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|Name = The Ocean|Cover = |Type = [[Song]]|Artist = [[U2]]|alt Artist = |Album = [[Boy (album)|Boy]]|Published = |Released = [[20 October]] [[1980]]|track_no = 7|Recorded = March – September 1980 at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin|Genre = [[Rock music|Rock]], [[post-punk]]|Length = 1:34|Writer = U2|Composer = |Label = [[Island Records|Island]]|Producer = [[Steve Lillywhite]]|prev = "[[Stories for Boys]]"|prev_no = 6|next = "[[A Day Without Me]]"|next_no = 8}}{{Listen
|Name = The Ocean|Cover = |Type = [[Song]]|Artist = [[U2]]|alt Artist = |Album = [[Boy (album)|Boy]]|Published = |Released = [[20 October]] [[1980]]|track_no = 7|Recorded = March – September 1980 at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin|Genre = [[Rock music|Rock]], [[post-punk]]|Length = 1:34|Writer = U2|Composer = |Label = [[Island Records|Island]]|Producer = [[Steve Lillywhite]]|prev = "[[Stories for Boys]]"|prev_no = 6|next = "[[A Day Without Me]]"|next_no = 8}}{{Listen
|filename=U2_-_The_Ocean.ogg
|filename=U2_-_The_Ocean.ogg
|title=U2 "The Ocean" (1980)
|title=U2 - "The Ocean"
|description=The instrumentation of "The Ocean" resembles the sea.
|description=The instrumentation of "The Ocean" resembles the sea.
|format=[[Ogg]]}}
|format=[[Ogg]]}}

Revision as of 15:51, 12 July 2013

"The Ocean"
Song

"The Ocean" is the seventh track of U2's debut album, Boy. The song is one of U2's shortest, at just over a minute and a half in length.

Composition and lyrics

"The Ocean" runs for 1:34. It is played in common time at a tempo of 85 bpm.[1] The song is played in the key of E♭.

The Edge uses a soft guitar delay of 10ms at 4-5 repeats.[2] Adam Clayton's bass line is one of the most notable elements of the song.

The instrumentation of the song attempts to emulate the sound of an ocean.[3]

The lyrics take inspiration from the story of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, as well as from Bono's holidays as a child in Rush, Dublin.[4] Because it depicts a young rock star about to become an adult who looks at the world ("the ocean") in front of him and wants to change it,[5] Bono has described "The Ocean" as "comic megalomania".[6]

Live performances

The first known performance of the song was on 16 September, 1980 at a concert in Plymouth,[7] although due to incomplete and missing set lists from the band's early career, it is likely that the debut of "The Ocean" took place at an earlier date. During the Boy Tour, "The Ocean" opened concerts 45 times, the most of any song on the tour.[8] The song was frequently played twice per concert, along with the songs "I Will Follow" and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock", often opening and closing the set list on the same night. The last performance of "The Ocean" was on December 15, 1982 during the War Tour. Following that performance, "The Ocean" was not played for over 22 years[9] before making several surprise appearances during the Vertigo Tour.[7] The Vertigo Tour performances of "The Ocean" segued out of "Gloria" or "The Electric Co." The most recent recorded performance of the song took place on December 9, 2005 in Buffalo.[7]

References

  1. ^ http://songbpm.com/u2/the-ocean
  2. ^ http://www.amnesta.net/edge_delay/
  3. ^ http://books.google.pt/books?id=8XMVa71H7nkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pt-BR&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
  4. ^ Stokes, Niall, (2005). U2: Into The Heart - The Stories Behind Every Song, page 16. Avalon Publishing Group Incorporated. ISBN 1-56025-765-2
  5. ^ http://www.muorji.se/U2MoL/Boy/ocean.html
  6. ^ McCormick, Neil (ed), (2006). U2 by U2, page 101. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-719668-7
  7. ^ a b c U2-Vertigo-Tour.com, All times The Ocean played live
  8. ^ U2-Vertigo-Tour.com, Boy Tour Statistics
  9. ^ U2-Vertigo-Tour.com, Review of 2005
  • U2.com - Lyrics to "The Ocean"


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