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RATTLE AND
HUM |
DATE
1988 |
LENGTH
72:27 MINUTES |
LABEL
POLYGRAM |
PRODUCER
BRYAN ENO & DANIEL LANOIS |
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U2 has the
resources to record/document
themselves at will, wherever and
with whomever they desire. While
that power can make for dangerous
self-indulgence (ever seen the
Beatles' Magical Mystery
Tour TV show?), it can also paint
a fascinatingly diverse portrait
of a band's creative process.
This album (and film) is a
sprawling
documentary of U2's autumn of
1987, the peak of their
popularity, and it works
brilliantly. There are nine new
studio tracks (featuring
contributions from Bob Dylan,
B.B. King and others-the band is
exploring its new-found roots),
six live songs, hilarious
interview segments, and two
song-snippets that aren't even by
U2. It adds up to a wondrous
mosaic with constantly changing
moods, openly showing the band's
strengths and faults. U2's
popularity doesn't seem
to have effected them as much as
it could've, and while Bono's
demagoguery occasionally gets out
of hand, remember that U2
thanked college radio when
accepting a Grammy. Their roots
in the marketplace and in music
are important to them, and that's
partly why they remain so potent.
Top cuts: "Desire"; the
slower, ethereal "Hawkmoon
269," "Heartland"
and "All I Want Is
You"; the reverent
(verging on derivative) tributes
"Angel Of Harlem,"
"When Love Comes To
Town" and "God Part
II"; and "Silver And
Gold" and "Bullet The
Blue Sky," which feature
fierce political rants. © 1978-1999
College Media, Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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desire |
when love
comes to town |
angel of
harlem |
all i want
is you |
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rattle and
hum |
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HELEN
SKELTER "This
is a song Charles Manson stole
from the Beatles.
We're stealing it back."
When you get to the bottom
You go back to the top of the
slide
And you stop and you turn
And you go for a ride
Till you get to the bottom
Then you see me again
Do you, don't you want me to love
you?
I'm coming down fast, but I'm
miles above you
Tell me, tell me, tell me the
answer
You may be a lover but you ain't
no dancer
Helter skelter
Do you, don't you want me to make
you?
Coming down fast I don't want me
to break you
Tell me , tell me, tell me the
answer
You may be a lover but you ain't
no dancer
Helter skelter
When you get to the bottom
you go back to the top of the
slide
Where you stop and you turn
And you go for a ride
Till you get to the bottom
And I see you again
Do you, don't you want me to love
you ?
Coming down fast I'm right above
you
Tell me , tell me, tell me the
answer
You may be a lover but you ain't
no dancer
Helter skelter
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VAN
DIEMEN'S LAND Hold me now, hold
me now
Till this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land
It's a bitter pill I swallow here
To be rent from one so dear
We fought for justice not
for gain
But the magistrate sent
me away
Now kings will rule and the poor
will toil
And tear their hands as they tear
the soil
But a day will come in
the dawning age
When an honest man sees an honest
wage
Hold me now, hold me now
Till this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land
Still the gunman rules and the
widows pay
A scarlet coat and a black beret
They thought that blood and
sacrifice
Could out of death bring forth a
life
Hold me now, hold me now
Till this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land
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DESIRE Yeah,
lover I'm on the streets
Gonna go where the bright lights
and the big city meet
With a red guitar, on fire
Desire
She's the candle burning in my
room
I'm like the needle - needle and
spoon
Over the counter with a shotgun
Pretty soon, everybody got one
And the fever when I'm beside her
Desire, desire
(Burning, burning)
She's the dollars
She's my protection
She's a promise
In the year of election
Sister, I can't let you go
I'm like a preacher
Stealing hearts at a traveling
show
For love or money, money, money
Desire
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HAWKMOON
269 Like a desert needs
rain
Like a town needs a name
I need your love
Like a drifter needs a room
Hawkmoon
I need your love
Like a rhythm unbroken
Like drums in the night
Like sweet soul music
Like sunlight
I need your love
Like coming home
And you don't know where you've
been
Like black coffee
Like nicotine
I need your love
When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love
Like a Phoenix rising
Needs a holy tree
Like the sweet revenge
Of a bitter enemy
I need your love
Like the heat needs the sun
Like honey on her tongue
Like the muzzle of a gun
Like oxygen
I need your love
When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love
Like thunder needs rain
Like the preacher needs pain
Like tongues of flame
Like a blind man's cane
Like a needle in a vein
Like someone to blame
Like a thought unchained
Like a runaway train
I need your love
Like a fighter's rage
His dreams in a cage
Like faith needs a doubt
Like a freeway out
I need your love
Like powder needs a spark
Like lies need the dark
I need your love
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ALL ALONG
THE WATCHTOWER "There
must be some way out of
here," said the joker to the
thief,
"There's too much confusion,
I can't get no relief.
