Sunday, March 25, 2007

Group Six : Elise F. (19), Sarah B. (33), Scott W. (33), Amanda S. (27), Andrew O. (27), Irene N. (34)

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2

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

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
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away
(Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
Oh, wipe your blood shot eyes
(Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

Sunday, Bloody Sunday (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
Sunday, Bloody Sunday (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

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

(Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On...

Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday...

Anonymous said...

Hey Everyone,
I'm Sara and I’m an Elem. Education major. I don't think I'm that great at lyrical analysis, but I'll give it a shot! The title of this song is Sunday, Bloody Sunday. It is about the war we are having with Iraq. I believe the artist is asking his audience why we are in this and for how long since it has been so bad over there while those of us not at war are living our lives normally over here in the United States. A few of the lyrics show this saying “We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.” Towards the end of the song the lyrics say “The real battle just begun, To claim the victory Jesus won.” I believe this is where the artist arrived at the title “Sunday, Bloody Sunday”, because Sunday is the holy day for Christians, and when we are at war killing people (bloody) it isn’t the day of rest and innocence as it’s intended to be.
~Sara B.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
My name is Elise and I am a nursing major. I thought this song was really moving because after reading the lyrics, it made me realize how an incredible amount of families in our country are being affected due to the war in Iraq. We have been hearing about the war so much for so long that we have become "immune" to it. Every night we hear about more soldiers getting killed, another suicide bomb, etc., and U2 repeatedly states, "How long must we sing this song," meaning how much longer must this war go on? So many families are being torn apart because of the war. While the rest of our country sits back and lives their normal everyday lives, the soldiers over in Iraq are experiencing things we can't even imagine.
- Elise F.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
My name is Amanda and I am a packaging science major. The lyrics in “Sunday Bloody Sunday” are talking about the effect a war between two countries has on the people in the countries. This is comparable to the effect that the war in Iraq is having on Iraqis and Americans. While the Iraqis are having a first hand experience with the war, the Americans are on a completely different continent seeing the war through the eyes of reporters. While both populations are experiencing the war differently, they relate with one another’s death toll, “Bloody Sunday.” The song is questioning why, if both sides are loosing the ones they love and their families are being torn apart, cannot the two countries find peace with one another to end the war. The answer to the question is that each country is only worried about their selves. The allusion to Jesus in the line, “To claim the victory Jesus one,” just shows that the people feel that because Jesus won the ultimate war by dying for everyone’s sins, that on Sunday they can be forgiven of their sins that contributed to the deaths of others. The real battle is for everyone to realize that Jesus died to make our lives better, not to have people fighting against one another.
- Amanda S.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
Hi my name is Scott and I am a pre-business major. The first thing that struck me about this song is that it is more of a neutral outcry against war than it is a protest against President Bush. Not that there is anything wrong with doing that, but I feel that it is done so much today in pop culture that it has lost meaning and has become somewhat of a gimmick. What I admired most about this song was that it didn't blame anyone, recognizing that war is the plight of all men. I don't think it is aimed exclusively at the war in Iraq, although this may be wishful thinking. It merely wonders when the people of the world will learn its lesson and live more peacefully with one another.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
My name is Andrew and I am and Engineering major. I usually do not pay attention to songs like this especially since I am not really a U2 fan, but I really feel that this song is worth listening to. The lyrics really capture the listeners attention and make them see war in its purest form, which is destruction. The line, “it’s true we are immune”, is something that most of us are guilty of. While the soldiers are fighting the war in Iraq we are just hearing about it on the news and most of us are not even bothered when they see or hear something about another person dying. Like the song says the war or war in general tears families and people apart and in this case there is no one clear winner. So the question of how long is one that everyone should ask when they speak of war.

Anonymous said...

