It would have to be Christmas for rock nyc to make peace with U2 but it is and we shall. I don’t think I’ve ever written anything nice about Bono… no wait, when he broke his back in 2010, we had a moratorium on dissing U2 for a couple of months, but that was over with soon enough and now, I guess this is true, there is nothing Bono can do I don’t see in the worse possible light.
He can’t win in my books, help charity? He is a bully. Hobnob with world leaders to reduce world debt? He is a plank who doesn’t get it. Try and save his musical? He’s a backstabber. And COVER DARLENE LOVE’S MASTERPIECE???? To hell with U2 and to hell with Bono =.
But while I might be right to place the blame for Turn Off The Dark squarely on Bono and the Edge’s shoulder for composing such dreadful music, U2’s cover of “It’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” works on nearly every level, tribute, U2 song, anthem, heartbreaker and singalong. I remember one Christmas drunk and lonely playing it again and again…
Here is my fave Christmas songs in order.
1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland
2. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love
3. It’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – U2
4, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Bright Eyes
The video, in black and white, with Bono in a pork pie hat and the band jamming is a beauty and Bono goes straight at it, especially the coda, the “baby pleeeeeze come home” over and over to the fade. The Edge plays the lick with a tone I have never heard on the song, it is so heavy it is bassy but also light and unique. And there is a moment when Adam Clayton smiles at Bono with so much affection (1:56 if you don’t believe me) it is really very moving. Depending where you stand in a romance, it can move you for other reasons.
Written by Phil Spector along with Brill Building giants Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Bono has he work cut out for him trying to match Darlene loves heartwrenching take , that it has become a holiday staple in this version is purely because only a band with the heart and sincerity could even try to match it.
Merry Christmas to U2