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"Slug" is a song by Passengers, a group composed of rock band U2 and producer Brian Eno. It is the second track on the group's only release, the 1995 album ''Original Soundtracks 1''. The track was given the working title "Seibu" and was almost left off the album before it was rediscovered later during the recording sessions. Though Eno made the majority of creative decisions during the recording sessions, "Slug" was one of the few tracks that the members from U2 tried to craft themselves. Lyrically, it is a portrait of a "desolate soul" during a time of celebration. As Passengers were writing songs for fictional soundtracks, they tried to create a visual suggestion from the music that was more important than the story within the lyrics. In "Slug", the instrumentation is intended to represent the lights of a city being turned on at dusk. The group primarily drew inspiration for the song from U2's experiences in Tokyo at the conclusion of the Zoo TV Tour. "Slug" was praised as one of the best songs on the album by critics from various publications, and was compared to tracks from U2's previous album, ''Zooropa''. ==Background and recording== U2 and producer Brian Eno intended to record the soundtrack for Peter Greenaway's 1996 film ''The Pillow Book''. Though the plan did not come to fruition, Eno suggested they continue recording for imaginary films as a warm-up for U2's 1997 album, ''Pop''. The result was ''Original Soundtracks 1'', a collaboration between U2 and Eno released under the name "Passengers". The tracks on the album were written as soundtrack pieces for specific films, some of which were fictional and "exist only in Eno's imagination".〔〔 Vocalist Bono felt the visual suggestion from the music was more important than the story told by the lyrics, so the band tried to create "visual music" when recording, continuing a trend that had begun with their 1993 song "Zooropa".〔 U2 spent time in Shinjuku, Tokyo at the end of the Zoo TV Tour in 1993, and their experience in the city influenced the recording sessions. The vivid colours of the street signs and billboards caused them to feel as if they were on the set of the 1982 science-fiction film ''Blade Runner''. ''Original Soundtracks 1'' was conceived as a "night-time record", and "Slug" was written with the idea of the street lights and advertisements turning on as day faded to dusk, harking back to U2's memories of Shinjuku. Bono stated the opening notes, which reflect this scene, are reminiscent of turning on the lights of a Christmas tree. The song was originally given the working title "Seibu", after the Tokyo department store of the same name.〔 After recording "Seibu", the band set it aside, and the piece was forgotten as the sessions progressed. It was almost left off the album, until guitarist the Edge rediscovered the track while looking through the session's discarded songs. Recognizing the track's potential to become a great song, the Edge brought "Seibu" to Eno's attention, and in early June 1995, Eno listed "Seibu" as a late entry to be considered for the album. As producer, Eno had most of the artistic control during the sessions, limiting U2's creative input on the recordings, which prompted the Edge to force the other members of U2 into putting extra effort into arranging the song. He stated that along with "Miss Sarajevo" and "Your Blue Room", "Seibu" was one of only three tracks from the album in which U2 "really dug in () heels and did more work on and tried to craft".〔 By early July 1995, the band renamed the song "Seibu/Slug", and Eno noted that the piece started to "sound better" and described it as a "()ovely song". During the final editing of the track, Eno became angry with U2 because they seemed "unfocused" and he felt he was doing all the work. Bono decided to completely deconstruct the mix of the song, to Eno's disapproval. However, following the changes, Eno was satisfied with the decision. The editing of the track was finalized on 10 July, and the Edge later stated he felt his effort to push extra work into the song "paid off".〔 Details of the song's recording sessions were documented in Eno's 1996 book, ''A Year with Swollen Appendices''. As all the songs on ''Original Soundtracks 1'' were written for films, "Slug" is credited as having been written for a fictional German film of the same name.〔 Eno wrote the album's liner notes which describe the fictional film's plot as the story of a young car mechanic who aspires to attract the attention of a cashier by staging a robbery and pretending to be the hero.〔 However, the "robbers" decide to abandon the scheme and commit an actual robbery, causing a shootout where the cashier accidentally shoots a security guard and gets arrested, and the mechanic must find a way to get her released from prison. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Slug (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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