Sexual Messages in U2's Songs

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
deltau922 said:
At first I thought the line on Mysterious Ways was "If you wanna kiss this guy."

very funny reference to Jimi Hindrix...:wink:
 
Miggy D said:
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. :wink:

-Miggy D

Good list, but it's incomplete. You're missing the infamous "Hey ho, I want to fuck you in half!", which of course became the much nicer "All I Want Is You".
 
Miggy D said:
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. -Miggy D

I always interpreted this as the man kissing his lover following the act. In fact, I'm totally right.
 
I always thought 'If you wanna kiss the sky better learn how to kneel...' means to be able to be the best person you can, to be at peace inside with who you are, you need to have a bit of humility! But maybe I've been missing something...!
 
Miggy D said:
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. :wink:

-Miggy D


:lol: Miggy D, you are hilarious!
 
I cant understand why everyone is so surprised that some of the lyrics could be sexual references. This is a lead singer who regularly thrusts his groin into film cameras given half a chance!
Mind you, apart from the posters taking it all so seriously, this thread is the funniest I've read for a while!:lol:
 
Hmmm didn't Bono say at one point that all his songs are about God or a woman.. and sometimes he gets them confused... can't remember the exact quote offhand...

gah... no one's brought up this one:
"As long as you're on your knees
And she's not on her back"


goat
 
Dear old Mr Bonjo, you’ve got to hand it to him; when his head is in a spin, he certainly knows how to deliver! The humdinger of a track that is VERTIGO strikes a chord in more ways than ONE. This sexy, angst ridden rendition is a mile away from safe little ditties like Sweetest Thing. Let’s hope the new U2 offering ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’ is full of such delights and that a somewhat tame phase is over. When Bono is on form, nobody does it better! We should surely hope that his dismantlement is a long way off. I’m not discounting the punchier tracks of ‘All that you can’t Leave Behind’, but the endless soul searching about what ‘couldn’t be left behind’ wore a bit thin. In ‘A place called Vertigo’, it sounds like Bono has realised that a little bit of danger is tortuous fun. Okay, the protagonist’s head is a ‘Jungle’ and he’s fumbling around in the dark. But it’s also plain to see that he seems to like where it’s all heading: ‘You give me something I can feel’. The admission that ‘the head can’t rule the heart’ relinquishes reason and control; whilst the mystery ‘girl with crimson nails and Jesus around her neck’ speaks to his soul and stirs up ‘everything I wish I didn’t know’. Vertigo charts subterranean territory and offers an outlet for raw emotion that doesn’t stand a chance unless the protagonist realises one thing: that alchemical love and passion really can go hand in hand. Finally as a defence mechanism the Vertigo angst is transmuted into a Divine Rapture that sublimates irrational urges and recognises the redemption of Grace; ‘your love is teaching me how to kneel’. No it’s not a cop out, but it IS a separate issue!
 
ZeroDude said:
Bono does this deliberately i think...........
Daddy's gonna pay

Daddy gives you as much as you can take
Butterfly kisses up and down your wrist
When you see daddy coming
You're licking your lip

These are all drug references. "Butterfly kisses" are a pretty name for the ugly track marks left on your arms by hypodermic needles. Daddy is a pusher. And the 'licking your lip' line refers to a common nervous habit that heroin users exhibit when they need a fix.
 
Something I just realized - if I'm not mistaken, 'A Man And A Woman' is the first U2 song to actually have the word 'sex' in it.
 
ZeroDude said:


Peace on Earth
Where I grew up
There weren't many trees
Where there was we'd tear them down
And use them on our enemies ..................... lol
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

HA HA HA HA!!!!! :lol: :eek: I love that!
I normally listen to ATYCLB at work (I'm a Store Manager). I am very sad to report that when Peace On Earth came on today, I couldn't help thinking of this thread, and started laughing my head off. The customers must have thought I was insane!

boosterjuice said:


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?
Most definitely!!

Golightly Grrl said:
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!"
[/I]
:shocked: :lmao: :lmao:

deltau922 said:

Anyway, I always thought Elevation was about sex. Bono is quite the cunning linquist.
lol!!!!
 
Last edited:
I always prefer to interpret "if you want to kiss the sky, you'd better learn how to kneel" as "if you want to get to heaven, you'd better learn how to pray" However, the sexual connotation is there as well, Im sure.

Forget the 'orgasm' on Hold me Thrill me.. Try listening to Bono on the Mysterious Ways Solar Plexus Club Mix, sounds like he's shagging the whole way through it !!
 
