You had me from "Hey hey, sha la la"

originally posted August 7, 2007

I saw an interview recently in which Larry said that when he listens to "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," he cringes because it is so bad and he feels like they could have done so much better with that song.

So I want to say to Larry:

I had always been, at best, a casual U2 fan. Sure, I liked U2. If someone asked me if I did, I would say yes, although I really only knew what I heard on the radio. But I counted myself among the "fans." I was not prepared for what would happen to me when I first heard "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses."

It not only opened a new chapter in my life, it broke open a brand-new book, fresh empty pages begging to be written.

The cassette single (well, now I am dating myself, aren't I?) was the first item of U2 merchandise I ever purchased. I listened to "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" and the included extra songs over and over. It was like that song - that one moment in time as I walked through the living room and caught the video (playing on some station which I can only assume was MTV back when they played videos) and froze in my tracks - changed who I was. Everything that I thought about music was about to change and it was that song which awakened me to this.

I bought Achtung, Baby and played it until I knew every song in my sleep. Then I bought Zooropa and I continued my musical feast. I went backward in time and purchased all of the previously-released U2 CDs I could find - and I mean ALL; I paid dearly for some bootlegs before I saw the light and learned about u2torrents.com.

Although I was all about Bono - I practically worshipped him - I appreciated the other parts of the songs as well. I can see it now that I hear music in separate tracks as opposed to as a merged whole and my ears anticipate a bass line, a guitar riff, a cymbal crash. It's like you guys unzipped music for me, taught me how to dissect a song and reconstruct it again even as I listen to it. I never really paid attention to who did what or who sung what (which has caused many an uproarious moment in my recent life as I learn time and again that I have been inadvertently perving over The Edge for the past 12 years :/) or who was married or who was single or who said what or did what. It was all about the music for me.

I bought your biographies and didn't read them. I bought the magazines and didn't look at them or read the interviews. I taped the TV appearances and never watched them. It was all about the music for me.

I jokingly say that until January of this year, I didn't know that there were three other guys in the band. But just now, in the car, listening to "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" to see why it makes you, Larry, cringe, I know that that is a lie. Edge's guitar is in my brain. Your drums are in my brain. Adam's bass is in my brain. You four became not just a part of but a representation of my life.

And it all started with "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses."