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Slug (song)

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"Slug"
Song

"Slug" is a song by Passengers, a group composed of rock band U2 and producer Brian Eno. It is the second track on the group's only release, the 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1. Recorded early in the album sessions, the song was given the working title "Seibu"; the group put it aside and almost left it off the album before it was rediscovered at the end of the sessions and renamed "Slug".

Lyrically, the song is a portrait of a "desolate soul"[1] during a time of celebration. The music is intended to signify the lights of a city being turned on at dusk; the opening notes are akin to those on a Christmas tree. The band drew primary inspiration for "Slug" from their experiences in Tokyo at the end of the Zoo TV Tour; other aspects they derived from seeing members of the Yakuza. The track was well-received by critics.

Background

U2 and producer Brian Eno formed Passengers as a side-project during the preliminary recording sessions for U2's 1997 album, Pop. Their intention was to record a soundtrack for Peter Greenaway's 1996 film The Pillow Book as a warm up before the main Pop sessions.[1] Though the plan did not come to fruition, Eno suggested they continue recording for imaginary films. U2 were unsure of the idea at first, but agreed after Eno told them that producing radio hits was not the goal of the collaboration.[1]

U2 had frequently improvised in the past, and in the Original Soundtracks 1 sessions they engaged in free-form jamming to video clips from various films.[1] Eno stated, "Listening to the original improvisations as they came off the floor, you feel the excitement of the process ... You have to be careful not to disturb the organic flow of the thing."[2] The group brought in producer Howie B to cut down and mix some of the tracks after several hours of jam sessions had been recorded.[1]

Part of the group's intent in creating Original Soundtracks 1 had been to make a "night-time" record.[3] Lead vocalist Bono said, "It feels like it's been set on the bullet train in Tokyo. Every record has a location, a place where you enjoy listening to it, whether that be a bedroom or a club, well this record location is a fast train. It's slo-mo music though. But it has an odd sense of speed in the background."[4] He also noted that when creating works for soundtracks, the visual suggestion from the music is more important than the story told by the lyrics, so the band had tried to create "visual music" when recording, continuing a trend that began with their 1993 song "Zooropa".[5][6]

Writing, recording, and theme

A brightly lit city at night. At the bottom, the edge of the road and the tops of cars are visible. Skyscrapers, all the same height, line the street. Each building is covered in brilliantly coloured advertisements that run vertically and horizontally. Backlights cause the advertisements to shine very brightly against the darkness. Most are covered in Japanese text.
U2's experience in Shinjuku, Tokyo was their primary inspiration for "Slug".

U2 spent time in Shinjuku, Tokyo at the end of the Zoo TV Tour, and the vivid colours of the street signs and billboards made them feel as if they were on the set of the 1982 film Blade Runner.[5] Though Original Soundtracks 1 was conceived as a "night-time" record, the band wrote "Slug" with the idea of the street lights and advertisements turning on as day faded to dusk. Bono described the opening notes, which reflect this scene, as being reminiscent of turning on the lights of a Christmas tree.[3] The song's working title in the first recording sessions was "Seibu", after the department store of the same name in Tokyo.[3]

After recording "Seibu", the band put it aside and quickly forgot about it as the sessions progressed. It was almost left off of the album, but towards the end of the recording sessions guitarist The Edge rediscovered the song when looking through other tracks that had been discarded. He replayed the track to Eno, and the Passengers group decided to include it on Original Soundtracks 1 under the new title, "Slug".[3] In keeping with the idea of writing for nonexistent films, in the liner notes of Original Soundtracks 1, the song is credited as having been written for Slug.[7]

Bono wrote the lyrics to "Slug" in five minutes. Though the verses are simple they are also personal,[3] and are derived from U2's experience in Tokyo at the end of the Zoo TV Tour, which had exhausted the band. Bono explained that the lyrics are about being "... so tired you can't sleep. Wanting to go out to see what's going on in the city and not being able to stop yourself, though you should be looking after yourself better."[3] He described the song as "a portrait of somebody a little the worse for wear", comparing the lyrics to those in U2's 1991 song "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World", as both songs depict late-night life in a city.[3][8]

