Musical Analysis: U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
For my musical analysis I chose U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” having some familiarity with the Troubles from a previous class on British political history. The song title itself references the shooting of thirteen Irish civil protestors on Sunday, January 30, 1972, but the lyrics address the broader period of the Northern Irish Troubles.
I think what is most historically significant about a song depends from work to work, but in the case of “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” I feel the authorship and context were most critical. The members of U2 were raised in the Republic of Ireland but the violence of the Troubles was not limited to the North. This firsthand experience makes the band a valid witness to the period and lends the song value as a historical account. As for context, U2 may have written in retrospect to Bloody Sunday but not to the greater Troubles – violence was still a very viable threat. The song assumed life as a protest to the sectarian conflict, banned in some countries as too volatile in content. In a sense, U2 became a part of the history of the Troubles when the band activated politically and initiated a call for peace between factions.
Songs acquire historical significance through different values – for U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” it was obtained through band members who claimed a stake in a current ethnic conflict and dared to speak out against violence.
Here are the lyrics, if anyone’s interested!
Yes …
I can’t believe the news today
Oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away
How long …
How long must we sing this song?
How long? How long …
‘Cause tonight … we can be as one
Tonight …
Broken bottles under children’s feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I won’t heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday (Sunday bloody Sunday…)
(All right, let’s go!)
And the battle’s just begun
There’s many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
How long …
How long must we sing this song?
How long? How long …
‘Cause tonight … we can be as one
Tonight …
Tonight …
Sunday, bloody Sunday (tonight)
Tonight
Sunday, bloody Sunday (tonight)
(Come get some!)
Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Wipe your tears away
I wipe your tears away
(Sunday, bloody Sunday)
I wipe your blood shot eyes
(Sunday, bloody Sunday)
Sunday, bloody Sunday (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
Sunday, bloody Sunday (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
(Here I come!)
And it’s true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die
The real battle yet begun (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
To claim the victory Jesus won (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
On …
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday …
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