Sexual Messages in U2's Songs

[BluRmGrl]

If some of U2's lyrics have sexual overtones, at least they are subtle and we really have to think about them. It's not like Bonos is singing, "Hey ho, I want to fuck you in half!"

OMG!!! That is SO wrong!! But I 'm hysterical at the thought of him actually saying it! WHAT is going on in my head?!?!?

 

[boosterjuice]

I also respect Bono for being suttle. He is never blatant with anything, just suttle and poetic. Most music is blatant with regard to sexuality, especially hip-hop.

 

[Samu2]

I must be sick as well because everything you quoted ive thought too

 

[strannix]

If some of U2's lyrics have sexual overtones, at least they are subtle and we really have to think about them. It's not like Bono's singing, "Hey ho, I want to fuck you in half!"

No, but this is close:

"I don't believe in forced entry, I don't believe in rape. But every time she passes by, wild thoughts escape."

 

[80sU2isBest]

2. Song: Kite
Lyrics in question:
"‘Cause hardness, it sets in,
You need some protection, the thinner the skin"

This one seems a little more obvious. So hardness sets in, then you need some protection, the thinner the better. I'm trying not to make the lyrics sound sick but this one just does.

>>This song is a song from a dad to his child. I think he's saying hardness of heart can set in when people get older.

5. Song: Mysterious Ways
Lyrics in question:
"If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel
On your knees, boy!"
Also having to deal with oral sex.

>>I don't buy that at all, since the song is about the Holy Spirit. These lines are similar to the Bible when it says that the "proud will be made humble and the huimble will be exalted".

 

[boosterjuice]

Re: Re: Sexual Messages in U2's Songs

>>This song is a song from a dad to his child. I think he's saying hardness of heart can set in when people get older.




>>I don't buy that at all, since the song is about the Holy Spirit. These lines are similar to the Bible when it says that the "proud will be made humble and the huimble will be exalted".

I agree with you about Kite. The song is most definitely about his dad. But don't the lyrics sound a little bit suspicious?

Mysterious Ways: I think the vast number of other oral sex references in AB suggest strongly that this lyric has a double meaning. In addition to being about the Holy Spirit, the song is also about sex. Is it a crime to combine the two? I don't think so.

 

[cseggleton]

As with all U2 songs you can come up with your own conclusion.

IMO You can swallow or you can spit...simply means you can accept or reject
I think Mysterious Ways may be about heaven/God....If you want to kiss the sky you better learn how to kneel....basically if you want to see heaven you better learn how to kneel? She moves in mysterious ways is maybe portraying God as woman and the lord moves in mysterious ways??

By the way I did not read any of the other posts so if I am repeating what someone else wrote...forgive me for being redundant..

 

[Scarletwine]

IMO You can swallow or you can spit...simply means you can accept or reject
I think Mysterious Ways may be about heaven/God....If you want to kiss the sky you better learn how to kneel....basically if you want to see heaven you better learn how to kneel? She moves in mysterious ways is maybe portraying God as woman and the lord moves in mysterious ways??

I disagree, it means both. I think it's apparent when Bono jumps into the audience's reach exactly on this line. Particulary a specific reach.

 

[bcrt2000]

2. Song: Kite
Lyrics in question:
"‘Cause hardness, it sets in,
You need some protection, the thinner the skin"

This one seems a little more obvious. So hardness sets in, then you need some protection, the thinner the better. I'm trying not to make the lyrics sound sick but this one just does.

uh.. kite is about someone dying, hardness setting is is referring to the body getting stiff after death

 

[Bono's shades]

I just thought of something - all those times when Bono could be singing either about God or about sex are a lot like the Song of Songs in the Bible, which has a ton of sexual imagery but is really supposed to be a metaphor for God's relationship with His people.

I don't think it applies to Kite or Peace on Earth necessarily, but it certainly covers a lot of other songs.

 

[FullonEdge2]

Someone else realized Kite is about sex too? The first time I heard that song I was wondering "What is he talking about? It sounds like such a nice song, no need for explicit references"


Thanks for reminding me of that memory!

 

[clipper699]

Yeah, who needs explicit references in their music...

"You can reach, but you can't grab it.
You can't hold it, control it
You can't bag it.

You can push, but you can't direct it
Circulate, regulate, oh no
You cannot connect it - love."

