Favorite Lyrics Project

[pax]

As some or all of you may have noticed, I recently became a host of this forum. I am extremely psyched to be hosting here, because as an English major, my job is to analyze words. And that is, after all, what we do in this forum.

One of my tasks as a host is to help to keep this forum lively and fun. And after some thought, I decided to start this thread: the Interference Favorite Lyrics Project. Basically, what I thought we could all do is post a little bit about our favorite U2 lyrics--not only the lyrics we have come to love, but why we love them and what they bring to mind for us. If you've created a profile for the forums, you probably filled out the blank for "favorite U2 lyrics"--which one did you pick, and why?

I hope this thread is thought-provoking and enjoyable for you, and if you have any problems (here or in FYM, which I am also helping to host with Salome, Sicy, and Anthony), please feel free to IM or e-mail me. Thanks!

 

[Sicy]

That was a nice post

Congrats on your new position pax.

My lyric choice in my profile is "mother.. rock and fuckin roll".

Not very thought provoking I suppose.. hehe.

 

[mocool12]

congrats!!!

Great idea! I too enjoy this forum.
Alright, as for lyrics, I left that field in my profile blank... I can't even pick a favorite song, let alone lyrics, heh. But some of my faves come from Zooropa. Here's the few lines I love:

And I have no compass
And I have no map
And I have no reasons
No reasons to get back

Don't worry baby, it'll be alright
You got the right shoes
To get you through the night

Don't worry baby, it's gonna be alright
Uncertainty can be a guiding light

She's gonna dream up
The world she wants to live in
She's gonna dream out loud

Haha, a bit more than a few lines I 'spose. Initially (to me), the song is supposed to be about escaping the crush of commercialism in the world and finding our own way.
But I also took something more personal away from the lyrics. Basically they mean a lot to me because of how reassuring they are. I'm someone who feels as though they've been constantly just drifting along, no real purpose in life, I don't really know where I'm going etc. That's why I love the "uncertainty can be a guiding light" line. And the "dream out loud" part is always somewhat inspirational of course.
Sorry if this isn't very coherent! I may just come back w/ more later.

 

[adamswildhoney]

Congrats on the new position!

 

[Lilly]

congrats!!

omc! i am excited to see you are a mod here! really, i'm just excited cos i like your name a lot.

i'm on limited time here, so i'm going to post a few times here.

the lyrics to dancin shoes.

"you've been learnin to walk in those dancin shoes"

that line...just...sums up what so many people do, which is terrible.

*runs to work*

 

[Bono's shades]

Congratulations paxetaurora! I'm sure you will make a great host. I will come back later with some lyric analysis, but I'm on my lunch hour right now and I'm kinda rushed for time.

 

[pax]

in a moment there is time...

No problem...and thanks for the kind words.

 

[U2girl]

Woo!

If you've created a profile for the forums, you probably filled out the blank for "favorite U2 lyrics"--which one did you pick, and why?

Actually, i didn't do that whole "U2 part" of the profile.

What a good idea for a thread! And congrats on the new job.

Though i have to think about it, there's several that come to mind...what do we do if there's a tie or we can't pick just one lyric and are torn between several choices?

 

[Bono's shades]

I have "I'll show you a place/high on a desert plain/where the streets have no name" listed in my profile for favorite lyrics, although truth be told I have lots of other favorites. But those particular lyrics sum up what U2's music has always done for me. It takes me to a magical place far above petty worries and annoyances, far above all the waste, stupidity, greed, cruelty and hatred in the world.

 

[~LadyLemon~]

I'm an english major too (soon to be 5th year senior, lol). I'll have to scope out this part of the forum now. Like mocool12, Zooropa has some of my favorite lyrics...

 

[pax]

Re: Woo!

What a good idea for a thread! And congrats on the new job.

Though i have to think about it, there's several that come to mind...what do we do if there's a tie or we can't pick just one lyric and are torn between several choices?

Thank you.

And you can do all of them at once, or one at a time...one now, one next week, whenever.

 

[Giant Lemon]

Congrats, paxetaurora! I like your idea a lot! I'll have to think of some better lyrics to talk about, but the lyrics in my profile are
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt....

