One Trivia Quiz

Answer: you got someone to blame

A couple once informed Bono, U2's lead singer and the writer of the lyrics for "One", that the song was used in their wedding, to which Bono responded, "Are you mad? It's about splitting up!" The song was written during the near break-up of U2 in the early 1990s.

After the release of the "Rattle and Hum" album and the subsequent tour, the band took some time off. They later reconvened in Berlin, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bono and The Edge wanted to take the band in a new direction as they had been heavily attracted to Europe's industrial and electronic dance music, but Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr., were insistent that the band remain with its trademark sound.

They were all about to call it quits when The Edge came up with the tune for this song and Bono decided to write some words for it, words that are not necessarily about the band's near break up but words affected by the dark mood of the band members nonetheless. Ironically, the song became an event that pulled the band back together; however, the oneness discussed in the song still includes the hurt, anger, and bitterness that remain part of the whole experience. Check out this information on Wikipedia under the heading "One".

Answer: care for it

Released in March 1991, "One" is the third single from U2's album "Achtung, Baby!" It followed "The Fly" and "Mysterious Ways". While the song peaked at number ten on the "Billboard" Hot 100, "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked it as number 36 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.

A critic and reviewer from "Rolling Stone" also had this to say about the song: "Few bands can marshal such sublime power, but it's just one of the many moments on 'Achtung, Baby!' when we're reminded why . . . they were rock and roll heroes, as they still are."

Answer: a bad taste in your mouth

Certainly, the volatile feelings of the band had left a bad taste in Bono's mouth, but he was frustrated over much more than this. The band had moved temporarily to Berlin to draw inspiration from the energetic and optimistic spirit they believed to be present there following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Communism.

They were hoping to find a New Europe headed in a new direction, and Bono hoped U2's music could capture this spirit with its own new direction. However, Bono was tremendously disappointed.

Instead, he found the surrounding mood to be a bleak one of anxiety, discord, and suspicion.

Answer: want me to go without

Some interpreters of this song speculated at one time that this song was about AIDS awareness and the struggles individuals with AIDS were experiencing, primarily in their relationships with others who were unaccepting of their lifestyles, their sexuality, and their illness.

Some thought, in particular, that the song was about a conversation between a gay man, who was HIV positive, and his father because of the song's connection with David Wojnarowicz, a gay activist and artist who himself was HIV positive. Furthermore, the song was released as a benefit single with all of its earnings going toward AIDS research.

Answer: we're not the same

Bono explains this line as follows: "It's a song about coming together, but it's not the old hippie idea of 'Let's all live together.' It is, in fact, the opposite. It is saying, we are one, but we're not the same. It's not saying we even want to get along, but that we have to get along together in this world if it is to survive.

It's a reminder that we have no choice." In other words, this line is an attack on the romantic or idealistic idea that two or more people can be together in perfect harmony so that they are, in essence, the exact same person.

The reality is that two people may choose to be together, but they will forever have different personalities, beliefs, values, desires, pet peeves, etc. They are together, but they also remain individuals, and as individuals, there will be moments when they are in conflict naturally.

Therefore, we have to learn how to accept one another as individuals if we are going to live in a union peacefully.

Answer: Have you come to raise the dead?

The creation of this song was itself somewhat of a miracle. The Edge was actually working on some chord progressions from "Mysterious Ways", another song on the "Achtung, Baby!" album, when the other band members liked so much what they were hearing that they came together as one to jam together.

The Edge has commented that at this moment, "suddenly something very powerful [was] happening in the room." Within fifteen minutes, Bono claims, the song had evolved into "One", and about the lyrics he wrote for the piece, Bono says that they "just fell out of the sky, a gift."

Answer: the lepers in your head

After the band fell in love with the song, it underwent many changes and variations before it ended up on the album as it did. Assisting producer Brian Eno contributed to its eventual evolution. He had kept away from the band while its members were in Berlin because he believed distance would give him a fresher, more objective perspective of the band's new songs.

When he finally heard the new material, he liked nearly every song they had composed; however, he had this to say: "There's just one song I really despise, and that's 'One'." In 1991, the Eno and the band were back in Dublin and worked more on the song until they found a final mix that they were all happy with.

Answer: nothing

The exact lines are these: "Did I ask too much, / More than a lot? / You gave me nothing, / Now it's all I got." Certainly, this is a description of one of the worst relationships possible, and to revisit the "interesting information" of the first question, to have this song sung at one's wedding does not seem to make much sense. Later on, the singer of the song adds this: "We hurt each other / Then we do it again" and "I can't be holding on / To what you got / When all you got is hurt." It's words like these that led the Edge, U2's lead guitarist, to comment that the song is a "bitter, twisted, vitriolic conversation between two people who have been through some nasty, heavy stuff."

Answer: crawl

The song "One" has certainly not had to crawl for love and adulation. In 2003, "Q" magazine ranked "One" as the greatest song of all-time, and, in 2006, the readers of that magazine voted the song as the "fifth-greatest song in history." On VH1's "Greatest Songs of the 90s", "One" comes in second place. Furthermore, the song has been covered by a multitude of other artists, thus showing its popularity among U2's musical peers.

Some of those who have covered the song include R.E.M., Mica Paris, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, Cowboy Junkies, Howie Day, and Gregorian.

Answer: carry each other

About this line, The Edge explained that "we get to carry each other" adds an element of "grace" to the song. He believes that the phrasing "get to" as opposed to "have to" is essential to the song's overall message. Eventually, we all have to reach this understanding that the ability to live with one another in peace will occur only after we accept that carrying one another is a PRIVILEGE instead of an obligation.