On the tightrope

Mark at Quaerentia shares several examples of music that "deftly walks the tightrope between realism and optimism" and consequently has been of help to him in times of depression. Not surprisingly, U2's work turns up on the list, but not in the way you might think. (Incidentally, Mark has collected some of his previous Quaerentia writing on U2 at a Q U2 link here. I'd forgotten his U2 album Wordles, which are very interesting if you haven't seen them.)