U2 lyrics that "bug ya"

[Leeloo]

No, I'm not talking about lyrics you don't think are good. I mean lyrics that BOTHER you in some way, and make you uncomfortable enough that you don't enjoy listening to the song. For me, it's:

POE- that stuff about the sons in the ground, reading off the dead, the mother not getting to see the color of the eyes, that tears me up. I know it happens and that's the point they're trying to make with the song, but it's just so, almost scary, I can't listen to it.

SATS- Happy to go blind, huh? Insect in your ear, scratching it, yuck! Talk about 'buggin ya.'

SBS- Broken bottles under childrens' feet, bodies strewn about the dead end street.

The song is so good I almost don't notice it, but that paints a horrid picture.

Miami- the descriptions of all those weird people on the street.

It could be things bug me and not someone else because I always get visual images in my head to everything I hear.

 

[Tabby]

I'll add "suffer the needle's chill"

"dressed up like a car crash your wheels are turning but you're upside down"

"I'm ready to let go of the steering wheel, I'm ready for the crush"

"searching to fill that God shaped hole"

"you're a piece of glass left there on the beach.... you killed it cause I wanted revenge...you lied to me cause I asked you to, but baby can we still be friends."

 

[Red Ships of Scalla-Festa]

i feel embarassed if im walking somewhere and i hear elevation.

 

[One Tree Still]

i feel embarassed if im walking somewhere and i hear elevation.

LOL

Me too! I liked it when I first heard it, but the more I listen, the more I think the "whoo hoo...whooo ooo hoo..." stuff is hideous.

 

[oliveu2cm]

I don't like in WGRYWH "hallelujah, heaven's white rose.." i think it's a filler.

also, "heavy as a truck" in ES. B can do better than that!

 

[Rafiennes]

I'm not a big fan of that new line Bono's added to WTSHNN where he goes "I want to dance, dance, dance." I just...expect Tommy Tune to hop out on stage or something

 

[bayernfc]

Well,

some of the lines in IGWSHA----"Jesus sister's eyes are a blister
The High Street never looked so low"....etc. are a bit disturbing so are some of the LNOE and SATS lines. Generally despite it's cover POP is a very dark album (not that I don't like it)!

but "she will suffer the needle chill" especially with a bit of drama from the ZooTV tours, makes for a very uncomfortable listening experience

 

[cujo]

Heavy as a truck...

Michael Jackson History (Playboy Mansion).

Disturbing.

Very disturbing.

PS- all these abbreviations are making me crazy.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

From 'Walk On':

...And I know it aches, and your heart it breaks...

Disturbing that Bono would lift a lyrical idea from Billy Ray Cyprus.

 

[withashout]

I always thought the mentioning of Irish twice as an immigrant group in the song New York was boring (first, "the Irish been coming here for years..."; then, "Irish, Italians, Jews and Hispanics...") Kind of lazy lyric writing.

 

[Leeloo]

Yea Tabby and Bayernfc, that's what I'm talking about. Stuff that creeps you out *shivers*

 

[tchlowlife]

STUCK IN A MOMENT YOU CANT GET OUT OF>>

BLAH THAT SUCKS..

and yes, Elevation is fun, but come on it has to be some of the worst lyrics ever!

 

[Saracene]

"Don't let the bastards drag you down" from Acrobat - I don't know why, but this line feels really strange coming from Bono.

"...in this dry and waterless place" from Unforgettable Fire - either dry or waterless by itself would do fine, Bono went somewhat overboard with description here.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I think I might probably miss the point but...

"take the money/honey"

must laugh.

"your eyes make a circle"

the eyes are two points on one straight line. it is technically impossible to make a circle.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

"your eyes make a circle"

the eyes are two points on one straight line. it is technically impossible to make a circle.

You're forgetting about the so called "third" eye, located, if I remember, along the forehead. This would make a circle, albeit not a perfect one. Further, I think what Bono is referring to is the other person's field of view, metaphorically speaking. When you're up close to someone--in other words, connected to someone--their field of view, literally and figuratively, becomes your own. That's the circle, and that's how he sees her when he "goes in there".

 

[Axver]

Personally, I can't stand most of the lyrics from New York. There's a few lines that particularly bug me, but I can't remember them ... mainly because I don't like them!

One other line that bugs me for some reason is the "creeps a-crawling over me" line from Staring At The Sun. Don't really know why it bugs me, it just does.

