Songs about Bono's Dad

[Butterscotch]

My good friend has just found out his Dad has cancer. Can you please list the songs from ATYCLB and Bomb that refer to Bono's Dad's death and illness. Thank you.

 

[LemonMelon]

That's terrible. I'm very sorry.

Well, Sometimes and One Step Closer are the two major ones. Bono's father wasn't dying at the time of ATYCLB's recording sessions, so no songs about it on that one, although the last verse of When I Look At The World touches on their relationship.

 

[BVS]

It's really just Sometimes and OSC like LM said.

Kite was later used in the live shows as a song to his father but he originally wrote it about his daughters.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Didn't Bono mention at one point that in the title How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, the "Atomic Bomb" is really a metaphor for his father's death and his own struggles with it. I believe he joked at one point that the album might as well have been called How To Dismantle An Atomic Bob.

 

[theedgeu2]

True Bono did write Kite for his daughters but didn't Edge point out that it was actually about his dad?

I am also sorry for this news. Thoughts and prayers.

 

[BVS]

True Bono did write Kite for his daughters but didn't Edge point out that it was actually about his dad?

Whatcha talkin about Willis?

 

[theedgeu2]

Well I don't know if it's true or not. I know that the song is about letting go. Whatever it's not all too important.

 

[BVS]

Well I don't know if it's true or not. I know that the song is about letting go. Whatever it's not all too important.

No, I just meant that the way you worded that sentence it sounded like a complete contradiction... so I was just looking for some clarification.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Kite - about/for his daughters, but influenced by his relationship with his own father. ie saying/expressing things to his daughters that his father had never said/expressed to him, or whatever. Dig?

 

[Registered Dude]

All Because of You could be a reference to ol' Bob too

 

[BVS]

Kite - about/for his daughters, but influenced by his relationship with his own father. ie saying/expressing things to his daughters that his father had never said/expressed to him, or whatever. Dig?

Yes, this is probably closer to the truth...

 

[Mountain Dew Ma]

Whatcha talkin about Willis?

he's correct. I'll figure out later where this is from, but I believe Edge did say something to that effect to Bono. I don't remember where or the exact context, but he's not pulling this out of his ass.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

You certainly, 100%, could read it that way (Bono talking to his Dad.)

 

[theedgeu2]

I just read in U2 By U2 Bono and Edge talking about Kite.

Bono: There is the thing about songwriting, sometimes you're the last one to know what you're on about. It was a reference to an absurd moment of parenting, where I took a kite up on Killiney Hill with Jordan and Eve. I'd been away, and wanted to do the dad thing but the kite blew off the line and smashed to smithereens on the first flight and Eve asked if they could go home and play with their Tamagotchis. So the song is about letting go but when I sang it suddenly I was back in a caravan site when I was a kid and I remembered that my dad tried to do exactly the same thing with a kite and it had gone equally bad.

Edge: We worked on the lyric of 'Kite' together and Bono was convinced he was writing about his kids but I could see that it was more about his dad. He was going, "No, no, I don't think that's it." He couldn't see it, but I could. I suppose it's just when you know someone so well you can see things they won't admit to themselves. I think he was struggling to figure out how to deal with it, because his dad was a very dry person who found emotions difficult, and Bono is such an emotional and open character, so there was an incredible mismatch. I think it was a tough thing in terms of communication or the lack of it.

 

[BVS]

Thanks

 

[Earnie Shavers]

(Bono writes far better songs about his mother - Kite aside, if we're including that.)

 

[MadForIt]

did bono get on with his dad?

Were there any problems in his childhood

I'm sure i remember one live show where he goes "i wish i knew him better"

 

[Galeongirl]

He's spoken of it quite a lot in books and stuff. They didn't get along well, especially when his mother died when he was 14. His dad called him a "bloody exasparating child", he was constantly pushing the boundaries. So they didn't really get to talk much.

 

[gvox]

Sometimes You Cant Make It On Your Own has grown on me to the point where I think it's one of U2's best, and easily on par with most/all of the songs he wrote specifically about his mother.

 

[U2girl]

I think the "father" songs are better than the ones about his mother. (and that is without counting Kite and, on a more broad level, One).

 

[ozeeko]

So...Dirty Day? Any real life experience behind those lyrics?