Bono's lyrics with the word 'crawl'

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nori

Babyface
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I just noticed that some of Bono's lyrics have been relating to the word 'crawl'

(where the streets have no name)
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls

(sweetest thing)
I wanted to run but she made me crawl

(one)
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on

(The fly)
A man will beg
A man will crawl

(Zoo station)
The cool of the night
The warmth of the breeze
I'll be crawling 'round

(In A little while)
And the daylight has no end
If I crawl, if I come crawling home


Well they somehow sound sweet for me.I sort of feel that he's using this word to express love.
 
I think it express more of a feeling of defeat or possibly unworthiness (I know that is not a real word but I can't find the right one) either way I think the word builds an incredible image when he uses it.
 
Yeah, and desperation and submissiveness. The one word that I always latch on to is "child". Most of Achtung Baby has that word, and Red Hill Mining Town from JT, and even HMTMKMKM. I suppose the use of the word could be interpreted in a negative fashion (especially in EBTTRT which appears to be addressed to a lover) but in The Fly and HMTMKMKM it is so biting, and in Red Hill so sweet and almost fatherly.
The best words out there are the ones that can be used in so many different ways.
 
I always thought "unworthiness" was a real word... oh well.
Depending on the song, I think the crawling reference can mean enduring unpleasantness for the sake of love... dragging yourself through the mud to reach a loved one, or to prove to them that you love them...
Traditionally I guess it's a metaphor for inferiority and abasement... either or. Like skyanin said, flexible words are great things...
"Tonight" is another word Bono seems to like a lot... tho probably not as versatile as "crawl" or "child"...
I've also noticed how vastly different the first two uses of the phrase "dream out loud" are... In Acrobat it's an exhortation... "You can dream, so dream out loud!" In Zooropa it almost sounds like an escapist fantasy of this girl who's disoriented, lost in the muddy subways of Zooropa... "She's gonna dream up the world she wants to live in, She's gonna dream out loud..."
There's my 2 cents, anyway... plus an extra $10...
smile.gif
 
and in "Always", there's a line that says "Well if you dream, then dream out aloud." I wonder if Bono's losing faith in people's imagination and their ability to realise it!
 
I wouldn't say the word 'crawl' denotes any enduring of torment for the sake of love. I seem it's more to stand for...a person's weakness in front of the severe world uncertainties. It feels like the person the lyrics are devoted to is much tired to go on fighting, torn appart.
Well, he never used the word in his early lyrics - as far as I remember. And the first three albums were more rebel, than all others taken together.
 
Originally posted by Alexander Lee:
I wouldn't say the word 'crawl' denotes any enduring of torment for the sake of love.
Click to expand...

Well, it depends on the context. In One, the crawl in "Love is a temple, Love a higher law /You ask me to enter, then you make me crawl" could be interpreted to be enduring torment for the sake of a kind of love. His other uses seem to represent levels of relationships.
 
As for "child".... I've always felt it's like calling a lover "baby", which a lot of people do. In context, it doesn't feel to me like a "fatherly" word, but a "lover" word.

But have you guys ever heard anyone say "child" before to a lover? Baby is very common, a sweet term for a lover, but "child" has always sounded unique to me.
 
I thought the same thing about unworthiness, Alisaura... and guess what, we're both right!! It's in my dictionary anyways.

Praise the Lawd!!
 
I've never heard someone refer to their lover or sig. other as a child. Baby seems short for babe, but regardless, is understood to be a term of endearment (or, in some cases (and only some), as a form of condesendation (spelling?)). Child totally represents some level of superiority. Though, since Bono is a master of sound, his "childs" often sound more innocent than they could be.
 
To call someone "child" does not necessarily mean the speaker is not a child (although i admit it does seem to be implied). Perhaps Bono is a child as well as whoever is being addressed in relation to God.
 
In that case, yeah, but what about most of the child references in EBTTRT and The Fly? Those seem to show levels of authority and knowledge and superiority rather than innocence.
 
Originally posted by skyanin:
and in "Always", there's a line that says "Well if you dream, then dream out aloud." I wonder if Bono's losing faith in people's imagination and their ability to realise it!
Click to expand...
uuuuhh....Acrobat wasn't it?
 
also, crawl > on your knees > prayer.

another random thought..

was reading one of those cd sized u2 books, and Keith Haring's Radiant Baby was billed as the achtung baby. the radiant baby does fit SO well into the u2 cosmology though, that i can see how that mistake can be easily made. this whole crawling/submission/intuitive love thing goes along with the image perfectly.
 
