“Sunday Bloody Sunday” rocked the United Kingdom charts for weeks and will always be remembered as a song that will never die because war never dies. Walter Benjamin’s theory relates to this song because he believed that war is beautiful. It is a time that cannot be relived. War is artistic and a cliché piece of art is nowhere near the original. I will be analyzing the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 and referencing it back to Benjamin’s theory. The art of war is a beautiful thing but a battle is not. This song is a model of Benjamin’s theory that lets you become involved with its aura and political message.
History of the Band
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” is a song by a rock band called U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album War. It is famous for its aggressive drumbeat, severe guitar, but pleasant-sounding harmonies. It is a super political song that spread fear over Europe but this helped the band get a wider listening audience. A lot of people considered “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as a rebel song but the singer, Bono, disagrees. Bono started writing this with political lyrics talking about the Irish Republican Army, the IRA, a military group dedicated to getting British troops of Northern Ireland. He changed them to point out the massacres of war without taking sides. The title of the song is in no way metaphorical. This song is a call for peace and not for tears.
Aura of the Massacre
Benjamin explains his own view of aura in his most famous essay “Work of Art in the Ages of Mechanical Reproduction.” The song’s aura is very unique. It has a past that cannot be relived. There are certain lyrics that are repeated throughout the song such as “how long must be sing this song”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, and “wipe your tears away”. These all send a message to the audience because it is helping you relive the days on the Irish bloody massacre back in 1972. On January 30, 1972, there was a Civil Rights March where protestors were killed by British troops who posed no threat. Bono was disgusted by the acts that were going on in his country and finally was not fearful of writing a political song that could damage the bands image. He understood that war was a harsh subject to talk freely about but U2 made the risk and it became one of the best rock & roll songs ever created. When writing the song, they wanted to have a special aura so all audiences could picture what happened so long ago. U2 kept repeating the lyric “how long must we sing this song” because we all know that war is never going to end. It’s an ongoing battle from decade to decade.
Experiencing Their Art
People have different experiences to songs based on their surroundings. The experience you should have when listening to “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in the quiet should make you feel concerned about the war but the experience during a concert would make you become upset and sad. You are surrounded by thousands of people who politically believe that the massacre was wrong. You get different vibes from each place. This song is very emotional. The band got emotional as well when they were writing the lyrics because it is an uncomfortable subject to sing about because everyone might not feel the same way. U2 had a non-partisan intention. U2 never released a music video for “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. I think that it is because it would be way too violent and disturbing to try to make your widespread audience relive an event that the band dreads. The band made a concert during their tour, War in 1983, the music video instead. During the concert, you see thousands peoples joined together. A thing that was brought to my attention was that Bono waves a white flag during the song and say “no more!” Bono asks where is the glory in bombing the “Remembrance Day parade of old age pensioners, their medals taken outs and polished up for a day.” Where is the glory in leaving people dead or struggling for their lives under the wreckage of the revolution? No one in the country wanted that. This is why Bono repeats, “No more!”
The album War was released on February 28, 1983. The album cover has a little 8-year boy on the front. Bono explained to why they all chose this cover and it was because war is not just about the battle, but it is about love. He specifically said, “Instead of putting tanks and guns on the cover, we have put a child's face. War can also be a mental thing, an emotional thing between loves. It does not have to be a physical thing." There are ten songs on the album all sending the same message to the reader. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is the first song on the album because of its strong significance. The rest of album follows it with the same political meaning, sharing a story. The songs are about war and love.
Several artists, because of its powerful meaning and value, have reduplicated “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. Different rock artists have changed the tempo of the song but have not changed the words. Younger artists still want this song to live on and want to share this story with the newer generation. For example, Paramore covered the song and changed the tempo to acoustic. They did this to be a little more dramatic and try to draw in more emotions to an extremely emotional song. Younger adolescences may not know of U2’s famous song to begin with so these newer artists are expanding the music world.
Analyzing the Lyrics
Like I said before, U2 uses repetition throughout the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. The first line of the song is “I can’t believe the news today. I can’t close my eyes and make it go away” which is just the introduction to the song explaining the fear spread through Europe when the Civil Rights movement started. “How long. How long must we sing this song” follows. This line is repeated throughout the entire song. It is basically asking how long the war is going to be but there is no answer. It is a commonly asked question. How long is any war going to last? “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” is the second verse of the song. This part of the song should be very emotional to any audience. There is so much commotion going on in the streets. This part of the song brings in a fearful aura. The roads are bare as if there were dead bodies lying on the side of the rode. He says that he will have no more choices in life. This is scary for the citizens; it is scary for all of us. It is an appeal to pathos. The imagery in this song makes these images real.
The last two versus are the most powerful. It explains that war will never die. The last verse cries, “The real battle just begun. To claim the victory Jesus won on.” This is strange to me because Bono ties in religion to the song. The “blood sacrifice” will go on forever. You have to realize that Jesus had to die in order to achieve victory. This is making the war morally right.
Overall
Art can be found anywhere and especially in music. Walter Benjamin says that you cannot relive a certain event but you can relive it through a song or a piece of art. It is easier to relive a time from a music video just like U2 did for “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” They wanted to show how emotional their concert was. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” will remain in the top 500 rock & roll songs of all time. People say that Bono is the “Champion of World Peace”. He is known for changing the era of the 1980s with the song he and his band made up to try to speak out to a world wide listeners. U2 has changed a political view on war and has influenced many famous musicians to share their thoughts and stories about tragedies they do not approve of, such as the Beatles. “All You Need Is Love” is an example of a political view. In this song, the Beatles say that all you need is love and everything will be okay. The world should have peace, unity, love and respect because without those then war will never end. Benjamin shared his powerful message with the world by expressing his thoughts in his essay. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” shares multiple types of auras and can be appreciated around the world.
