I'm not sure if this airs anywhere outside the U.S., so apologies to any readers who have no idea what I'm talking about, but does anyone agree with me that the recent Blackberry Loves U2 commercial, huge chunks of the song missing aside, improves upon the album mix of IGCIIDGCT? I found that, when listening to NLOTH, I was often lukewarm about this track and always eager for it to wrap up so I could get into the more committed ass-kicking tone of GOYB yet every time the Blackberry commercial aired, I became enraptured by the song. After comparing the two versions more closely to find out why I was responding to the two edits so differently, I realized that the album version of "Crazy Tonight" never has a musical payoff to the buildup of the chorus. It's like the entire song is, pardon my crass language, a big cock tease; Bono builds up time and again "but I'm gonna go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight!" only to have the surging music immediately peter out and quiet back down. Thematically/narratively, it makes sense, I guess--we basically end the song with its main character still unable to release, still unable to "go crazy"--but as a purely emotional, musical journey, it's terribly frustrating; we never get a cathartic release, a sonic "orgasm". Oh, Edge has his wonderful solo, to be sure, but it's not placed in the right, the best, emotional juncture of the track. However, in the Blackberry commercial, after Bono fires out his chorus in a passionate blast, we immediately move into Edge's solo--ah, at last, the divine emotional payoff I've been waiting for! For me, this really profoundly improves upon the power of the song and takes it from being just a middling track to a real standout. I've never been so aware of the importance of musical editing like this before. Though I'm not holding out hope, I'd love it if this edit is part of the so-called "Single Version" being released in early September. So, am I alone in this or do you know what I'm talking about?
