ONE

"You ask me to enter.

But then you make me crawl.

And I can't be holding on.

To what you got.

When all you got is hurt."

U2, One

Mike Gall and I went to his house on July street, an October in 1991. Music fans today won't ever understand the created tension and scarcity of information release in the 1990's. "World Premiere's" of videos, album and single releases, all of it, orchestrated to whip us into a frenzy, or at the least to manufacture enthusiasm. On this October day we were going to hear the newest single from U2, The Fly.

With all the hype came an inversely proportional amount of disappointment if the thing that was built up, underperformed. As we watched the video, it did just that. It fell flat. How could a band that gave us the Joshua Tree, come back with this?

The complete album, Achtung Baby was released a month later, on November 18th, 1991 and despite my trepidation, I went to Paradise Records and purchased it, the hope for hits and hidden gems ominous. $20 and immeasurable hope.

//

The song quote that starts this and the following 160 words setup would lead you to believe that this is going to be a deep dive into U2 and this album. That would be incorrect. I shan't dive any further. Mike and I went back to making up new lyrics for existing songs, a favorite pastime of he and I's.

Achtung Baby was good but it's deeper value is what it taught me long term about moving on. About acceptance of what we produce. About how being an artist or writer is about growth. You can't keep writing Where the Streets Have No Name over and over. If that's what you try and do. You don't get a One or Love is Blindness. You stay the same. And staying the same for artists is dying a little more every day.

//

The best songs and art seem to be successful due to an economy. Of words. Of ideas. I read a book about writing by Stephen King that stressed over and over to edit. To say the most with the least. I'm no Stephen King but I do what I can to hold this close. The more I hold it close, the more I notice it in the things I love.  Simple words sell simple ideas. Make no mistake though, it's way harder than putting together short sentences with simple words. It's also a reminder that wordiness can come across as highbrow and clunky and that the audience can sense that, and usually doesn't like it.

To be fair, a lot of U2's catalog when looked at through this lens  can come off as sappy and overly earnest.  I'll take that, because with that you get the gems. The line from One that I awoke to this morning.

An economy of words that I can feel from this screen.

#hugsandhi5s