The music catalog of the Irish band U2 is loaded with songs about America the country and America the idea. I don’t have time to list them all and go into detail about them (e.g. won’t bore you to death), but I want to highlight some of their music that is resonating with me lately.
“American Obituary” from U2’s latest EP is both a declaration of outrage about, and a call to action against the state sponsored violence that the United States government is perpetrating (in some cases against US citizens) under the pretense of carrying out immigration enforcement. “You have the right to remain silent… or not.” As is often the case, U2 have chosen not to remain silent, and they’re imploring the rest of us to speak up too.
The song “Crumbs from Your Table” comes from the album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”. In this track Bono takes to task the wealthy countries, and the United States in particular, for the economic and social inequalities in the World that the wealthy countries cause and/or allow to continue while having the means to resolve them. “I would believe if I were able, but I’m waiting on the crumbs from your table.”
“See the rain comin’ through the gapin’ wound, pelting the women and children who run into the arms of America.” One of my favorite U2 songs of all time is “Bullet the Blue Sky” from the “The Joshua Tree” album. This song is a scathing commentary on the military actions being carried out by the United States in Central America in the 1980s. We come to bring peace; we’re also bringing bombs…
You see U2, like so many of us, unabashedly love America (the United States) when she’s at her best, but they don’t have a problem with calling us out when we’re at our worst. The latter is also an act of love, and I wish more of us believed/participated in this tough love for our country. The first step of fixing any problem is acknowledging that you have a problem.