What U2 songs do you consider "religious"

[new orleans]

Originally posted by popsadie:
Lyrics to discotheque-

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

You know you're chewing bubblegum
You know what that is, but you still want some
You just can't get enough of that lovie dovie stuff

You get confused, but you know it
Yeh you hurt for it, work for it, LOVE
You don't always show it

LET GO, LET'S GO, DISCOTHEQUE
GO GO LET GO DISCOTHEQUE

Looking for the one
But you know you're somewhere else instead
You want to be the song
The song that you hear in your head

you want heaven, heaven in your heart..
you want heaven, heaven in your heart..

It's no trick, you can't learn it
It's the way you don't pay, that's okay
'Cos you can't earn it

You know you're chewing bubblegum
You know what that is, but you still want some
You just can't get enough of that lovie dovie stuff

LET GO, LET'S GO ... DISCOTHEQUE
GO GO ... LET GO ... DISCOTHEQUE

Looking for the one
But you know you're somewhere else instead
I want to be the song
The song that you hear in your head

But you take what you can get
'Cause it's all that you can find
Oh you know there's something more
But tonight, tonight, tonight

BOOM CHA
BOOM CHA
DISCOTHEQUE

I can't get in, I paid..it's not enough
I can't get in, I paid..it's not enough

I can see a possible religious interp to this song, especially set in the context of the album. Taken in this way, the chewing bubble gum part could refer to the fake high and love from the dance scene, and especially ecstacy. "You want heaven in your heart" "it's no trick, you can't learn it, it's the way you don't pay, that's ok cause you can't earn it" "I can't get in, I paid..it's not enough"...these are a few lyrics in the song that lead me to believe it could have a religious interp..

What a reach. The song has nothing to do w/ God. You people think everything Bono writes is about God. Many songs are but not Disco. Someone earlier wrote Promonade was about God. Reading the lyrics you might think that. But, Bono was quoted as saying it was written from inside a round house he had near a boardwalk or beach. It was a holiday and people were shooting fireworks. He just wrote about what he saw looking out the window. The house had a spiral staircase leading up to the bedroom. Hence the lyric "up the spiral staircase to the higher ground".

 

[new orleans]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Actually, all of the songs you speak of can and do have spiritual interpretations. Just because a song was inspired by an event or a time and place does not mean it is eternally wedded to that one thing. Bono himself has made comments about these songs talking about (for example) Mysterious Ways being about the holy spirit AS WELL AS a relationship between a man and a woman. The beauty of U2 songs is that they have more than one reading.

Streets - I think ALL of us know that it was inspired by Bono and Ali's trip to Ethiopia. But try reading the lyrics sometime. It's pretty obvious that they not only refer to places like Ethiopia but that they have a much larger picture in mind....that of heaven, another place where the streets have no name and (to quote bono in many of the live versions of this song) there is "no sorrow and no shame". Not to mention the fact that Bono has been quoting from the Psalms before singing this song for more or less the duration of the Elevation tour. "What can I give back to God for the blessings he has poured out? I lift high the cup of salvation and drink a toast to the Almighty..." If that's not "spiritual" in your book, I dunno what would be.

One was written during the time that the band was on the verge of breaking up in the Hansa sessions. Like any good U2 song tho, it can be read in a multitude of ways. It works from man to woman or vice versa, father to son, human to human. If you have read Flanagan's ATEOTW, you might remember Bono and Bill talking about the metaphors in this song: "you ask me to enter but then you make me crawl" and Bono talking about finding God in the low places...the trash and the scum.

Mysterious Ways has been acknowledged as being about the Holy Spirit, I'm surprised that you would argue. Bono's said this on a number of occasions.

With Or Without You can be "about" a multitude of things, including romantic relationships, the relationship that Bono has with his audience, and the relationship of a person to God. Another great example of dual purpose songs.

I Will Follow is about Bono's mother's death and the subsequent inner turmoil that it created in Bono. Part of that included his finding faith. The lyrics that are most often cited to relate to this would be "I was looking through the window. I was lost, I am found."

Ultimately, it is of course a subjective thing. U2 songs are great because they can be so ambiguous and because they can take on different meanings to different people. To slap down an interp and call it the one and only one does not do justice to the songs, the band, or Bono as a lyricist and artist.

I understand all that after the fact stuff. But Streets when it was wrote was about Ehiopia. After the fact you can spin the lyrics of all the songs to mean what you want. At the time Bono was actually writing the lyrics it was Ethiopia. The song may now have some different meanings for Bono.

 

[new orleans]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Actually, all of the songs you speak of can and do have spiritual interpretations. Just because a song was inspired by an event or a time and place does not mean it is eternally wedded to that one thing. Bono himself has made comments about these songs talking about (for example) Mysterious Ways being about the holy spirit AS WELL AS a relationship between a man and a woman. The beauty of U2 songs is that they have more than one reading.

Streets - I think ALL of us know that it was inspired by Bono and Ali's trip to Ethiopia. But try reading the lyrics sometime. It's pretty obvious that they not only refer to places like Ethiopia but that they have a much larger picture in mind....that of heaven, another place where the streets have no name and (to quote bono in many of the live versions of this song) there is "no sorrow and no shame". Not to mention the fact that Bono has been quoting from the Psalms before singing this song for more or less the duration of the Elevation tour. "What can I give back to God for the blessings he has poured out? I lift high the cup of salvation and drink a toast to the Almighty..." If that's not "spiritual" in your book, I dunno what would be.

