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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Interpretation of Bongolese: any word for "help" will do

Speaking of Bongolose..

...which pretty often is,at heart , speaking/singing in tongues....

....................sometimes the interpretation of Bono's singing in tongues is done by the Edge via guitar..

.....................................and maybe at times Bono (re)interprets his own tongues back to English.

Here is an early example.  The song "Another Time, Another Place" is first in a long and strong line of songs that are (at least in part) about that "Other Place"...whether it's heaven, or heaven on earth  ("Beautiful Day"'s "Teach me, Lord..I know I'm not a hopeless case...take me to That Other Place) ...or both ("Where The Streets..").

Folks have debated for years what he' saying in the midsection.  Some say it's German, some say it's Gaelic.  But ask a speaker of either: it's neither.

Here's the studio version, check 3:38ff:



But in concert, he didn't always recreate that Spiritaneous section.
But check out what he did here in Berlin (3:03ff) for example.  Is he paraphrasing/interpreting the original/intent and tenor of the tongue..in English?:


By the way, that ancient concert was quite a worship event, note what song "Another Time" grew out of that night:


...and click  "a shout-out to "with a shout" by the worship band formerly known as The Hypeto see what else they did that night.

But all these decades later...

look what happened the other night in Portugal.
When fans first heard what was happening in "Get On Your Boots," they figured it was just another lyric change..or lyric forgetting and faking...See 1:40ff:


But a (tragic) closer look at the very next song ("Magnificent") that night makes it pretty clear he was in pain or was feeling sick:



BUT it's precisely when he's feeling sick, voiceless, or vulnerable that he prays (and often calls others into prayer or to help...as in "Elevation" when he called out "Won't you tell me something true/
I believe in You...Help me, I got a frog in my throat") See especially his headsup and cue  to Jesse Helms to pray for him if  he lost his voice)..

So could it be that the other night, he moved into scat..which moved into tongues...which means
"Help!"

Remember, he has long admitted that is the only lyric...and prayer..he has.


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See also:

1 comment:

Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!