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

As I said in the other thread, and as others have said here, Mysterious Ways is definitely about sex AND the holy spirit. Bono has said that God's two greatest gifts to man are music and sex, through which we "glimpse the divine"

 

[caragriff]

sex+God=U2

 

[EPandAmerica]

When you get older, you have 'thicker skin' as it takes more to make to shock you, it takes more to hurt your feelings, it takes more to move you because you've grown a thick skin and are used to it and you are a hard person because you've already been through a lot of hard things in life, as opposed to someone young who has a 'thin' skin and they would get scared, sad, etc... more easily.

Also I would say that 99% of the time that when Bono sings the word kneel, he is talking about kneeling in prayer.

Yes saltwater kisses could be about a kiss after oral sex, or it could also have a deeper meaning as a kiss from someone that you have loved but you are beginning to see that the love is gone even if the physical relationship is still there, so their kisses would be bitter to you.

U2 songs require a lot of thought.
Thats one of the reasons I this band.


Ofcourse if Bono is singing about God or sex, I always enjoy the moaning, growls and orgasm sounds that come out of his mouth.

 

[BAW]

When you get older, you have 'thicker skin' as it takes more to make to shock you, it takes more to hurt your feelings, it takes more to move you because you've grown a thick skin and are used to it and you are a hard person because you've already been through a lot of hard things in life, as opposed to someone young who has a 'thin' skin and they would get scared, sad, etc... more easily.

Also I would say that 99% of the time that when Bono sings the word kneel, he is talking about kneeling in prayer.

Yes saltwater kisses could be about a kiss after oral sex, or it could also have a deeper meaning as a kiss from someone that you have loved but you are beginning to see that the love is gone even if the physical relationship is still there, so their kisses would be bitter to you.

U2 songs require a lot of thought.
Thats one of the reasons I this band.


Ofcourse if Bono is singing about God or sex, I always enjoy the moaning, growls and orgasm sounds that come out of his mouth.

I totally agree with you about the thick skin reference. That's what I always got from the song. I do think the kneeling refers to praying most of the time too...the jury is still out on Mysterious Ways for me though...I think kneeling/kiss the sky does refer to oral sex there.

Another take on the saltwater kisses is that it could be referring to tears...kissing after a fight or when a betrayal has come to light and one or both people have tear-stained faces

 

[discothequeLP]

Also from AB - Acrobat - "and you can swallow, or you can spit..."

. . .you can throw it up
or choke on it. . .





personally, i'd ask for plan A

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

I think you've all misinterpreted a lot of those.

Bono's lyrics are like a freaking Roscharch test (sp?) and you're all failing ...miserably. .....

 

[madonna's child]

sex+God=U2

 

[ZeroDude]

Bono is a Legend full stop.

 

[elffriend]

IfIt's not like Bono's singing, "Hey ho, I want to fuck you in half!"

No...that's just wishful thinking

 

[j0eiseph]

Kite was written to his daughter- definately not sexual. Mysterious Ways is obviously both sexual and spiritual. The double meanings were done on purpose IMHO.

Even Better Than The Real thing

"give me one more chance, and you'll be satisfied....
here she comes.... take me higher, you take me higher"

If thats not sexual, I dont know what is.

"Babyface"

The entire song sounds like someone masterbating to a video of a celebrity girl. If you dont believe me, read it again. Specially the slow motion and frame reference.

Catching your bright blue eyes in the freeze frame
I've seen them so many times
I feel like I must be your best friend.
You're looking fine, so fine
Dressed up like a lovely day.

Babyface, Babyface
Slow down child, let me untie your lace.
Babyface, Babyface
Cover girl with natural grace.
How could beauty be so kind
To an ordinary guy?

Comin' home late at night to turn you on
Checkin' out every frame,
I've got slow motion on my side.
Turnin' around and around
With the sound and colour under my control
Round and around, goin' down,
Dressed up like a lovely day.

Babyface, Babyface
Slow down child, let me untie your lace
Babyface, Babyface
Tinfoil hair all tied up in lace
Babyface, Babyface
Bitter-sweet girl, won't you give me a taste
How could beauty be so kind
To an ordinary guy?

