my hand
You know I'll be there,
If you can I'll cross
The sky for your love,
For I have promised for
To be with you tonight
And for the time that will come.

Take my hand
You know I'll be there,
If you can I'll cross
The sky for your love
And I understand
These winds and tides,
This change of times
Won't drag you away.
Hold on, hold on tightly,
Hold on and don't let go
Of my love.

The storms will pass
It won't be long now.
The storms will pass
But my love last forever.

And take my hand,
You know I'll be there,
If you can I'll cross the sky
For your love.
Give you what I hold dear,
Hold on, hold on tightly.
Hold on, hold on tightly.
Rise up, rise up with wings,
Like eagles you'll run, you'll run.
You'll run and not grow weary.

Take my hand, take my hand.
Hold on tightly.
Hold on tightly.
This love last forever,
This love last forever,
Take my hand,
Take my hand.

Oh, Oh
She's the refugee.
I see your face,
I see you staring back at me.
Oh, Oh
She's the refugee
Her mama say one day she's gonna live in America.

In the morning,
She is waiting,
Waiting for the ship to sail,
Sail away.

Her papa go to war.
He gonna fight,
But he don't know what for.
Her papa go to war
Her mama say one day he's gonna come back from far away.

Help me.
How can you help me?
In the evening,
She is waiting,
Waiting for her man to come.
And take her by her hand.
And take her to this promise land.

She's a pretty face,
But at the wrong time and at the wrong place.
She's a pretty face.
Her mama say one days she's gonna live in America.
Yeah, America.

She's a refugee.
She's coming amn, she's coming for company.
She's a refugee.
Her mama say one day she's gonna live in America.

I don't know,
I don't know which side I'm on.
I don't know my right from left,
Or my right from wrong.
Say I'm a fool,
Say I'm not for you.
But if I'm a fool for you,
That's something.
Two hearts beat as one.
Two hearts beat as one.

Can't stop the dance,
This is not our chance.
I can't stop the dance,
Maybe this is not our chance.
Two hearts beat as one.
Two hearts beat as one.

Beat on black,
Beat on white,
Beat on anything,
Go get it right.
Beat on you or beat on me.
Oh
I don't know,
How to say what has got to be said.
I don't know if it's black or white.
There's other's who see it red.
I don't give the answers right.
I'll leave that to you.
Is this love out of fashion?
Or is it the time of year?
I have these words to sections.

Too late to one of you.
Two hearts beat as one.
Two hearts beat as one.

I'll shine my spirit aloud.
Try to explain.
What I feel.
Two hearts.
I can't stop the dance.
Baby, this is my last chance.
I said don't stop the dance.
Baby this is not our last chance.
I said, can't stop the dance.

You said you're not going to hell.
But you can't ask it.
If your running from yourself.
I give you my love.
I give you my love.
Still you walk away.

It's a bright light child.
As you jump to the street below.
But where can you go
To leave yourself behind?
Lonely on the spotlight,
Your not really traveling.
I give you my love.

Holding the city.
I give my love to you.
And I'll bring you through.
See your not alone.
I give you my love.
I give you my love.

The city's alight
With lovers and lies
Bright blue eyes.
The city is bright,
Brighter than day tonight,

Surrender, Surrender.

Sadie said she couldn't
Work out what it was all about.
And so she let go,
Now Sadie's on the street
And the people she meets you know.
She tried to be a good girl
And a good wife
Raise a good family,
Lead a good life.
It's not good enough
She got herself up on the 48th floor
Got to find out, find out
What she's living for.
Surrender, Surrender.

The city's a fire,
A passionate flame
That knows me by name.
The city's desire
To take me for more and more.
It's in the street getting under my feet,
It's in the air it's everywhere I look for you,
It's in the things I do and say.
If I want to live, I've got to die to myself someday.

Papa sing my sing my song.
Papa sing my sing my song.

(Taken from Psalm 40)

I waited patiently for the Lord
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me right out of the pit,
out of my reglade.
I will sing a new song,
How long to sing this song?
He set my feet upon a rock,
and made my footsteps heard.
Many will see,
Many will see and fear.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?