Hey group! My name is Irene and I am a Graphic Communications major. I believe this song can be applied to the war in Iraq, but after researching when this album was debuted, 1983, I found that it was actually inspired by a tragic event when British soldiers shot into an unarmed crowd of civil rights activists in Dublin. This song is obviously a passionate protest against war. However, U2 does not blame any certain group for the happenings, only wishes to remind others of the effects of war by making the lyrics more personal and revelent. Sunday Bloody Sunday is also a critism of religious conflict when it says, "the real battle just begun, to claim the victory Jesus won." The "real battle" is the war we are fighting today over religious matters, like those in Ireland and Israel, when Jesus already claimed victory by overcoming death so that we did not have to suffer anymore. U2 presents war as a repulsive issue that "tears apart mothers, children, bothers, and sisters." In addition, U2 points out our incapablity to understand war when our "fact is fiction and TV reality" as "we eat and drink while tomorrow they die."
-Irene

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
I enjoyed reading everyone’s response to the poem and each one had something that I did not catch in the song, or chose not to write about. However, I think everyone made a good interpretation of the song, and I agreed with all of them in some way. I liked Elise’s and Andrew’s interpretations of everyone over here becoming “immune” to the war over there as we continue our everyday lives over here. We also do not know how much longer we will be there, and I liked how Elise compared that to the lyrics in the song. I also liked how Irene researched a little more about the song and found that it did not pertain to our current war. Her interpretation about the religious aspect was great and it gave me a new perspective on the song by not comparing it to the current war we are in. I enjoyed reading all the opinions about the song with an open mind, and I agree with all the different perspectives and thought it was interesting that so many interpretations can be made from a single song.
~Sara B.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
I think that all of the posts thus far have been very thought-provoking. In particular Sara's post helped me take on another perspective. The religious implications in the song which she pointed out, especially the title, hadn't occured to me the first time that I read the lyrics. I'm not sure how religious of a band U2 is, but this certainly caught me a little off-guard. Also, I liked the points that Amanda and Andrew made about how most Americans are unaffected and continually unphased by the war. It has become somewhat of a commonplace issue that people are simply used to ignoring.
- Scott W.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
I loved reading everyone's responses to this song and saw a lot of thoughts and interpretations I hadn't thought of before. I liked Sara and Amanda's interpretations of the religious aspects of the song and how they referred to the title and the lyric, "The real battle just begun to claim the victory Jesus won." I thought it was great how Irene researched further into the song and saw how it wasn't pertaining to the war our country is in today. I liked how everyone in the group had different perspectives of the song, but how all of the opinions tied in with one another in some way.

Anonymous said...

The comment just posted was from Elise F. Oops!

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
Great job on interpreting this song. Everyone's views brought a different aspect to this song to make me think about all of its interpretation aspects, even though I am sure there is a lot more we can look into it. The "immune" aspects some of you pointed out about war in this song is definately true for today, as well. I also liked Amanda's contribution to the religious aspect. In Scott's latest post I agree with him that war "has become somewhat of a commonplace issue that people are simply used to ignoring." U2 provided a very powerful message through these lyrics to grab our attention about the oversights of war.
-Irene

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
It was very interesting to read everyone’s own interpretations of the lyrics to the song. I liked how Irene looked up the information about the song, and found that it was written 24 years ago. Even though this song was written about a different experience, we can still relate it to the war in Iraq. I also liked how Scott said that the lyrics do not blame anyone; instead they recognize that, “war is the plight of all men.”
- Amanda S.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
Once again I am a little late on my post, but I actually do not mind because I am able to see all of yall’s thoughts first and agree with all that has been posted. However, I think the most surprising post is Irene’s. It is amazing to me that this song had been been written so long ago, but we considered it to pertain to our current war. To me this just shows the timelessness of the song and how it can pertain to any war or act of violence at any time, present or past. I also liked how Sara referred to the song lyrics as a poem. I feel that music can be a form of poetry and this is a strong example. I am sure this song has a lot more to it and if we look hard enough like Irene we might uncover even more than what we all have already interpreted.
Andrew O.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
Reading all of the posts was definitely enlightening and I feel like everyone's input was considerable. A post that I apparently hadn't read before which intrigued me was Irene's revelation that the song was written a long time ago. Before seeing that I had no idea that it wasn't current. I also liked the way that Elise pointed out that wars primarily affect families and this is the only experience most Americans have of war, through their friends and loved ones. In looking for similar material I tried to use music which I actually listen to. One song that I found to have a comparable message to this one's was "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix. Here is a link to the lyrics:
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Jimi-Hendrix/Machine-Gun.html

