Interview on KRDU

Some of you might be interested in this podcast of an interview I did today for KRDU in California, just generally talking about U2 and faith.

Down tools

Thinking back to our talk about Dkhir and the Sound, I was interested to watch, in this video of a recent interview in Fez, how the band react to the muezzin's call to prayer interrupting the filming twice (perhaps especially compared to the way the interviewer reacts.) We even get an appreciative critique of which of that day's calls to prayer had the best chanting.
[Update: thanks to Rihannsu for pointing out that I didn't originally remember to post the link!]

Perhaps we'll need a new tag called "Daniel Lanois Biblical references" after the hat-tip to Colossians 3:16 in the first installment of Alan Cross' interview with Lanois. (Cross has been doing an interesting experiment throughout the run-up to the new single/album by blogging and twittering his initial reactions.) But anyway, here's the image I'm referring to: One of my first conversations with Bono was one about future hymns — spiritual songs for the future — and he was of the opinion that Morocco would be a great crossroads for a universal feeling for the album.

I am wondering for what percentage of the global listening audience connecting a track like "Get On Your Boots" with the idea of "spiritual songs for the future" is just beyond incomprehensibly weird.

The Kindlings Muse » Get Up Off Your Knees

Dick Staub has recently reposted an old podcast interview he and I did upon the release of Get Up Off Your Knees. Features a lot of me trying to remember what other contributors said in their sermons. Audio here. HT Thunderstruck.

Too many choices

I happened on this post from The Dubliner today - it's an excerpt from a book that asked a lot of famous people the same questions about spirituality - and I was struck by a sequence of ideas in this answer (What is your code, in relation to right and wrong? "You know instinctively, always, what’s the right thing to do. And the greatest enemy of that instinct is the din of too many choices. Noise. I think of that story in the Bible of Elijah who was told he should go up a hill and wait to hear from God. A mighty wind springs up and he thinks: 'Here it comes, God’s on his way.' Then there’s an earthquake, but no word from God. Then comes a great fire and he thinks that God will speak from the fires, but no. The wind calms down and in the stillness he hears God’s voice. Sometimes you have to quiet your life to hear what is the right thing to do.")

What struck me was that this is the same coupling sketched in the lyrics to "New York":
In New York freedom feels like too many choices
In New York I found a friend to drown out the other voices

And hey, the end of the song (In the stillness of the evening/ when the sun has had its day/
I heard your voice whispering/ 'come away child') I'd always thought had a mixture of Elijah and Song of Solomon overtones anyway.

The U2Source archive returns

The U2Source audio archive, dormant for quite some time, has revived and is worth a visit. Readers here might especially enjoy an Unforgettable Fire-era interview with Bono. His comments are paired with relevant U2 songs (most of which have been edited out, but you can tell what they were.) Some interesting remarks about violence, the sacredness of human beings among God's creation, the notion that God's love must include giving people the freedom to reject God, and mother/divine love in "I Will Follow."