Babyface, Babyface
Slow down child, let me untie your lace.
Babyface, Babyface
Open that door, let me unpack my case.
Babyface, Babyface
You're everywhere, child, you're all over the place.
Babyface, Babyface
You're comin' to me from outer space.
How could beauty be so kind
To an ordinary guy?

 

[Miggy D]

I actually read somewhere in a U2 article that 'Who's gonna taste your saltwater kisses' was actually about the taste one gets from performing oral sex on a woman, not a man. This makes more sense because Bono is singing about/to a woman, not a man. So Bono would be the one who had, in the past, tasted her 'saltwater kisses' and now she doesn't, since he has left her. I believe it might be in the book, 'At The End Of The World', but don't quote me since I haven't read it all the way through in a couple of years.

-Miggy D

 

[Miggy D]

It's not like Bono's singing, "Hey ho, I want to fuck you in half!"

Did anyone else read this and think: "Great new line for Bono to use at the end of Vertigo?" I would laugh my ASS off:

'Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah I wanta FUCK YOU IN HAAAAAALF!"

 

[U2girl]

A friend once told me about a few sexual lyric interpretations for a few of U2's songs. I never knew of this or interpreted the lyrics like this but it has shed some new light on the songs for me. I want to know if they are in fact relating to sex or was my friend just using his immagination.


1. Song: Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?
Lyrics in question: " Who is going to taste your saltwater kisses?"
What is a saltwater kiss? My friend explaned to me that a saltwater kiss is a kiss that tastes salty due to a foreign salty substance in ones mouth(ejaculate).

My first thought would be they're on a beach and he is tasting sea drops on her lips. Or she's been crying and that makes the kiss taste salty.


2. Song: Kite
Lyrics in question:
"‘Cause hardness, it sets in,
You need some protection, the thinner the skin"

Song was written about Bono's children. Hardness in life, hard times - he wishes he could protect them, as a father.


3. Song: Hold Me Thrill Me, Kiss me, kill me
Lyrics in question:
The whole orgasm at the end of the song. What is that about? Do we need to hear Bono moaning like that? How does that add to the song?

He moans a lot.

4. Song: So Cruel
Lyrics in question:
"I'm only hanging on to watch you go down, my love." & "Then she makes you watch her from above"
Both of these, according to my friend, have to do with oral sex. Any merit to this?

The song is a twist on the usual sappy romantic love song, additionally the woman is the "bad guy" - at first he just wants to be around to watch her face her actions, but he also can't resist being with her.

5. Song: Mysterious Ways
Lyrics in question:
"If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel
On your knees, boy!"
Also having to deal with oral sex.

Usually people say praying, IMO it's "you can't appreciate the good/heights of live without also knowing the lows/bad".

IMO, Even better than the real thing and Do you feel loved are the only really direct and rather explicit sexual songs.

 

[elffriend]

Does it really matter what theay actually mean. If you want the lyrics to be sexual then thats fine. Everyone interpets lyrics to suit themselves and their lifestyle.

I have never seen anything sexual in the lyrics myself, but then thats how I am. Whatever turns you on

 

[Miggy D]

Unbeknownst to most people, including many hardcore U2 fans, Bono has had to tone down many of his more sexually explicit songs before release, to prevent U2 albums from receiving a 'Parental Guidance' sticker. Here are some of the original titles to the unedited songs, which are now languishing in obscurity. It is unknown whether or not the recordings of these alternate versions exist, and if they do, whether or not U2 will one day, late in their career, release a 'Breast Of' collection of these hidden gems:

Beautiful Lay
Staring At The Buns
Where The Sheets Have No Shame
I Still Haven't F***ed What I'm Looking For
Goo Station
Even Wetter Than The Real Thing
Angel Of Herpes


There are many other songs that I have not included, for they are simply too raunchy to be written here. Bono has a dark, sexual side that is not too often seen because of this self-imposed censorship, but one can only imagine the kind of stamina Ali must have.

-Miggy D

 

[Bono's Doll]

I find this very sexy in Wire---when he grunts & growls & says "That's right--now let me see you do it now."

 

[deltau922]

At first I thought the line on Mysterious Ways was "If you wanna kiss this guy."

Anyway, I always thought Elevation was about sex. Bono is quite the cunning linquist.

 

[deltau922]

Where The Sheets Have No Shame

And this title was actually toned down from Where The Sheets Have No Stain.