Bono's strongest topic ?

[U2girl]

What theme brings out the best Bono lyrics in average on the U2 albums ?

Faith, politics, sexuality, family, comments on culture, addiction, bittersweet love songs or something else ?

 

[mysterious_jen]

i like sexuality and voyerism ...
as for bono's best topics

addiction also good.....

 

[DevilsShoes]

Bono's strong on many of those topics, I think he's written some pretty good stuff on all of them, but I'd say his very strongest is Faith, after that its Sexuality and Addiction.

 

[Peterrrrr]

I still havent heard the lyrics on "the edge is on fire", must be sexuality releated lyrics

 

[Aygo]

Best thing in Bono's lyrics is the ability he has to talk about faith and to integrate faith in subject we think that can't match.

 

[coolian2]

The best thing about Bonos lyrics is that i'll openly sing along to songs about faith despite my godlessness.

 

[Screwtape2]

Bono's strongest topics are obsession and addiction. See Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree b-sides.

 

[waynetravis]

Bono is strong on all those subjects.

But I feel Faith and Spirituality are his strongest bases to his lyrics.

 

[xaviMF22]

sex

 

[gareth brown]

(B-side but) Big Girls

 

[Utoo]

Faith and the female spirit....and more often than not, weaving the two together.

 

[catlhere]

"And a woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle."

Obviously not analogies.

 

[david]

kneeling.

 

[U2lunatic]

Unforgettable fire(song)

 

[BVS]

"And a woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle."

Obviously not analogies.

He didn't actually write that line...

 

[Babydoll]

Sexuality and bittersweet love songs...Case in point: WOWY.

 

[Aygo]

Sexuality and bittersweet love songs...Case in point: WOWY.

But WOWY can be too about spirituality and faith.

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Can you give examples of what you mean? I see "obsession" as a theme but I can't quite pinpoint which line you're talking about.

BTW, I like how in Acrobat there's this random "I can't let you go" stuck in there in the middle. I could listen to the whole song just for the small little payoff that is that line.

I also really enjoy Bono's part in Slide Away with Michael Hutchence "Wanted to let her go ....just couldn't let her go".

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

smart turtles

 

[AtomicBono]

well what are U2's best songs lyrically? Stay, So Cruel, Running to Stand Still, Mofo, Wake Up Dead Man, The Fly, Gone, One, The Wanderer... he's written strong words about many topics. I don't know if there's one certain one he does better than any other. I think Bono's key is he is able to make songs both personal and universal. When he does that is when a song really succeeds.

 

[phillyfan26]

smart turtles

And mouths with teeth.

 

[LMP]

that eat all your friends?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

cheerios and baby poop

 

[Zoots]

sex and obsession:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
Do You Feel Loved
Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me
Mysterious Ways
Love Is Blindness

political too:

New Years Day
Like A Song
SBS
Pride
Please
Bullet The Blue Sky
Mothers of the Disappeared
Peace On Earth

 

[angelordevil]

Longing. It's not really a topic, but it's the word that comes to mind first for me.

New Years Day

More and more, I think of this as their greatest song ever. I'm in a pretty dormant U2 phase, but I threw U218 in the car the other day to see what would happen...I kept skipping everything except NYD

 

[Zoots]

More and more, I think of this as their greatest song ever.

It's damn close.

 

[ahittle]

(in)fidelity.

 

[Marien]

I think Bono is a master mixing spirituality and sexual images, mysticism and rock'n roll!!. He also writes things which appeal to both, your own intimacy as a listener (or reader) and the universal. There's a special thing about his lyrics, they usually have more than a meaning, and it changes according to the point of view you adopt or your own feelings, that why I think he could be more than a lyricist if he took the time.

 

[absintheminded]

"The top of a newborn baby's head"

bad vision here....for anybody that has seen the new film, "Knocked Up"...


oh I can't believe I just said this...

 

[blm]

orig posted by angelordevil:
Longing. It's not really a topic, but it's the word that comes to
mind first for me.

LONGING- PERFECT. This describes many of the topics he writes about. Longing for peace, equality, love, love of a woman, God to listen, justice, relationships to be, faith, a deep wanting of something the soul is calling out for. (sorry to get so deep, but Bono brings out the extremes- happy to sad and all in between). Much of the ambiguity lets one make it personal, too.
His lyrics are incredible(a lot of them).