From a U2 Website

Answer Guy Dismantles U2 Song by Song

I've finally finished recounting the ballots in Ohio's Cuyahoga County and can now get back to the business of U2. Thanks to VH1.com and some rudimentary MP3 recording software, I had the CD for about a week before it "dropped." Due to the poor quality of both the MP3s and my stock Honda CD player, I always had to start listening at the beginning of the disk with "Vertigo," so I am proportionally sicker of songs towards the beginning of the album than I am of the ones at the end. I've heard "Miracle Drug" 15 more times than "Yahweh."

Then on "Super Tuesday," I was at my local big box store to pick up the deluxe CD/DVD/finger-painting book, which is so avant garde as to not include lyrics. I have purposely not read any other reviews on the album. I also am terrible at hearing the right words. For example, the opening line of "Bennie and the Jets," a song I first heard in 1973, goes something like this: "hey kids, sittin' in the river." Or perhaps Bono's most stunning lyric: "it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, Shamu, the mysterious whale." Your mileage may vary.

1. Vertigo.

0:00 As usual, Larry hogs the spotlight by clicking the countdown.

0:05 Unos, Dos, Tres, Catorce. It takes exactly ten seconds for Bono to say something that we'll have to defend to non-fans. I got this question just last night. Why 1, 2, 3, 14? You might quiet these people by saying that it's something "God-related." That's usually a safe bet with Bono's lyrics.

0:12 "Oh Captain, my Captain!" Larry reciting Walt Whitman? These guys are incredibly well-read. I'm getting the feeling I've heard this song somewhere before. It would make a great advertising jingle. If only the right product could be found to pair it with. I'm seeing a woman with a huge afro and white things coming out of her ears. Good guitar jam. Not only is this a great album kickoff, but it will be a great concert kickoff.

0:24 "lights go down, it's dark"? Thank you Captain Obvious.

0:33 Word Count "Soul": One.

0:37 The band can wave hello as they come onstage. Perhaps they'll be a "Trippy Vertigo Remix" that they'll play over the loudspeakers. A version we'll never be able to find. This part seems almost perfectly designed. First the band will say "hello", then we in the crowd can yell "Hola!" It's like mind control. We're defenseless against the powers of Bono's suggestion. They might as well have called this song "Hello Cleveland". Perhaps they'll change the words for each venue: "Hello, Tacoma, I'm at a place called Tacoma Dome-rain falls down and all I know is the sound, in here, is unreal-unreaaall." All the Bono wannabees can sing along with "feel".

1:00 "as bullets rip the sky". Bono finds his lyric journal from the Unforgettable Fire era.

1:22 at this point during the show, all your friends who don't really know the songs will be able to sing along with the "oh, oh", just like they do during WOWYou and AIWIYou. They'll be the ones in the heart when you couldn't get in. They'll be the ones who got in for free because they work for a cellphone company. At least you've got them beaten lyrically.

1:55 This would generally be considered a "guitar solo", which in this case means Edge playing four notes over and over again.

2:09 Instead of singing along with "all of this..." substitute the following: "there's a place I go when I am far away", because it's from 1980. At this point U2 is hoping that the young fans don't know "Stories For Boys."

2:37 "I can feel your love teaching me how owow owow". This is a Bono trademark. Dragging a word out longer than necessary. He lifted this from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats "...and there's no doing anything abow owow owow it!" Rum Tum Bono is a curious cat, and there isn't any need to doubt it, indeed.

2:50 Word Count "Kneel": One.

2:54 Word Count "Kneel": Two.

Tomorrow: "Miracle Drug"