Originally posted by Pleased:
Originally posted by skyanin:
and in "Always", there's a line that says "Well if you dream, then dream out aloud." I wonder if Bono's losing faith in people's imagination and their ability to realise it!
Click to expand...
uuuuhh....Acrobat wasn't it?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but he also says a line like it in the B side Always and in the song Zooropa.
 
He's used "Dream Out Loud" in Acrobat, Zooropa, and Always, as well as having used that term in his little pre-ISHFWILF speeches during the LoveTown tour. I'd say he likes it
wink.gif
.
 
She carries a PEARL i perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction

(GRACE)

Inthrough the doorway she brings me
White gold and PEARLS stolen from the sea

(RUNNING TO STAND STILL)

both of these songs tell the story of a girl in a sort of way, although they deal with different themes, but does anyone have an idea of what the pearls refer to?
IM confused!!
 
He's also used the word "and" a few times.
Its only a coincidence or he just likes the word "crawl". Don't over-analyse the lyrics!
 
My two cents on the use of child.... as in "So I'm telling you, child" I've typically heard this used in African American culture, more commonly during the early part of the 20th century in music and speech. I'm sure you've heard it used in any movie with a Southern Baptist church in the storyline. It seems quite soulful and quite... well Bono, for Bono to use this term. I love it when he slips that in, just like I love it when he (or any other Irish/English person) refers to someone as "love." Insert girlish sigh here...
Anyway, I'd just thought I'd add on - no matter how useless.



------------------
Nichelle
**Still looking for the
face I had before the
world was made....**

**Work like you don't
need money, love like
you've never been hurt,
and dance like no
one's watching.**
 
In Please

"and you never knew what was on the ground till they made you crawl"

Don't really know what it means...stooping to a lower level, obviously, but here she's being forced to crawl, for The Church?
 
Originally posted by DancingBarefoot:
My two cents on the use of child.... as in "So I'm telling you, child" I've typically heard this used in African American culture, more commonly during the early part of the 20th century in music and speech. I'm sure you've heard it used in any movie with a Southern Baptist church in the storyline. It seems quite soulful and quite... well Bono, for Bono to use this term. I love it when he slips that in, just like I love it when he (or any other Irish/English person) refers to someone as "love." Insert girlish sigh here...
Anyway, I'd just thought I'd add on - no matter how useless.
Click to expand...

No, that totally helps. I've always looked at it as him being slighty condescending (especially with the AB songs where I picture him as the Fly). This really changes it in a way that is sweet and not derrogatory. thanks
 
Anytime, glad I could be a help.
biggrin.gif



------------------
Nichelle
**Still looking for the
face I had before the
world was made....**

**Work like you don't
need money, love like
you've never been hurt,
and dance like no
one's watching.**
 
With the exception of Zoo Station the "crawling" is always for a purpose and in 3 cases the singer is "made" to crawl, usually by a lover, so I'm thinking the "enduring torment for the sake of love" thing is pretty on the ball.
 
The word "crawl'" could also mean to be humble.
The word "child" in Spanish is also used with adults...
Ay,ni?a, ya supistes lo que le paso a la vecina?
LOL para los que leen espa?ol!


------------------
"In Nicaragua it's...well, it's the sexiest revolution I ever saw.
Women in khaki uniforms standing on corners and...
well, I don't like anyone with an Armalite rifle,
but they were standing there smoking cigarettes and looking like Miss World."
(Bono-Mar 1987)
"The only leader I did not manage to have a proper
conversation with was Clinton. I was speaking and he was
looking at one of the walls, admiring the frescos and the
paintings. He was not listening to me."
(Pope John Paul II)

Check out the Interferencers!
http://www.geocities.com/u2j33_3/
 
Neither, I read it on the Yahoo news and thought it was funny.
But it makes me wonder what was going thru Clinton's mind when he was introduced to the Pope...
smile.gif


------------------
"In Nicaragua it's...well, it's the sexiest revolution I ever saw.
Women in khaki uniforms standing on corners and...
well, I don't like anyone with an Armalite rifle,
but they were standing there smoking cigarettes and looking like Miss World."
(Bono-Mar 1987)

Check out the Interferencers!
http://www.geocities.com/u2j33_3/
 
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