Sunday, Bloody Sunday, U2 - Marine C. & Marion C. - 1S4

            Hey everybody ! How are you ? Today, we are gonna tell you about a famous and beautiful protest song : Sunday Bloody Sunday, by U2.

Protests songs exist since the war does. Many artists involved themselves in these ways to denounce society’s problems or to give a message of peace or hope. But U2 was the first band to link the two ideas in one song. “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, released in 1983, is at the same time a message of pacifism and a aggressive critique. This tribute to the “Bloody Sunday” that happened the 30th of January 1972 has became one of their most famous song and a symbol of pacifism.

Lyrics : 

I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyes
And make it go away
How long...
How long must we sing this song
How long, how long...
'cause tonight...we can be as one
Tonight...

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

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
Torn apart

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

How long...
How long must we sing this song
How long, how long...
'cause tonight...we can be as one
Tonight...tonight...

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away
(Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
Oh, wipe your blood shot eyes
(Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

Sunday, Bloody Sunday (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
Sunday, Bloody Sunday (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die

(Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On...

Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday... 

Analysis and context :

At its outset, the song begins with the hammering of the battery that reminds the drummer of the war (play during the parade and the show).

The first, the second and the third sentence express the feeling of the singer : he just cannot believe it. He can’t close his eyes and make like nothing happened : does that means that it’s what everybody else does ? Does that means that it’s what is expected from him ? In the first sentence we can already see the criticism underneath all the apparent story : at the beginning, we do not even know what he is talking about but we already know that it is something horrible. And something people do not really care about.

This song is about the bloody Sunday that happened on the 30th of January 1972 in Derry, North Ireland. That day, twenty-seven pacifists and disarmed demonstrators were targeted by Britain army soldiers. 14 men, of which 7 teenagers, died and 14 others persons were hurted. This event happened in a context of civil war for religious rights equality between Catholics and Protestants.

The second sentence is kind of a peace call : “How long... how long must we sing this song ?”; it’s a sort of provocation : “how long must we sing this song before you listen to us ? Before the end of the war ?”, like if he was saying “When will you understand ?”. It implies the listener.

Then the singer adds “Tonight, we can be as one” : he wants everybody to pay homage to all this people who died for justice.

In the second verse, Bono’s tone hardens : u2 seems to express his anger for this war that made lots of deaths. The first part of the second verse is like a painting of this war. In the bloody Sunday of January 1972, 7 teenagers were also killed, so he used the children to remind people of what they have they have to lose : not only soldiers, but also children’s’ lives. At the same time, he describes the war, describes what he see. So he also uses “children” because children too endure this war. There are “broken bottles under children’s feet” because some children lost their parents. He uses the children to touch the sensibility of the people, of the soldiers. It generates the pity of the listener.

The second part of this verse expresses the indignation and anger of the singer : he’s “back up against the wall”, angry but powerless : he just has his voice to make things change but for that, he need people to listen to him. That’s exactly why he will not “heed the battle call” : he will keep singing this song until people are one for make things change. In this second sentence, Bono isn’t searching for the pity of the listener, he is just searching for the temper and the revolt of people’s spirits. He wants to wake up the spirits, the consciences and the reflection of the people.

There is an alliteration in B that sounds like a bang in this massacre, or the sound of gunfire :

"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”

In the third verse, U2 deplores the uselessness of this war : there’s everything to lose and nothing to win : in this war, even if they will be a “winner”, there were too many deaths in both parts for anyone to think he is victorious.

He also insists on the families that are separated by the war : he tries to produce the compassion of the listener or, at least, to make him react at this situation that they do not live but that other persons live.

            Indeed, this civil war made more than three thousands deaths. And even if this song was released more than ten years after the bloody Sunday of 1972, the war wasn’t over yet : it officially finished in 1998.

In the fourth verse, Bono wants that the people stop to cry. He wants them to act. To act against the war, to act for freedom and for justice. But it’s also a hope message for the people who are involved in this war, and are afraid or who lost members of their families : they have to be strong and not to give up.

The fifth verse explains how the medias shows the violence everyday and how they make it difficult to make the distinction between fiction and reality. Because medias disguises and hides the violence for that the people do not react, so the acts of the war do not shock :

"And it's true we are immune / When fact is fiction and tv reality".

Bono uses the verb ”immune” to show how the people see the war through the medias. Indeed, this verb says the people are insensible to the war. They don’t realize what is actually the war : they see it like a kind of illness : they know it exists, but they don’t want to think about it, and they don’t want it in their lifes or in their minds. Because it’s so much simple to make like if we don’t know and close our eyes, and just let it go away… Because the worst is always for others, isn’t it ?

However some people cry and scream the lost people who die every day :

"And today the millions cry / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die" .

They are millions and they cry together,  but only the people who are involved in this war cry : they cry but people who are not in this war keep on living. So he denounces the fact that all people rather close their eyes than try to stop this war : “We eat and drink while tomorrow they die”.

Bono accuses the medias that disguises the reality and transforms it in fiction, so they are also the reason why this war is not over : it is not a fiction, it is a war, and it is real.

The sentence “The real battle just begun” summarizes the song : the real battle, the one for end the war is not on the battlefield. It’s the battle for make people react and act against this war.

U2 finishes its song on this sentence :

 “To claim the victory Jesus won...

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Sunday Bloody Sunday”

because the author seems to quote the differents player to reconcile the two religious parts and to make this violence stop.

            This song can be linked with the song « Zombie » of the Cranberries because they have the same objective : make people react. Today, the song “Sunday, bloody Sunday”, that was originally written to be a call for peace in Ireland, has became a symbol for peace all around the world. And today, this song is stilled played in live in U2’s concert. So the question is, how long must they sing this song ?

Marine C. and Marion C.