Some of the lyrics were influenced by the presence of the Yakuza in Shinjuku, and the band's facination with seeing Yakuza members with digits that had been mutilated as punishment for their misbehaviour.[5] Bono stated, "These are extraordinary characters; these are businessmen, but underneath the suits they have these extraordinary lattice tattoos. You know, if one of them misbehaved they'd knock your finger off. You can see some of them missing a digit, and it's all very, very surreal, as mad as it sounds."[5] The line "Don't want what I deserve" was written by Bono as a jibe to himself, and the closing "Don't want to stay the same" reflects the band's determination to continue re-inventing themselves.[3] The end result is a depiction of celebration set against the thoughts of a "desolate soul", as echoed in the closing verse "Don't want to change the frame / Don't want to be a pain / Don't want to stay the same", with an undercurrent of confusion regarding the differences between love and faith.[1][9] Bono commented that the ultimate idea behind "Slug" was "just not wanting to blow it. You know, we all play with things we shouldn't play with."[5]

Reception

Jim DeRogatis of Rolling Stone described "Slug" as one of the album's most engaging tracks, commenting that it could have been an outtake from U2's 1993 album Zooropa because of Bono's "minimal crooning over skeletal backing tracks."[10] Hot Press editor Niall Stokes felt the song was reminiscent of the band's 1993 single "Numb", as both songs frequently utilize the negative command "Don't" at the beginning of each line and they have "a similar kind of ironic, self-deprecatory humour".[3] He concluded, "the song has a genuinely reflective quality and it underlines the fact that, some 15 years on since the release of their debut album Boy, U2 are still running."[3]

Rating the song four stars out of five, Uncut reviewer Alastair McKay described the melody as "clockwork" while noting that Eno's "yen for melodic simplicity" was evident.[1] Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine selected "Slug" as one of four track picks from the album.[11] The Edge stated that, while Eno made the majority of creative decsions, "the only tracks we really dug in our heels and did more work on and tried to craft were "Miss Sarajevo", "Seibu", and "Your Blue Room". And I think it paid off."[3] In a 2010 survey conducted by fan site @U2.com, 198 of 4814 participants (4.11%) labelled "Slug" their favourite song on the album, ranking it the third most favoured song and the fourth choice overall behind "Miss Sarajevo" (37.99%), "Your Blue Room" (31.43%), and no preference (18.53%).[12] Previous fan surveys in 2005,[13] 2006,[14] and 2007[15] had all ranked the song the third favourite on the album.

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e f g McKay, Alastair (April 2009). "Passengers: The Album". The Ultimate Music Guide. No. U2. Uncut. p. 93. {{cite magazine}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Moon, Tom (5 November 1995). "Eno: The story behind Original Soundtracks 1". Knight-Ridder News Service.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Stokes (2005), p. 196.
  4. ^ Richardson, Andy (21 October 1995). "Achtung Bono!". NME.
  5. ^ a b c d e Original Soundtracks 1 Promo (Media notes). Island Records. 1995. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |bandname= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |notestitle= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Bono; The Edge; Adam Clayton; Larry Mullen, Jr. (2006). Neil McCormick (ed.). U2 by U2. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 247–8. ISBN 0-00-719668-7. OCLC 71354126.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Original Soundtracks 1 (Media notes). Island Records. 1995. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |albumlink= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |bandname= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Stokes (2005), p. 106.
  9. ^ Graham, Bill; van Oosten de Boer, Caroline (2004). U2: The Complete Guide to Their Music. Omnibus Press. p. 58. ISBN 0-71199-886-8.
  10. ^ Derogatis, Jim (14 December 1995). "Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1". Rolling Stone.
  11. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Original Soundtracks 1: Review". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  12. ^ "U2 Fan Survey 2010. F10: What's your favorite song from Passengers: Original Soundtracks I?". @U2.com. 4 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
  13. ^ "U2 Fan Survey 2005. F10: What's your favorite song from Passengers: Original Soundtracks I?". @U2.com. 5 January 2006. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  14. ^ "U2 Fan Survey 2006. F10: What's your favorite song from Passengers: Original Soundtracks I?". @U2.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  15. ^ "U2 Fan Survey 2007. F10: What's your favorite song from Passengers: Original Soundtracks I?". @U2.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
Bibliography

Template:Original Soundtracks 1

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