One was written during the time that the band was on the verge of breaking up in the Hansa sessions. Like any good U2 song tho, it can be read in a multitude of ways. It works from man to woman or vice versa, father to son, human to human. If you have read Flanagan's ATEOTW, you might remember Bono and Bill talking about the metaphors in this song: "you ask me to enter but then you make me crawl" and Bono talking about finding God in the low places...the trash and the scum.

Mysterious Ways has been acknowledged as being about the Holy Spirit, I'm surprised that you would argue. Bono's said this on a number of occasions.

With Or Without You can be "about" a multitude of things, including romantic relationships, the relationship that Bono has with his audience, and the relationship of a person to God. Another great example of dual purpose songs.

I Will Follow is about Bono's mother's death and the subsequent inner turmoil that it created in Bono. Part of that included his finding faith. The lyrics that are most often cited to relate to this would be "I was looking through the window. I was lost, I am found."

Ultimately, it is of course a subjective thing. U2 songs are great because they can be so ambiguous and because they can take on different meanings to different people. To slap down an interp and call it the one and only one does not do justice to the songs, the band, or Bono as a lyricist and artist.

What I'm writing about is what Bono was originally writing about at the time.

 

[new orleans]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Oh also, I'm not sure if you were aware of this, new orleans, but this particular forum (Goal is Soul) is dedicated to discussing U2 and spirituality. Part of that will inevitably involve personal interpretations of songs. I rather doubt you are going to be able to convince a forum full of fans who are gathered specifically to discuss the spirituality in U2's lyrics that none of their songs have it.

Again, I'm talking about the original thought that inspired the songs. Not what you or I interpet years latter or even what a song may mean to Bono years later. Promonade a great example with the lyric "up to the spiral staircase to the higher ground". You could easily say that's about God and going up to heaven. But the orignal thought was going up the stairs to the bedroom to love his wife.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

Originally posted by new orleans:
Again, I'm talking about the original thought that inspired the songs. Not what you or I interpet years latter or even what a song may mean to Bono years later. Promonade a great example with the lyric "up to the spiral staircase to the higher ground". You could easily say that's about God and going up to heaven. But the orignal thought was going up the stairs to the bedroom to love his wife.

And until the moment that you convince me that you're Bono or that you have the magic ability to read his thoughts when he wrote a song, I don't think I can agree with you that XYZ song is definitively "about" XYZ period in time. Until then, you are speculating just as much as the next person.

p.s. It would be great if instead of quoting an entire long post numerous times that you cut and paste only the relevant parts that you wish to refer to. Thanks.

 

[U2live]

yes, most of them are. There is almost not a U2 song that does not have spiritual meaning as well as literal. Some, like Unforgettable Fire, Gloria, 40, etc. are of course 100% spiritual.

[This message has been edited by U2live (edited 04-05-2002).]

 

[Anthony]

Originally posted by 80sU2isBest:

Originally posted by new orleans:
What a reach. The song has nothing to do w/ God. You people think everything Bono writes is about God. Many songs are but not Disco.B]

new orleans, if you think that Discoteque has nothing to do with God, I urge you to think about one of Bono's favorite Christian subjects: Grace. Grace, as a Christian term, is that Christ offers salvation free of charge, offers his love free of charge, and offers Heaven free of charge. You can't earn or buy any of these. Discoteque is about someone looking for love. Think about the following lines, and their connection to God:

"You know you're chewing bubblegum
You know what that is, but you still want some
You just can't get enough of that lovie dovie stuff"

Bono is saying that the person is settling for a substitite. The love they are looking for on the dance floor is not real love, it's just a substitute. God is the real love.

"you want heaven, heaven in your heart..
you want heaven, heaven in your heart..

It's no trick, you can't learn it
It's the way you don't pay, that's okay
'Cos you can't earn it"

and

"I can't get in, I paid..it's not enough
I can't get in, I paid..it's not enough"

All the bove lines are referring to the fact that you can't earn love or Heaven or God's favor.

Read Bono's ideas on grace, or the books about grace that he recommends, and you will see what people are talking about when they say this song is about God.

[This message has been edited by 80sU2isBest (edited 04-01-2002).]

I agree with your interpretation fully, 80s. Its beautiful, in fact.

Ant.

 

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by Anthony:
I agree with your interpretation fully, 80s. Its beautiful, in fact.
Ant.

Thanks a bunch, Anthony. Of course, I could be wrong, but this interpretation is based entirely on Bono's emphasis on grace in both his personal life and other songs.

 

[SkeeK]

Originally posted by popsadie:
Taken in this way, the chewing bubble gum part could refer to the fake high and love from the dance scene

Fake, huh? Well, whatever floats your boat... but to me when there's great music playing and you just let your mind and body free, you feel pretty close to God... but that's a topic for another conversation I suppose.

BTW, I'm not talking drugs, haven't touched anything of the sort in my life.