This is more of just a thought of my own on an interpretation of the song which I had to do for an english essay.
In their career, U2 and especially Bono have done many things. They have won many awards for songs and other notable causes they have championed for. U2 frontman Bono was honored as the 2003 MusiCares Person of the Year as well as being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Over the course of so many reasons they have written many songs and one, such as "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" off their 1993 Zooropa album have become very important to people and their lives. It was one of their songs that really illustrations a mental picture and story that really means something personal to me and many people around the world who love U2's music.
The first part of the first verse really sets the tone, and the foundation if you will of the elements of a story throughout the song. This tone is one of an individual, a girl if you will, who indulges themselves in a vice, something they don't' even want to do, or even that they usually do, but they still act upon this evil indulgence. With everything, there is the cause and the effect, the second part of the first verse talks about the repercussions for the actions the person took part in. "Dressed up like a car crash? your wheel are turning but you're upside down?" is a metaphor for the after glow, the morning after such as a person has a hang over from drinking too much. Your mind is ready to go, "your wheels are turning", but your body isn't, "but you're upside down". It then comes to the third part of the first verse which is basically the character making excused for their bad habits even thought hey know what they did was wrong. "You say when he hits you, you don't mind? because when he hurts you, you feel alive".
In the second verse, it's meaning is once again brought to the person who's following a path of a self-destructive behavior. Only now, the people around this girl come into the picture. "A vampire, or a victim? It depends on who's around" This is talking about the interpretations of people that one may see this girl as. People in a lot of times people see who they want a person to be, as opposed of who they really are. As if when you look at somebody, you're simply looking at a two-way mirror, you see a reflection of yourself, or what you believe him or her to be, but through that glass they are seeing you as they really are. In relation to the song, this person can be seen as some crying and sad victim, or just an attention seeking parasitic vampire. It just depends on who's around.
The first chorus sets in motion an outside force that is like a second character, the one who's calling out to the girl who's hell bent on a destructive path. Like a plea of help that turns into a bargain at the end, as if she could stay with him, and then the darkness and her inner demons would give her up. In the day, they could fix the problems with the trust from each other, but in the end, "stay? and the night would be enough", they are willing to except her for whom she has become despite her no longer being who she was. Because she hasn't really become a new person, just evolved from who she was like a butterfly that was once a caterpillar.
The last verse talks about the conclusion of the story, a relationship, and a life. As that girl who leading a life of complete vice, was soon consumed by darkness and her darkest demons, and that the thread that she was living her life on was soon cut and she was finally lost in her pain, and in the end her escape from it. "Just a bang and that clatter? as an angel hits the ground"
In their career, U2 and especially Bono have done many things. They have won many awards for songs and other notable causes they have championed for. U2 frontman Bono was honored as the 2003 MusiCares Person of the Year as well as being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Over the course of so many reasons they have written many songs and one, such as "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" off their 1993 Zooropa album have become very important to people and their lives. It was one of their songs that really illustrations a mental picture and story that really means something personal to me and many people around the world who love U2's music.
The first part of the first verse really sets the tone, and the foundation if you will of the elements of a story throughout the song. This tone is one of an individual, a girl if you will, who indulges themselves in a vice, something they don't' even want to do, or even that they usually do, but they still act upon this evil indulgence. With everything, there is the cause and the effect, the second part of the first verse talks about the repercussions for the actions the person took part in. "Dressed up like a car crash? your wheel are turning but you're upside down?" is a metaphor for the after glow, the morning after such as a person has a hang over from drinking too much. Your mind is ready to go, "your wheels are turning", but your body isn't, "but you're upside down". It then comes to the third part of the first verse which is basically the character making excused for their bad habits even thought hey know what they did was wrong. "You say when he hits you, you don't mind? because when he hurts you, you feel alive".
In the second verse, it's meaning is once again brought to the person who's following a path of a self-destructive behavior. Only now, the people around this girl come into the picture. "A vampire, or a victim? It depends on who's around" This is talking about the interpretations of people that one may see this girl as. People in a lot of times people see who they want a person to be, as opposed of who they really are. As if when you look at somebody, you're simply looking at a two-way mirror, you see a reflection of yourself, or what you believe him or her to be, but through that glass they are seeing you as they really are. In relation to the song, this person can be seen as some crying and sad victim, or just an attention seeking parasitic vampire. It just depends on who's around.
The first chorus sets in motion an outside force that is like a second character, the one who's calling out to the girl who's hell bent on a destructive path. Like a plea of help that turns into a bargain at the end, as if she could stay with him, and then the darkness and her inner demons would give her up. In the day, they could fix the problems with the trust from each other, but in the end, "stay? and the night would be enough", they are willing to except her for whom she has become despite her no longer being who she was. Because she hasn't really become a new person, just evolved from who she was like a butterfly that was once a caterpillar.
The last verse talks about the conclusion of the story, a relationship, and a life. As that girl who leading a life of complete vice, was soon consumed by darkness and her darkest demons, and that the thread that she was living her life on was soon cut and she was finally lost in her pain, and in the end her escape from it. "Just a bang and that clatter? as an angel hits the ground"