Oh, and how could I forget "A highway with no-one on it" from All I Want Is You? It just seems like a daft line. Surely Bono could've thought of something better to put there.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Oh, and how could I forget "A highway with no-one on it" from All I Want Is You? It just seems like a daft line. Surely Bono could've thought of something better to put there.

Haha, that's funny. I guess we have to remember the context of it, as the band were discovering America at the time, travelling those highways with "no one on it". That's probablly how the line crept in.


On a side note, it's funny how pretty much everyone in this thread--myself included--has totally abandoned the question at hand. The question asked which lyrics are *good* but also give you the creeps or make you uncomfortable (which not only do many good lyrics do, but sometimes even aim to do). Yet, we've pretty much all given *bad* lyrics, lyrics that make you go, "Ew." Oh well.

 

[AvsGirl41]

One other line that bugs me for some reason is the "creeps a-crawling over me" line from Staring At The Sun. Don't really know why it bugs me, it just does.

With me it's,

"Over me and over you
Stuck together with God's glue"

That line does gross me out...I don't think we need to say what image it conjures up.

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

SATS - "God is good but will he listen" i dont know, im christian, i dont mind lyrics by U2 saying anything about God but i know some people at church who might feel offendd about it.

i cant think of others right now....

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

The "whooo"'s in Elevation make my ears bleed if I'm not at a concert waiting for them to come out, then I can take it, but only for so long.

"Coffee is cold, but it'll get you through..." from ES, wtf? I love the song, but, come on.

 

[Leeloo]

With me it's,

"Over me and over you
Stuck together with God's glue"

That line does gross me out...I don't think we need to say what image it conjures up.

Yes, you're right. Gross. It's a shame, that song has such a pretty tune, but such ugly lyrics!

That's the kind of thing I was thinking of, not lyrics you don't like or think are lame, but ones that are gross or creep you out or put an unpleasant image in your mind, or make you feel uncomfortable.

If I was just going to pick dumb lyrics, 'take a picture of my mammy in Miami' takes the cake!

 

[iacrobat]

I know the question is what *good* lyrics give you the creeps, but since so many have just chipped in what lyrics they don't like, I thought I'd join in too.

"I can't change the world, but I can change the world in me"
It seems so escapist to me, the opposite of what Bono is today. It reminds me of "Man in the Mirror"

I also think "Electrical Storm" is crap lyrically, more like B-side material. Such a promising title, I was terribly dissapointed.

Lyrics that are great and irk me at the same time: pretty much all of "Falling at Your Feet"

"looking for the face I had before the world was made" - great image, makes me feel itchy.

 

[cell]

SATS - "God is good but will he listen" i dont know, im christian, i dont mind lyrics by U2 saying anything about God but i know some people at church who might feel offendd about it.

i cant think of others right now....

yeah that does bother me...

 

[u2_england]

"A mole living in a hole" - isn't that a nursery rhyme? - awful.

'Who's to say where the wind will take you" - er, Dolly Parton.

"When we were swinging from the trees I was a monkey" - as well as being really bad, don't their religious beliefs say otherwise (cough, evolution)?

 

[Axver]

"When we were swinging from the trees I was a monkey" - as well as being really bad, don't their religious beliefs say otherwise (cough, evolution)?

1. I know plenty of Christians who believe in evolution, and I'm nearly that way inclined myself. It's called theistic evolution.
2. I NEVER thought of evolution when I first heard that line. I thought of children playing a game ... maybe I'm just odd.

 

[alia612]

The bit in Last Night On Earth about 'she'll be dead soon, then she'll sleep' ...I don't like this line...it's vaguely creepy, and I prefer the lyric in the booklet (something about the past and the future, I don't remember what it is exactly)

 

[Another U2 nut!]

She never got to say goodbye, to see the colour in his eyes...this line used to make me cry, because I thought my brother was going off to war in Iraq, and that I'd never see him again. Fortunately his regiment wasn't sent, but this line makes me think of all those whose loved ones did go to the war, and are there now, and may never return.

Peace on Earth!

 

[intedomine]

"jesus, jesus help me" wake up dead man

bono's asking a fictional character to help him....ludicrous.....he might as well be saying

"harry potter, harry potter help me"

 

[lov12113]

Hate to break it to ya. Jesus isn't a fictional character. There's plenty of documented proof that he really did exist, whether you belive what he said or not.

 

[intedomine]

and where is this proof?