Shade said:


These are all drug references. "Butterfly kisses" are a pretty name for the ugly track marks left on your arms by hypodermic needles. Daddy is a pusher. And the 'licking your lip' line refers to a common nervous habit that heroin users exhibit when they need a fix.

I always thought of "Daddy's Gonna Pay" as being about incest. Not happily, mind you, but that's how it came off to me. Of course, I'd never heard that butterfly kiss/drug reference thing before.

Originally posted by ImOuttaControl

The entire "Do You Feel Loved!" Pure sex.

I know, right?! I recently rediscovered this song and have been listening to it constantly. I can't believe I never noticed this song has Bono's sexiest lyrics ever, bar none! Like most, I always felt like AB was the "sexual" album.

Originally posted by Golightly Grrl

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!"

Thanks a lot Golightly Grrl!! Now I've totally laughed out loud at work and had to explain why to my boss!! (He thought it was funny too.) Hysterical.
 
Until The End Of The World

"Surrounding me, going down on me
Spilling over the brim
Waves of regret and waves of joy"

--> another oral sex reference to reinforce Achtung's status as the oral sex album.


Elevation

High, higher than the sun
You shoot me from a gun
I need you to elevate me here
At the corner of your lips
As the orbit of your hips
Eclipse, you elevate my soul

I've got no self-control
Been living like a mole
Now going down, excavation


--> some interpret this as a a sperm requesting his master wanting to be released.

Cheers,

J
 
ummm....am I the only one who thinks Twilight is about certain recently- publicized *misbehaviors* of the Catholic Church? (not really of course, just thought it was funny)

also, ladies, Some Days are Better than Others works well as a song about those special days of the month!

(sorry, those are only semi-sexual):wink:
 
I only discovered this thread late last night after watching the DVD of U2 hits from the 1990s. To say it lightly, there's some pretty steamy stuff in there, especially Larry and Samantha Morton in Electrical Storm.
The whole question about whether a particular lyric is about sex *or* God misses the point. U2's music is about sex *and* god, god as sex, sex as god, and so on. This is where mysticim parts with religion, and Bono is a mystic like William Blake. Religion is pious, while mysticism is ecstatic. Religion is about laws, while mysticism is about the life-force.
All the kneeling reference are about prayer, and for the sake of our souls, why can't oral sex be a form of prayer? I know our respective spouses and partners and lovers would be pleased if we approached it that way!
Anu
 
Reply

Hi!

One thing about lyrics is the interpretation is in the eyes and ears of the beholder. Just like words.....the same word can have different meanings......the same with music.....the importance to music is that it arouses one's interest to decipher and hopefully reach the body and soul.

carol
wizard2c
:wink:
 
Two songs I can't believe nobody has mentioned here...

MOFO "wanna f*** you wanna suck you...rock and roll" and some apparently quite naughty lyrics on Velvet Dress that didn't make it to the album version...can anyone shed a light on this?
 
Ellay said:
I always prefer to interpret "if you want to kiss the sky, you'd better learn how to kneel" as "if you want to get to heaven, you'd better learn how to pray" However, the sexual connotation is there as well, Im sure.

Forget the 'orgasm' on Hold me Thrill me.. Try listening to Bono on the Mysterious Ways Solar Plexus Club Mix, sounds like he's shagging the whole way through it !!

Not being the religious type myself, I like the oral sex explaination to that line in Mysterious Ways.:wink: I always thought Bono wasn't the type who thought you had to pray to go to Heaven, if there is one. Maybe for a phase during October or whatever, but in the 90's? I'll just choose to think it's about oral sex...:wink:
 
After reading this thread, most of it is Blasphemy IMO! Mysterious Ways is actually a Hymn of God " God Moves in Mysterious Ways". I know that Mysterious Ways is not about sex, it may have evolved to more than that later, but Bono wrote that soley for God, and had no sexual meanings.
As for the others, which have been explained and are pretty hilarious, Acrobat, PonE, One, So Cruel,Kite, UTEOTW, no sexual refrences.
 
Shade said:
Something I just realized - if I'm not mistaken, 'A Man And A Woman' is the first U2 song to actually have the word 'sex' in it.

I think Playboy Mansion did
 
macphisto23 said:
After reading this thread, most of it is Blasphemy IMO! Mysterious Ways is actually a Hymn of God Bono wrote that soley for God, and had no sexual meanings.

If it has no sexual connotations, why does the original mysterious ways video, the live performance through the whole zoo era, & the videoscreens on both the pop & elevation tours feature a bellydancer...

All pretty sexual if you ask me

(bar the dressed up bloke on the pop tour mind you)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom