I am a liar. I said I was going to do one song per album, going backward, but I lied. I got down to Achtung Baby and decided I didn't want to do a song from it. I love Achtung Baby, and trying to choose between those twelve songs would be like trying to choose between my children (not that I have any). Moreso than that, Achtung Baby is so overdone =P
So I decided to mix it up and do a rarer track.

"Levitate" - Outtake from either Pop or ATYCLB

It's impossible to feel bad listening to this song. I remember once, several months ago, I was out to dinner with my parents and a friend of theirs. We'd mostly finished our food, and they were all talking about something or another that didn't interest me at all. I was rather bored, and the restaurant was very noisy. I slipped my iPod on, and played this song. As the song slowly built up, and grew louder and louder, everything else around me was drowned out. It was almost like a scene in a movie, where the moody protagonist slips on their headphones, and the noise of the world is slowly drowned out by the music. It was awesome.
This song has an amazing beat to it. Edge provides the atmosphere, but this song is all Larry and Adam, especially the second half. Bono's voice is not at it's best, but the lyrics are great. If you know U2's catologue, you should be able to see which songs this one got broken up into.
Levitate is a love song, and for once, it's not bittersweet at all. I can almost picture it in my head as I listen, the man is singing to his lover, and he's so totally in love with her that conquering the world seems completely plausible. He's telling her: "As long as we've got eachother, we can do anything." It could almost be a theme song for an epic love story, maybe it really belonged on Passengers =P
At the same time, there's something obviously spiritual about it. The entire song could instead be seen as a prayer to the Holy Spirit. Instead of a message to a lover, the song becomes a pronouncement of faith: "As long as I still believe in God's love, I can do anything".
I think it's a little bit of both actually, because that would be a very typically Bono thing to do =P


It's in your voice, I can feel it, I can tell (it)
It's in your voice, has me ringing me like a bell
Peace of mind, peace comes dropping slow
I'm in the mind, to let go of control
Spirit come on down, no I'm not coming down

In the backstreets, in the backstreets of our love
Through the locked doors, deep down, deep down is not enough
Spirit come on down, no I'm not coming down
(And guitar)

Who can stop us now
It's much too late
Can't slow us down
We can't hesitate
I want a love that's hard
As hard as hate
Levitate

To be the bee, to be the bee and the flower
Before the sweetness, before the sweetness turns to sour
When freedom comes, freedom has a scent
It's like the top of a newborn baby's head
Baby we can taste it, you and I

Spirit come on down, no I'm not coming down

Who can stop us now
Who could make us wait
Who could slow us down
Make us hesitate
I want a love that's hard
As hard as hate
Levitate

Oh, lift me up

Spirit come, come on down, no I'm not coming down
Spirit come on down, no I'm not coming down
Spirit come, come on down, no I'm not coming down

[Repeats until end]
(Coming down)
[Then]
(Stop)

Favourite lyrics:
I want a love that's hard
As hard as hate
It makes perfect sense to me. Hate is such a strong and intense thing, sometimes love itself seems to pale in comparison. I can totally understand the longing for a love so strong and intense that it's nearly violent.