I've just always loved those lines because they're the perfect climax to an amazing song. The way Bono sings it, it seems like we can all feel the pain and dark side of love.

 

[pax]

Well, right now my profile lyrics are "Walk On," which is just way too obvious. But I'll start there and maybe work backwards through the albums.

I know it aches and your heart it breaks
You can only take so much
But walk on...

I picked these lyrics, I think, because I was going through some unpleasant times. "Walk On" is really one of the simplest songs U2 have ever done (I don't mean that in a bad way). It's just about not giving up when things seem particularly dark, and trusting in God and in yourself to get you through the bad times. It's commencement-speech material, maybe, but very eloquent and direct.

Next post: Pop lyrics! Woohoo!

 

[Basstrap]

I want to run, I want to hide, I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside

This whole song has been a place of refuge for me since I became a U2 fan.
It desribes my emotions EXACTLY, me being an introvert.
Sometimes I get so frustrated with myself, I just wanna break free

 

[tackleberry]

Sweet the sin, bitter the taste in my mouth
I see seven towers, but I only see one way out
You gotta cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice

-Running to Stand still


Or go with my signature:

 

[Bonochick]

My favorite lyrics change often! However, I've been listening to "Stateless" a lot lately...I always listen to it when I'm depressed. I think it's a sad song, but it's so beautiful. I'm discovering that there can be a lot beauty in sadness.

I've got no home in this world
Just gravity
Luck and time
I've got no hope in this world
Just you
And you are not mine

...

There are no colors in your eyes
There's no sunshine in your skies
There's no race, only the prize
There is no tomorrow, only tonight

 

[U2girl]

Hmmm...i guess the first songs i felt connected to were I still haven't found what i'm looking for, then Acrobat, then Zooropa.

I guess i relate the doubtful, uncertain atmosphere of these songs spoke to me because it's how i feel about my life sometimes.

Lately, Stuck totally hit home with me - what with me moving into a new period my life as i search for a job.

 

[bullet the blue sky]

I could be here for the remainder of the year talking about my favourite U2 lyrics.

But that would take a lot of typing. So I'll narrow it down to just two songs.

The first one is Please. The whole lyric is just great, but "Love is big/And love is tough/But love is not/What you're thinking of" is the clincher.

Second one is Love Is Blindness, the whole thing actually. Come to think of it, I seem to find all the Troubles-related songs have the strongest lyrics.

 

[Swan269]

during a certain time with a certain woman

Desperation is a tender trap
It gets you everytime
you put your lipps to her lipps to stop the lie

I could so identify with that stanza.......I sometimes get sad thinking about that time........

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

in my profile i have this:

when you stop taking chances
you'll stay where you sit
you won't live any longer
but it'll feel like it.

 

[pax]

To continue my service to the Favorite Lyrics Project:

Tonight the moon has drawn its curtains
It's a private show
No one else going to know
I'm wanting


--"If You Wear That Velvet Dress," from Pop

This is my favorite song from Pop, and certainly one of the better songs from the '90s oeuvre. I've always read it as a bitterly tender ode to an already-failed relationship that you just can't get away from--for sexual AND spiritual reasons. Every time you think you can wash your hands of it, that "velvet dress" comes back and you think you can get away with it one more time.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Hey...

Congrats on becoming a host of this forum, first off.

Second, great idea, as for favorite lyrics, I'm having a hard time picking my favorite lyrics, because like someone else said, I can't even pick my all-time favorite U2 song, much less my favorite U2 lyrics...wait a minute...*lightbulb goes on over her head*

I just got a neat idea-how about I post my favorite lyrics from a U2 song, and post different lyrics each week, that way I can share all my favorite lyrics on here and I won't have to be forced to pick just one!

Yeah, there we go! I'll do that. Problem solved.

I'll go update my profile now.

Angela

 

[pax]

Sounds great! And anyone else who would like to do this is welcome to join in.

 

[MonaVox]

In my profile I put:

What you don't have you don't need it know,
What you don't know you can feel it somehow

Which I also had as part of my yearbook quotes. And wrote on my calculator. And many binders....

