Bono's Most Biting Lyrics

[ElectricalStorm]

Originally Posted by bonocomet

See the stone set in your eyes


That one always gets me, and right from the start of the song setting the mood perfectly. Just brings it straight to the point, something that was once hot and "alive", turning cold and hardened.

I'm sure there are other ways to interpret the line as well, but it's what I always feel when I hear it.

On a bed of nails she makes me wait is another one from WOWY, but I agree that See the stone set in your eyes the perfect line is to begin the song.
I honestly can't understand why there are so many people who play this song on their wedding day.

[waynetravis]

Originally Posted by ElectricalStorm

Apparently we're right

Btw, Happy birthday!

[ElectricalStorm]

Originally Posted by waynetravis

Btw, Happy birthday!

Thank you !

[financeguy]

Originally Posted by hikerdeb

All the lyrics that have been mentioned here have a deep emotional impact, because Bono always writes from the heart.

But I don't know if Bono would have been capable of writing one of the cruelest lines I've ever heard. This is from an R.E.M. song:

"This one goes out to the one I love/This one goes out to the one I've left behind/A simple prop to occupy my time."

That line is chilling because it has NO emotion. It's cold and calculating. I can't think of anything that's quite equivalent to that in Bono's catalog.

Must admit, I never picked up on that before.

[greydogblues]

AB is so rich....

this gets to me lately:

I stopped outside a church house
Where the citizens like to sit
They say they want the kingdom
but they don't want God in it

[Globo14]

Originally Posted by angelordevil

"With a mouth full of teeth, you ate all your friends."

Biting, in more ways than one!

But anyway, I've gotta agree with that one from the first page

You asked me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on, to what you've got

[Gone95]

"You can throw it up, or choke on it."

Surprisingly dark lyrics from a band that was known for their honest, pleasant lyrics just a few years back. Acrobat really is just brilliant.

[Cactus Annie]

I thought this post was referring to Bono biting his nails at first

[TARDIS]

Originally Posted by greydogblues

AB is so rich....

this gets to me lately:

I stopped outside a church house
Where the citizens like to sit
They say they want the kingdom
but they don't want God in it

Did Bono write those lyrics? I don't know...

anyway, I can't relate to a lot of the lyrics, but I agree with the people who think So Cruel is one of the most biting U2 songs ever

[Galeongirl]

Yes. Bono wrote The Wanderer.

[u2boy_nl]

Gone!
That entire song is so bitter, spiteful and angry, and i love it because of that.
I know Bono is partly singing about himself here, but let's ignore that.
Because then it's a song sung by someone who's angry and hurt and someone who is finally ending the relationship.

Closer to you every day
I didn't want it that much anyway


Someone who doesn't have a single positive thing to say about their former lover:

You're holding on to every little thing so tightly
'Til there's nothing left for you anyway

You wanted to get somewhere so badly
You had to lose yourself along the way

You hurt yourself you hurt your lover
Then you discover
What you thought was freedom is just greed

And there's this:

Goodbye...
And it's emotional
Good night...
I'll be up with the sun
You're still holding on
I'm not coming down

for me that's just another way of saying "frankly my dear, i don't give a damn"

frankly my dear i don't give a damn - YouTube

So yeah, Gone = Gone with the wind, but a lot shorter.

[BlueSilkenSky]

"You were pretty as a picture, it was all there to see- then your face caught up with your psychology."

"If you need someone to blame, throw a rock in the air, you'll hit someone guilty."

"We stoop so low to reach so high."

"The trees are stripped bare of all they wear. What do I care?"

"And today the millions cry. We eat and drink while tomorrow they die."

"So you never felt wanted 'til you had someone slap your face."

Hm, Please has some really good ones...

"So you never knew that the Heaven you keep, you stole."

"Please, get up off your knees..."

"So love is hard and love is tough, but love is not what you're thinking of."

"Shards of glass, splinters like rain... you could only feel your own pain."

[sunnysideoflove]

i started a landslide in my ego


just one of many many amazing lines
x

[Moose-Head-Brew]

And I'd Join the movement, if there was one I could believe in.

More then suiting in our age of "Occupy" and "Tea Parties"

[canedge]

The city conducts a symphony
The search through shit for melody
A single scrap of dignity
In the junkyard of humanity

[silkensky]

Choose your enemies carefully 'cause they will define you
Make them interesting 'cause in some ways they will mind you
They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends
Gonna last with you longer than your friends

Not only biting, but pretty fucking cold to boot.

[last unicorn]

Originally Posted by canedge

The city conducts a symphony
The search through shit for melody
A single scrap of dignity
In the junkyard of humanity

I love that The way Bono sings the song and this part especially when they did the one and only performance of BFFTS in Portugal in 2010 gives me chills. I wish they'd played that song more often.

[BluRmGrl]

I got no home in this world
Just gravity, luck, and time
I've got no home in this world
Just you, and you are not mine

[Scorpionac]

So you never knew how low you'd stoop to make that call
And you never knew what was on the ground 'til they made you crawl
So you never knew that the heaven you keep, you stole

Your Catholic blues, your convent shoes
Your stick-on tattoos, now they're making the news
Your holy war, your northern star
Your sermon on the mount from the boot of your car

[BlueSilkenSky]

"I've been trying to feel complete again, but you're gone and so is God."