Like the paradoxical solution suggested in the opening stanza, the paradox of fact being fiction and television reality is not difficult to accept. "Fuck the revolution," Bono declared, reflecting his anger and the anger of his fellow Irishmen at another senseless act of violence.įinally, the last stanza contains a variety of rhetorical devices. This sparked the now infamous dehortatio during a performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" that same evening. As a crowd gathered at Enniskillen town in Fermanagh, Ireland, to observe Remembrance Day, a bomb placed by the IRA was detonated killing 13 people. It is a fact made all too clear on November 8, 1987. When he repeats "How long?" the audience realizes that it has become a real question. It is also an appeal to logos, weighing the consequences of his actions beforehand. Once he picks up a gun he will have to use it. If he allows himself to be seduced into becoming a rebel for the sake of revenge, his back will be put "against the wall." He will have no further choices in life. He employs antirrhesis to support his statement. To keep his pathetic appeal from working too well, Bono sings that he "won’t heed the battle call." A metaphor for refusing the temptation to avenge the dead or hurt, this phrase conveys the strength needed in doing so. Caught in the musical attack, it reaches out to the listener, letting him or her know that the song’s grip will not strangle, but the firm hold must be kept nonetheless.īut Bono cautions against acting solely based on the pathos of a situation. A violin glides in and out to add a softer, delicate touch. The pounding beat and the heavy riff transport the listener to the scene of the killings, appealing to pathos. They must connect with every ear, every mind, every heart.
The message carries a great deal of significance. U2 is endeavoring upon a subject and theme wide in scope.
The riff is as close to concrete as sound can get. The same can be said of its use in the cadence-like foundations of "Seconds" and "Bullet the Blue Sky." Having grabbed hold of the listener’s attention, The Edge and Adam Clayton join in with lead and bass guitars respectively. Although not original, it is a successful use of musical irony, enveloping a song of protest in the sounds usually associated with those it is protesting against. beating his drums in a martial rhythm that connotes visions of soldiers, of tanks, of guns. The Irish Republican Army was certainly contributing to the bloodshed. Bloody Sunday, as it has come to be known, was only one act in a cycle of violence claiming many innocent lives. It is a song speaking against not only the British Army, but the Irish Republican Army as well. It was hoped that the disarmament would bring with it an end to decades of politically motivated bloodshed in the region.Written in part as a response to the events of Januwhen the Paratroop Regiment of the British Army killed 14 people and wounded another 14 during a civil rights demonstration in Derry, Ireland, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" takes hold of the listener instantly. The IRA officially disarmed in September 2005, finally fulfilling the terms of the historic 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.
#U2 sunday bloody sunday trial#
Britain responded by instituting a new court system composed of trial without jury for terrorism suspects and conviction rates topped over 90 percent. On July 21, 1972, the IRA exploded 20 bombs simultaneously in Belfast, killing British military personnel and a number of civilians.
Irish indignation over Britain’s Northern Ireland policies grew, and Britain increased its military presence in the North while removing any vestige of Northern self-rule. In April 1972, the British government released a report exonerating British troops from any illegal actions during the Londonderry protest. The crisis in Northern Ireland escalated in 1969 when British troops were sent to the British possession to suppress nationalist activity by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and to quell religious violence between Protestants and Catholics. READ MORE: How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland In Dublin, the capital of independent Ireland, outraged Irish citizens lit the British embassy aflame on February 2. The killings brought worldwide attention to the crisis in Northern Ireland and sparked protests all across Ireland. The soldiers fired indiscriminately into the crowd of protesters, killing 13 and wounding 17. British authorities had ordered the march banned, and sent troops to confront the demonstrators when it went ahead. In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators are shot dead by British Army paratroopers in an event that becomes known as “Bloody Sunday.” The protesters, all Northern Catholics, were marching in protest of the British policy of internment of suspected Irish nationalists.
0 kommentar(er)
