The new U2 single, "Get on Your Boots" is... strange. It's a Beatlesque (late-period Beatles, to clarify) romp that has the feel, to quote Bono's odd little lyric, of "rockets at the fun fair... candy floss ice cream..." a confection of sorts. Contrary to the title, which seems to promise a call to arms as we move into a new era (a view likely aided by the band's performance yesterday at the "We Are One" pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial), the song is the kind of light fun the band seems to have settled into since it's return around the turn of the millennium.

It's not a bad song, necessarily, just not what was expected. Perhaps Bono and Co. got what they wanted with Obama's victory, and are content to celebrate for a while. Or, considering this is just one song of 11 on No Line on the Horizon, perhaps its the lightest song on a batch that jumps back to the band's more experimental Achtung, Baby/Zooropa period. Of course given the tongue-in-cheek presentation here, it could also signal a return to (cringe) the Pop aesthetic.

Only time (and downloads of the sure-to-be-leaked album) will tell. The disc is due in stores March 3.

Labels: music, U2