Desire

U2 X-Radio presents a show, called "Desire", hosted by fans who talk about the five U2 songs they "desire" most. 

If you live in a cave, "Desire" is a U2 song. That is the connection.

It is just regular people talking about the five U2 songs that are most meaningful to them. They talk about a song and what it meant in their life, they get to play it, then they move on to the next song. Amateur DJ's. Super cool.

Many of the stories begin with "When my father died........when I got divorced............ when I lost my job......when I lost a child."

That is what music is all about.

If music is purely entertainment to you, you are missing the boat. 

Some music is pure entertainment. I happily sing along to Margaritaville every single time I hear it. Especially when I get to the lines "but there's booze in the blender, and soon it will render, that frozen concoction that helps me hang on."

But I need The Allman Brothers Band. I need The Blues. I need U2. I need Leonard Cohen. I need Bob Dylan.

Many times, as these people talk about their five top U2 songs, their emotion is evident. And they will often say that this song got me through this and that song got me through that. 

If you don't get the got me through thing, you have no soul. And you probably shouldn't be listening to music.

I have relied on different songs and different artists hundreds of times in my life. Because, "gee my life's a funny thing", to quote Bowie, and I often need help.

Music relates to me in every situation no matter what. Despair, sadness, worry, happiness, ecstasy, hopefulness. I cry to it, laugh to it, sing along with it, am struck incredulous by a lyric that suddenly takes on new meaning, I dance to it (yes, alone in the house), I am inspired by it, depressed by it, and worshipful of it.

So when I listen to these U2 fans talk about their songs, I am often blown away. The honesty, the raw emotion, the salvation. The relationship between a band and a fan runs deep - it is such a hopeful, beautiful thing.

And, it doesn't matter what the songwriter was expressing when they wrote the song. What matters is what the lyrics mean to you. And the meaning can change over time depending on where you are at in your life.

Again, one of the magical, mystical things about music.

Music, emotion, salvation - these are not superfluous things.

They get to the very core of what it means to be alive.