when you make chaotic life choices, you often find yourself out and about at odd hours of the night. in the seattle area, that might mean you find yourself in a Denny's or an IHOP. (product placement, i know.)

a whole other thesis could be written about the clusters of music played in these quintissential american diner chains. (i briefly considered it!) the playlists are full of establishing songs of a north-american (or, sometimes, trans-atlantic) anglospheric identity. the interesting part is the songs that seem to break the assumptions of this identity: in adorno's terms, tendencies that threaten to turn the whole thing upside down. and no contribution to the late-night diner milleu threatens the status quo more than the catalog of U2*, which, in my experience, can be heard in these franchises on frequent rotation.

the synth pluck riff at the end of this cover set the stage for the sudden tempo increase. i wanted to include both the half-speed and full-speed versions of the riff, but couldn't get the full-speed version to work with the half-time tempo of the song. reconciling the two made for a quick tempo increase at the end, and the resulting party-time plot twist after the cover's last verse.

* this may say more about the character of these playlists than it does about the subversive power of U2's music.

covering "where the streets have no name" by U2