U2 frontman Bono came up with a lyric his bandmates didn’t want him to use on upcoming album Carnaval de Luz – but he got his way and delivered it the way he wanted.
Yet he admitted he doesn’t often win such arguments due to the band’s democratic approach, and so the line “We were once the greatest show on Earth,” from the song “The Greatest Show on Earth,” was an unusual victory.
“Everyone was going, ‘You’re not going to sing that, are you?'” Bono told The Guardian in a new interview. “Edge was saying: ‘How about, “We could still be the greatest show on Earth?“‘
“Adam said: ‘What about, “I think we’re the greatest show on Earth?'” But I know how I feel when I sing it. The feeling of grasping that nettle – ‘look what might have been’ – gives you hope.”
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Bono, who calls the band’s process “the Soviet,” added: “It’s got harder as time’s gone on. Because, as Marianne Faithfull would say in situations like this: ‘Never underestimate the male ego, darling.’
“Students of male psychology will tell you that as men lose power, be that physical, sexual, mental, you make up for it by flexing.”
Watch U2’s Video for ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’
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Drummer Lary Mullen said: “I think if we really understood how it worked, we’d have moved out of the rock ‘n’ roll business and into political advice. You have to be able to go into a room and share and be open to most circumstances.”
The Edge humorously accepted: “I genuinely fantasize that one day these lads will actually just do what they’re told – but at this point I’m giving up on that fantasy. I just don’t think it’s going to happen.
“And thank God, because if they started doing what they’re told, there’d be an absolutely sh— album.”
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U2 don’t inspire weak reactions in people. There are passionate U2 fans, and passionate U2 haters, and very little in between.
Gallery Credit: UCR Staff
