Memphis Mullen: My top five favorite U2 songs are I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Luminous Times, Gone, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, and Heartland. To me songs are wonderful because of their lyrics – and the drums. A good lyric touches my soul, gives me chills, and makes the song for me.
My favorite U2 song is I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, off The Joshua Tree. It was my first favorite U2 song and what solidified me as a U2 fan, along with Larry Mullen Jr. With or Without You introduced me to U2, but it was I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For that made me a fan. And 24 years later, I still have not found what I am looking for. But I like the journey, the quest for what truly makes me happy. Every time I hear I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For in concert, it brings tears to my eyes. Luckily I have heard it on every tour I have been to. Besides being a fantastic, spiritual and uplifting song, I Still Haven’t Found is an amazing video – my favorite. It captures U2 during The Joshua Tree era in Las Vegas, my 2nd favorite city
Luminous Times, a b-side off The Joshua Tree, is the song that gives me chills every time I hear it, even though I have listened to it over and over again the past 24 years. The lyrics are so passionate and the way Bono sings them is so heart wrenching. I absolutely love it! My favorite part of Luminous Times, the part that really gets to me is,
‘I love you ‘cause I need to
Not because I need you
I love you ‘cause I understand
That God has give me your hand
He holds me in a tiny fist
And still I need your kiss
Hold on to love’
U2 have never played Luminous Times in concert. When I met Bono on the ZooTv tour, I told him how much I loved Luminous Times and asked if they would ever play it in concert. Bono answered me by saying they were thinking of putting out a b-sides album. (Huh? That’s not what I asked.) Then before the 360 tour began, Edge mentioned that they were thinking of playing some b-sides that they had never played before like Luminous Times.
Gone, off Pop, has one of my all-time favorite lyrics. The lyrics are true, which is why I really identify with this song. My favorite part of is,
‘You’re taking steps that make you feel dizzy
Then you learn to like the way it feels
You hurt yourself you hurt your lover
Then you discover
What you thought was freedom is just greed’
U2 really rock out with Gone in concert. Luckily I went to Popmart and Elevation, so I have heard it in concert. A great moment was on the Elevation tour in Pittsburgh on May 6, 2001 when I scared my new friend Tasha (whom I had just met in the GA line that day) and her sister by screaming SO loud when U2 started playing Gone. I don’t think either of them will ever forget Gone.
Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, off Achtung Baby, means a lot to me. It is a very emotional and angry song that breaks my heart. In fact, I made my first love sit down and listen to the lyrics as I read them to him after he had broken up with me. If I could have written a song about us, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horse would be it. These are some of my favorite lyrics,
‘You’re dangerous ‘cause you’re honest
You’re dangerous, you don’t know what you want …
Well, you tell me things I know you’re not supposed to
Then you leave me just out of reach …
Well you lied to me ‘cause I asked you to …
The doors you open
I just can’t close …
Don’t turn around, and don’t look back
Come on now love, don’t you look back!’
I was fortunate enough to go to ZooTv, so I have heard Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses in concert. And I also heard it once on the Vertigo tour and twice on the Elevation tour.
Heartland, off Rattle and Hum, is more about the feel of the song for me, rather than its lyrics. I honestly think I like it so much because it was playing in Rattle and Hum when U2 visited Graceland – combining my 2 passions, Elvis and U2. My front license plate on my car is U2HRTLD. U2 have never played Heartland in concert. When I met Bono on that same day on the ZooTv tour, I also told him how much I loved Heartland. He agreed it was a great song, but moved onto the next person before I could ask him about playing it in concert.
Hopefully I will find what I’m looking for this summer while On the Road with U2 driving across America to all 16 US shows. I’ll be the one crying during I Still Haven’t Found What Found What I’m Looking For and screaming if U2 plays Gone or Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and passed out on the floor if they play Luminous Times or Heartland.