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” is a song by a rock band called U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album War. It is famous for its aggressive drumbeat, severe guitar, but pleasant-sounding harmonies. It is a super political song that spread fear over Europe but this helped the band get a wider listening audience. A lot of people considered “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as a rebel song but the singer, Bono, disagrees. Bono started writing this with political lyrics talking about the Irish Republican Army, the IRA, a military group dedicated to getting British troops of Northern Ireland. He changed them to point out the massacres of war without taking sides. The title of the song is in no way metaphorical. This song is a call for peace and not for tears.
Aura of the Massacre
Benjamin explains his own view of aura in his most famous essay “Work of Art in the Ages of Mechanical Reproduction.” The song’s aura is very unique. It has a past that cannot be relived. There are certain lyrics that are repeated throughout the song such as “how long must be sing this song”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, and “wipe your tears away”. These all send a message to the audience because it is helping you relive the days on the Irish bloody massacre back in 1972. On January 30, 1972, there was a Civil Rights March where protestors were killed by British troops who posed no threat. Bono was disgusted by the acts that were going on in his country and finally was not fearful of writing a political song that could damage the bands image. He understood that war was a harsh subject to talk freely about but U2 made the risk and it became one of the best rock & roll songs ever created. When writing the song, they wanted to have a special aura so all audiences could picture what happened so long ago. U2 kept repeating the lyric “how long must we sing this song” because we all know that war is never going to end. It’s an ongoing battle from decade to decade.
Experiencing Their Art
People have different experiences to songs based on their surroundings. The experience you should have when listening to “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in the quiet should make you feel concerned about the war but the experience during a concert would make you become upset and sad. You are surrounded by thousands of people who politically believe that the massacre was wrong. You get different vibes from each place. This song is very emotional. The band got emotional as well when they were writing the lyrics because it is an uncomfortable subject to sing about because everyone might not feel the same way. U2 had a non-partisan intention. U2 never released a music video for “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. I think that it is because it would be way too violent and disturbing to try to make your widespread audience relive an event that the band dreads. The band made a concert during their tour, War in 1983, the music video instead. During the concert, you see thousands peoples joined together. A thing that was brought to my attention was that Bono waves a white flag during the song and say “no more!” Bono asks where is the glory in bombing the “Remembrance Day parade of old age pensioners, their medals taken outs and polished up for a day.” Where is the glory in leaving people dead or struggling for their lives under the wreckage of the revolution? No one in the country wanted that. This is why Bono repeats, “No more!”
The album War was released on February 28, 1983. The album cover has a little 8-year boy on the front. Bono explained to why they all chose this cover and it was because war is not just about the battle, but it is about love. He specifically said, “Instead of putting tanks and guns on the cover, we have put a child's face. War can also be a mental thing, an emotional thing between loves. It does not have to be a physical thing." There are ten songs on the album all sending the same message to the reader. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is the first song on the album because of its strong significance. The rest of album follows it with the same political meaning, sharing a story. The songs are about war and love.
Several artists, because of its powerful meaning and value, have reduplicated “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. Different rock artists have changed the tempo of the song but have not changed the words. Younger artists still want this song to live on and want to share this story with the newer generation. For example, Paramore covered the song and changed the tempo to acoustic. They did this to be a little more dramatic and try to draw in more emotions to an extremely emotional song. Younger adolescences may not know of U2’s famous song to begin with so these newer artists are expanding the music world.
Analyzing the Lyrics
Like I said before, U2 uses repetition throughout the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. The first line of the song is “I can’t believe the news today. I can’t close my eyes and make it go away” which is just the introduction to the song explaining the fear spread through Europe when the Civil Rights movement started. “How long. How long must we sing this song” follows. This line is repeated throughout the entire song. It is basically asking how long the war is going to be but there is no answer. It is a commonly asked question. How long is any war going to last? “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” is the second verse of the song. This part of the song should be very emotional to any audience. There is so much commotion going on in the streets. This part of the song brings in a fearful aura. The roads are bare as if there were dead bodies lying on the side of the rode. He says that he will have no more choices in life. This is scary for the citizens; it is scary for all of us. It is an appeal to pathos. The imagery in this song makes these images real.
The last two versus are the most powerful. It explains that war will never die. The last verse cries, “The real battle just begun. To claim the victory Jesus won on.” This is strange to me because Bono ties in religion to the song. The “blood sacrifice” will go on forever. You have to realize that Jesus had to die in order to achieve victory. This is making the war morally right.
Overall
Art can be found anywhere and especially in music. Walter Benjamin says that you cannot relive a certain event but you can relive it through a song or a piece of art. It is easier to relive a time from a music video just like U2 did for “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” They wanted to show how emotional their concert was. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” will remain in the top 500 rock & roll songs of all time. People say that Bono is the “Champion of World Peace”. He is known for changing the era of the 1980s with the song he and his band made up to try to speak out to a world wide listeners. U2 has changed a political view on war and has influenced many famous musicians to share their thoughts and stories about tragedies they do not approve of, such as the Beatles. “All You Need Is Love” is an example of a political view. In this song, the Beatles say that all you need is love and everything will be okay. The world should have peace, unity, love and respect because without those then war will never end. Benjamin shared his powerful message with the world by expressing his thoughts in his essay. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” shares multiple types of auras and can be appreciated around the world.
Paulina Negrete attends California State University, Northridge and likes to play guitar and snowboard.