The similarity between the two songs which particularly strikes me is how both are just protests against war itself. Hendrix's lyrics use gory, disgusting imagery to emphasize the inhuman nature of war.
-Scott W.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
Even though Irene found that this song does not pertain to the war in Iraq, everyone found this song to be comparable to it. I feel like the lyrics convey a visual argument to get the audience emotionally involved by describing the scene on both sides of the war to try.. I would compare this song to all of the images of the Holocaust. During the World War II people did not know what was going on, but were later horrified when they saw pictures. This agrees with Andrew, people have become “immune” to the war and the cost does not stop us from starting one. This is like the quote in the song, “the real battle has just begun to claim the victory Jesus won.” People know that Jesus died for their sins, but people go about sinning every day.
- Amanda S.

Anonymous said...

Hi Group!
Thanks for the compliments! But I believe Kudos should go to Scott for finding a similar song that reminded him of this one and that had a more personal concept relating to the song. This inspired me to do the same (well, actually it was pretty easy because this is one of my favorite songs at the moment) because I was reminded of the song The War by Angels & Airwaves. If you haven't listened to it, do!

Copy this link:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=27197424
Then click on the song The War.

Lyrics that resemble each other are "How long must we sing this song..." and A&A's "Believe you want this, believe I want this too... Why won't you tell me it's almost over..." as they are both a cry out to stop the wars. They both also describe scenes of the dead on the battlefield and how it affects families in U2's second and fourth stanza, and then in A&A's lyrics:
"And the beaches
Stretched out with soldiers
With their arms and guns
It has just begun,
...And the houses
Laid out like targets
With the deafening sound
We watched them all go down
And the families
Now useless bodies
They lay still black and blue
A gift from us to you."
I thought it was a very good idea of Scott to find other works of art that pertain to the same meaning. And I also hope you listen to the song and like it as well!
-Irene

Anonymous said...

Hey Guys!
Everyone’s second response was great. I liked how everybody was open to other comments and opinions about the song. I picked the song “B.Y.O.B” by System of a Down that parallels this song. This song is actually about the war going on in Iraq right now. One of the lines “Why do they always send the poor,” is referring to Michael Moore’s movie Fahrenheit 9/11. This is significant and saying that the majority of the soldiers serving over in Iraq have more or a poor background. It also portrays the war as a “party” saying we dance in the desert and blow up the sunshine. This song is the bands view on the war, saying that we are being lied to, and asking why the presidents don’t fight the wars. I think the band is against the war, and thinks that the presidents want the war, but aren’t fighting it. I don’t necessarily agree with this song, but it is another war song that shows yet another view of how people feel about the war. Hope everyone enjoys. Here are the lyrics to this song. http://www.dapslyrics.com/display.php?sid=13343
~Sara B.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
There is not much left to say that someone has not already said except that as a group we were able to get as much information and meaning from the song that we could. I feel that we all were able to pull something from the song that was important and relevant. I think Amanda’s comparison to holocaust pictures and its effects is a good one that helps show that we are somewhat impervious to what happens in other places as long as we do not have to see it. U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is a great song that will be relevant through time just like “machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix because war will always consume mankind. Finally, to add some humor and irony to the discussion there is a entertaining video remix of this song that is sung by president George Bush at the link below. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnO_FxmHes
-Andrew O.

Anonymous said...

Hey Group!
I loved reading everyones second responses and seeing how everyone agreed and was open to one anothers comments on this song. I love how Andrew pointed out the timelessness of the song and how even though it is referring to an entirely different war, everything about it can still relate to the war going on today. Like Amanda mentioned, when thinking about this war we are involved in, it reminds me of images from the Holocaust also. Americans had no idea of the extent of what was going on over in Europe and didn't HAVE to go fight for the lives of people from other countries, but when they went over there themselves, they knew they made the right decision because of all the horror they saw. The way I think of this war is the same way..if our country never interfered with the hundreds and maybe even thousands of innocent people being killed everyday in Iraq, who would?
-Elise