Businessmen they drink my wine,
plowman dig my earth,
None of them along the line know
what any of it is worth."
"No need to get
excited," the thief, he
kindly spoke,
"There are many here among
us who think that life is but a
joke.
But you and I, we've been through
that, and that is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now,
the hour is getting late."
All along the watchtower, princes
kept the view
While all the women came and
went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat
did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the
wind began to howl.
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I STILL
HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING
FOR I have climbed the
highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her
fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire
I have spoke with the tongue of
angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
I believe in the Kingdom
Come
Then all the colors will bleed
into one
But yes I'm still
running.
You broke the bonds
You loosened the chains
You carried the cross
And my shame
And my shame
You know I believed it
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
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FREEDOM FOR
MY PEOPLE y
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SILVER AND
GOLD In the shit house,
a shotgun
Praying hands hold me down
If only the hunter was hunted
In this tin can town,
No stars in the black night
Looks like the sky fall down,
No sun in the daylight
Looks like it's chained to the
ground.
Broken back to the ceiling
Broken nose to the floor
I scream at the silence
That crawls under the door (under
the floor).
Chorus:
The warden says,
"The exit is sold,"
If you want a way out - silver
and gold.
Silver and gold.
There's a rope around my neck
There's a trigger in your gun
Jesus say something!
I am someone!
I seen the coming and going
The captains and the kings
Their navy blue uniforms
Them bright and shiny things
Yes, captains and kings in the
slave ships hold
They came to collect
Silver and gold
Silver and gold
The temperature is rising
The fever white hot
Mister I ain't got nothing
But it's more than you've got
These chains no longer bind me
Nor the shackles at my feet
Outside are the prisoners
Inside the free (set them free).
A prize fighter in a corner is
told
Hit where it hurts - silver and
gold
Silver and gold.
You can stop the world from
turning around
You just gotta pay a penny in the
pound.
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PRIDE One man
come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love
One more in the name of love
In the name of love
One more in the name of love
One man come on a barbed wire
fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss
Early morning, April four
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
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ANGEL OF
HARLEM It was a cold and
wet December day
When we touched down at JFK
Snow was melting on the ground
On BLS I heard the sound (of an
Angel)
New York like a Christmas tree
I said tonight this city belongs
to me (Angel)
Soul love this love won't let me
go
So long...Angel of Harlem
Birdland on 53
The street sounds like a symphony
We got John Coltrane and a love
supreme
Miles and she has to be an Angel
Lady Day got diamond eyes
She sees the truth behind the
lies (Angel)
Soul love this love won't let me
go
So long...Angel of Harlem
Blue light on the avenue
God knows they got to you
An empty glass, the lady sings
Eyes swollen like a bee sting
Blinded you lost your way
On the side streets and the
alleyways
Like a star exploding in the
night
Filling up the city with broad
daylight
An Angel in Devil's shoes
Salvation in the blues
You never looked like an Angel
So long...Angel of Harlem
Angel, Angel of Harlem
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LOVE RESCUE
ME Love
rescue me
Come forth and speak to me
Raise me up and don't let me fall
No man is my enemy
My own hands imprison me
Love rescue me
Many strangers have I met
On the road to my regret
Many lost who seek to find
themselves in me
They ask me to reveal
The very thoughts they would
conceal
Love rescue me
And the sun in the sky makes a
shadow of you and I
Stretching out as the sun sinks
in the sea
I'm here without a name in the
place of my shame
Love rescue me
In the cold mirror of a glass
I see my reflection pass
I see the dark shades of what I
used to be
I see the purple of her eyes
The scarlet of my lies
Love rescue me
And the sun in the sky makes a
shadow of you and I
Stretching out as the sun sinks
in the sea
I'm hanging by my thumbs
I'm ready for whatever
comes
Love rescue me
Yea though I walk through the
valley of shadow
Yet I will fear no evil
I have cursed thy rod
and staff
They no longer comfort me
Love rescue me
Sha la la sha la la
Sha la la sha la la
I've conquered my past
The future is here at last
I stand at the entrance
To a new world I can see
The ruins to the right of me
Will soon have lost sight of me
Love rescue me
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WHEN LOVE
COMES TO TOWN I was a sailor, I
was lost at sea
I was under the waves before love
rescued me
I was a fighter, I could turn on
a thread
But I stand accused of the things
I've said
Chorus:
