Great Run Outside, Thanks to Music, Especially U2!

Yesterday, I finally made it outside for a longer run and remembered why I love running outside. You see, in the winter months, I get very complacent on the treadmill zoning out to a DVRed episode of General Hospital. But, I forget how much I love running outside for two reasons:

One, I live a few miles from the beach and running on the boardwalk is wonderfully scenic. From other runners of all ages, sizes, and levels, to surfers, to tourists, to young families out pushing strollers, there is always something to smile at and put you in a great mood on your run.

Two, the music. I realize how much I love running to music, specifically to a great playlist I have purposefully created. So yeah, lots of U2, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Maroon 5, and even some Michael Jackson. I have already written about the U2 songs I love to run to, and I remembered why yesterday. The extended disco-version of “I Know I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy” is about 7 and a half minutes long. When it comes on, I know I am going to sail through the better part of a mile just with this song alone. “Iris,” “This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now,” Volcano,” “Original of the Species,” and “Breathe” are also so much fun to run to. And even though I had the Playlist on shuffle, it was very fitting to come to the end of my run listening to “Running to Stand Still.”

** FYI, this is the song I am most looking forward to at The Joshua Tree Tour, followed closely by “Exit.”

Full disclaimer here: the non-U2 songs love to run to are Michael Jackson’s “Shake Your Body,” “Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough,” and “Wanna Be Starting Something”

From Maroon 5: “It Was Always You” and “Harder to Breathe,” and “Lucky Strike”

From Foo Fighters: “Learn to Fly” and “The Pretender”

Coldplay’s “Adventure of a Lifetime” though is now leading the pack as the song with the lyrics that pumps me up the most when I run, so I will leaving you with them:

Turn your magic on, to me she’d say

Everything you want’s a dream away

We are legends, every day

That’s what she told him

I feel my heart beating

I feel my heart beneath my skin

I feel my heart beating

Oh, you make me feel

Like I’m alive again

 

U2 on NPR!

Okay, I am a little late with my post this week, and I am going to cheat a little again. I have been swamped with grading essays – ah, the life of an English teacher. But, it was great way to start the week hearing U2 being interviewed by Steve Inskeep for NPR. And it is a very funny interview. Like I have said previously, they are really doing a stellar job getting fans more psyched than they already are to see the upcoming The Joshua Tree Tour.

Here is a link to the interview. You can read the transcript but it is even better if you have 7 minutes to listen to it. It is a must for all U2 fans!

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/20/520443744/u2-on-the-joshua-tree-a-lasting-ode-to-a-divided-america

Some of the highlights from the interview for me were:

• Bono and The Edge both being uncomfortable being called their birth names
• Bono describing his love for America, and America as an idea
• Bono recounting a trip he went on to El Salvador
• Bono’s inspiration (and some reciting) for the spoken part at the end of “Bullet the Blue Sky”
• Bono admitting that he sometimes changes the lyrics at the end of “Bullet the Blue Sky” because the first version was just a sketch

I hope you have some time to listen to it. Enjoy!

 

The Joshua Tree Anniversary, Seeing Sting, and Bono Was a Shoe Salesman?

I am going to cheat a little this week and put the link to the interview U2 did to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the release of The Joshua Tree. As if U2 fans weren’t counting down the days till their respective date with the band, the interview just continues to amp up the excitement. The Joshua Tree was released March 9, 1997. I would like to thank all of the stations on Sirius (80s on 8, 90s on 9, Classic Vinyl, Deep Tracks, The Spectrum, 1^st Wave, Lithium just to name a few, ha ha) that referenced the album and played tracks from it all day long.

If I am being honest, whenever they have mentioned the 30 year anniversary, it has made me feel old. I was 17 when it came out. But, I saw Sting’s 57^th and 9^th Tour this Saturday night at The Fillmore in Philadelphia (amazing venue) and after he played “Message in a Bottle” he told the crowd that was singing at the top of their lungs that he wrote the song in 1979. Move over The Joshua Tree, Sting made me feel even older! He then proceeded to thank the audience because he said it was so incredible and humbling that he gets to sing a song he wrote over 40 years ago to an audience still pumped up to sing ever word with him. What made me feel even older, was that Sting’s son Joe Sumner sang 3 songs before the show and a few with his father. One song he sang was one he wrote for his children called “Jellybean.” It was a great song and he is as talented a musician as his father, but all I kept thinking was: Sting’s a grandfather? For the record, if anyone is thinking: does Sting still have it after all these years? I mean, he is 66 years old. I am here to tell you that he absolutely does. Here is a picture from the show:

And just one more:

So here’s the math: The Interview “Your Band. Your Questions” + The 30 Year Anniversary + seeing Sting and Joe Sumner in concert = 97 days until I get to see the much anticipated The Joshua Tree Tour!

Here is a link to the interview. It is worth watching just to see the cameos by Chris Rock and Chris Martin and to hear Bono tell you that he was a shoe salesman!

http://www.u2.com/news/title/your-band-your-questions

 

More of My Favorites: Let’s Talk About Achtung Baby!

So, are you ready for the shuffle? Achtung Baby was released in 1991. I graduated from college in 1992, so his album for me is the soundtrack to post-college/grad school glory days. And this album set the stage for the best concert I ever saw – the one already discussed – 1992 RFK Stadium Zoo TV Tour. On this album, I absolutely adore “The Fly,” “Even Better Than The Real Thing,” and “Zoo Station,” and “Acrobat.” This album also introduced me to “One” which I did not love at first and grew to become obsessed with after seeing them perform it after 9/11 in Baltimore.

What is not to love about “One”?

One life

But we’re not the same

We get to carry each other

Carry each other

A funny story I remember about “One’ is when we were driving to the 1992 show at RFK, my then 16 year old brother dared my friends and me to try to sing the song in Greek and for some reason, we tried to. We actually took the challenge quite seriously and were trying very hard to translate every word in this song to its appropriate Greek word. Such a great memory!

Another reason this song resonates with me so much is when my husband decide to start his own company, we spent days trying to come up with a unique name. I think we batted around over 100 names and did not really like any of them. One day, my husband came in from a run, and told me he was listening to “One” and the name came to him. The Greek word for “one” is ENA and my husband wanted his company to have one focus – customer success. So, the company was named ENAfocus. Yup, just another reason this band provides the soundtrack to my life.

One more thing…in recent shows when U2 plays this song, they end it with Bono powerfully singing,

Do you hear us coming,

Lord Do you hear us call

Do you hear us knocking

We’re knocking at your door

You hear us coming, Lord

You hear us call

You see us scratching

When you make us crawl

I just love it. I do want to hear this song at every show I go to because of how emotionally charged it is. I can hear this song on a loop and never ever get bored of it.

You say love is a temple

Love a higher law

Love is a temple

Love the higher law