I just.......one of the things I love about U2 is they give you something to believe in. And it's like...it can be a religious thing if you want it to be but it doesn't have to be. I was raised and I practice bein Catholic..... and there's a very biblical, very Christian sentiment that I recognize in that lyrics. But it's also.... it can be taken fer what it is, just straight, as a message of needing to accept things.

I just think it sounds cool. Good words to live by.

 

[daisybean]

WOW...i don't know why but I hardly go into this forum...it's pretty cool


Anyhoo....

You're Stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it



About 6 months ago, I was feeling down about my life...I was stuck in a miserable job and felt like I was going as far as I could career wise. Listening to that made me realize that I didn't have to be "Stuck," I told my boss that I was in the process of finding a new job...to which he said "What do you think you are going to do?" with the tone of "You're not capable of doing anything other than what you are doing now"

For some reason I believed him, and why I don't know. I tried to make the best of my situation, however I was still miserable, but I was also too afraid to quit....what if I wasn't capable of doing something else?

Then one day on my way to work I popped in Zooropa and...

Don't worry baby, it's gonna be alright
Uncertainty can be a guiding light


It hit me like a ton of bricks.....saying don't be afraid to try something new....it was reaffriming what I knew in the back of my mind all along....don't let someone else control your life for you.

It also just so happened that was the day my boss told me that I was not getting the raise he "promised" me (they couldn't justify it).....So I walked out...



[/story]

 

[Jenn121]

And you don't know if it's fear or desire
Danger the drug that takes you higher
Head of heaven
Fingers in the mire

Her heart is racing...you can't keep up
The night is bleeding like a cut
Between the horses of love and lust
We are trampled underfoot


These lyrics bring me back to a lousy relationship that I knew was lousy but convinced myself I wanted to hold onto and fight for.

 

[pax]

WOW...i don't know why but I hardly go into this forum...it's pretty cool

Enter daisybean to the IAMJ dark side.

 

[follower]

Can I join the party?

Congrats on your new status here paxetaurora...you being an English major gets me kinda frightened, LOL. I apologize in advance for my English, not exactly the best around. Hope I can learn a little bit more with you.

Now on the topic...I wrote there in my profile "So Cruel...the whole song"...cannot pick just one line, one verse...impossible for me, it?s such a masterpiece in its entirety. It?s the most haunting, touching, moving, marvellous heartbreaking song I have ever heard.

You know, I was asked to bring a song once to my English class...I brought So Cruel and we worked on it. Some of my classmates were like, you know, jaw dropped and all...a few didn?t get it, really. But it was all worth.

 

[pax]

Music is the universal language, follower--we're happy to have you!

I guess we'll get the lyrics party started again...I think I was working backwards, so here are my favorite lyrics from Zooropa. I've already talked about these lyrics at great length, but here they are--to read my commentary, click the link.

I have a lover
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing
Shows me colors when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
And for the first time, I feel loved
--from "The First Time"

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I agree...

Can I join the party?

Congrats on your new status here paxetaurora...you being an English major gets me kinda frightened, LOL. I apologize in advance for my English, not exactly the best around. Hope I can learn a little bit more with you.

Now on the topic...I wrote there in my profile "So Cruel...the whole song"...cannot pick just one line, one verse...impossible for me, it?s such a masterpiece in its entirety. It?s the most haunting, touching, moving, marvellous heartbreaking song I have ever heard.

You know, I was asked to bring a song once to my English class...I brought So Cruel and we worked on it. Some of my classmates were like, you know, jaw dropped and all...a few didn?t get it, really. But it was all worth.

I that song. One of my favorites off of "Achtung Baby".

As for the lyrics I put in my profile, this week it's a bit from "Angel Of Harlem", I don't have any personal reasons as to why those lyrics are great, it's just...I love the way they're sung, and I love the way this person the song's about (Billie Holiday) is described in those lyrics-in the whole song as well. Just wonderful.

As time goes on and I put new lyrics in each week, however, if any of them have a personal meaning to me, they relate to something in my life somehow, though, I'll share those stories as well. In fact, I'm thinking next week's lyrics will be from a song that helped me through a crush on a guy I had last year. But that's not until next week, though, so....

Okay, I'm rambling now, anywho, yeah, "So Cruel"=awesome song. I love that song, too.

Angela