When love comes to town
I want to jump that train
When love comes to town
I want to catch that flame
Maybe I was wrong to
ever let you down
But I did what I did, before love
came to town
I used to make love under a red
sunset
I was making promises I was soon
to forget
She was pale as the lace of her
wedding gown
But I left her standing before
love came to town
I ran into a juke joint when I
heard a guitar scream
The notes were turning blue
When I fell into a dream
As the music played I saw my life
turn around
That was the day before love came
to town
Chorus twice
I was there when they crucified
my Lord
I held the scabbard when the
soldier drew his sword
I threw the dice when they
pierced his side
But I've seen love
conquer the great divide
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HEARTLAND See the
sunrise over her skin
Don't change it
See the sunrise over her skin
Dawn changes everything
And the delta sun burns bright
and violet
Mississippi and the cotton wool
heat
Sixty-six the highway that speaks
Of deserts dry
Of cold grey valleys
Of golden sunny heights
Of bright shining cities
In this heartland
In this heartland
In this heartland
Heaven knows this is a heartland
See the sunrise over her skin
She feels like water on my hand
Freeway like a river cuts through
this land
Into the side of love
Like a burning spear
And the poison rain
Brings a flood of fear
Through the ghost-ranch hills
Death valley waters
In the towers of steel
Belief goes on and on
In this heartland
In this heartland
In this heartland
Heaven knows this is a heartland
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GOD PART II Don't believe the
devil
I don't believe his book
But the truth is not the same
Without the lies he made up
Don't believe in excess,
Success is to give
Don't believe in riches,
But you should see where I live
I...I believe in love
Don't believe in forced entry
Don't believe in rape
But every time she passes by,
Wild thoughts escape
I don't believe in death row,
Skid row or the gangs
Don't believe in the Uzi,
It just went off in my hand
I...I believe in love
Don't believe in cocaine,
Got a speed-ball in my head
I could cut and crack
you open
Do you hear what I said?
Don't believe them when they tell
me
There ain't no cure
The rich stay healthy, the sick
stay poor
I...I believe in love
Don't believe in Goldman
His type like a curse
Instant karma's going to get him
If I don't get him first
Don't believe in rock 'n roll
Can really change the world
As it spins in revolution,
spirals and turns
I...I believe in love
Don't believe in the 60's,
The golden age of pop
You glorify the past
When the future dries up
Heard a singer on the radio late
last night
He says he's going to kick the
darkness,
Till it bleeds daylight
I...I believe in love
I feel like I'm falling
Like I'm spinning on a wheel
It always stops beside me
With a presence I can feel
I...I believe in love
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THE STAR
SPANGLED BANNER y
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BULLET THE
BLUE SKY In the howling wind
comes a stinging rain
See it driving nails into the
souls on a tree of pain
From the firefly a red-orange
glow
I see the face of fear
Running scared in the valley
below
Bullet the blue sky
Bullet the blue sky
In locust wind comes a rattle and
hum
Judith wrestled the angel
And the angel was overcome
She had a demon seed
She rase flower of fire
I see her burning crosses
I see the flames higher and
higher
Bullet the blue sky
Bullet the blue sky
And I see her come up to me
Her dress red
Like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colors of a royal
flush
And she's pealing off those
dollar bills
And 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 and quiet city
streets
Up a staircase to the first floor
I turn the key and slowly unlock
the door
A man breathes into a saxophone
Through the walls we hear the
city groan
Outside it's America
Outside it's America
"So I'm back in my hotel
room,
With Johnnie Coltrane and the
love supreme,
In the next room I hear some
woman scream out,
That her lover's turning off,
Turning on the television,
I can't tell the difference
between :-
ABC news, Hill Street Blues
And some preacher in the old time
gospel hour
Stealing money from the sick and
the old
Well the God I believe in ain't
short of cash Mister !!"
See across the view
See the sky ripped open
See the rain pounding the women
and children
Who run
Into the arms of America......
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ALL I WANT
IS YOU You say
you want a diamond
On a ring of gold
You say you want your story
To remain untold
All the promises we made
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
You say you'll give me a highway
With no one on it
Treasure just to look upon it
All the riches in the night
You say you'll give me riches
On a moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest
All the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
You say you want your love to
work out right
To stay with me through the night
You say you want a diamond
On a ring of gold
You say you want your story
To remain untold
All the promises we break
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
All I want is you
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