Pitchfork

Bono is a bullshitter's bullshitter. With that Irish purr and penchant for turning every lowly phrase into a melodramatic...pause...fest, he could turn a trip to the podiatrist into an epic tale of love and loss. And his first column for The New York Times is Bono qua Bono as it connects Frank Sinatra's "My Way" to the aura of being and living and all that. The piece is as blustery as you'd think but it's arguably more considered and enjoyable than U2's generally embarrassing last album.

The Times is offering the column as text and as audio read by the man himself. Here's a tip: Go for the audio. Delivered in his jazzbo-by-way-of-Dublin style, overstuffed lines like "malt joy and ginger despair are all in the queue to be served on this, the quarter-of-a-millennium mark since Arthur Guinness first put velvety blackness in a pint glass" sound less show-offy and more blissfully buzzed. It's easy to make fun of Bono, but there's a reason why his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speeches are always amazing. The guy knows how to spin his yarns. Expect about a half dozen more Times columns from the singer throughout 2009, according to The Guardian.

When he's not waxing lyrical about the Chairman of the Board, Bono is still saving the world and leading U2 to unprecedented stadium glories. The band's new album, No Line on the Horizon, is set for release March 3 on Interscope, and they will play new single "Get on Your Boots" at the BRIT Awards February 17. Rumor has it the track will hit radio later this week.