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Desert Rose

The Fly
Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Messages
143
Hello guys. I have posted it before but I think I found the right place. Tell me if you agree or not with the wondering thoughts I've had...
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Well, I need to introduce myself, as this is my first time here. I've been reading your opinions for a long long time and now I wanted to say something. I'm an U2 fan since I was 7,8 years old (believe me or not), it means, 13 years ago. I love every little thing they do, and, as all the other die-hard fans, I love to search for hidden meanings, messages or things-that-happenned-behind-the-scene, and I wanted to know if you guys could helped me with this question...
After all these years listening to the same songs over and over again (there's no band like U2 so I can spend 1,000 weeks with U2 CDs playing only) I have a lot of theories about what they are trying to say.
I mean, I see people wondering about meanings for WOWY or Lemon or many others and they always see the obvious things: his mother, his lovely wife, his beliefs...
But I believe there is something deeper. I still don't know exactly how to explain this (even because I'm Brazilian and my English is not that perfect), but there are some songs, some lyrics, some verses that make me feel like... like I'm going to that "higher ground".
Don't you think there is something unsaid? Take Lemon: the beginning is clear about the lemon dress (which makes us think about Bono's mom), but then all that usual drowning things, "swimming out to her", "she's your destination"... Do you think he's talking about meeting his mother after death? That's why she's his "destination"?
I think it would be too obvious, too sad, too morbid. I'd rather keep this feeling about Bono: he's blessed, he's sensitive, he's deep, and sometimes he's not talking about things that happened to him. I believe in what he said once, "the music comes", and I believe that sometimes the lyrics are not related to one fact only. It can be a mix of emotions, feelings and somebody else's experiences. Even more: intuition. I believe Bono has a great heart, a great mind, but his intuition is SO much bigger! All that spirituality and goodness, how can I forget them when I listen to a song?
Sorry for bothering you, I hope I didn't hurt somebody's feelings, but I couldn't keep quiet today. It seems like I know all of you guys for a long time but I never shared my opinions.
And this is not about Lemon only. I think one of the most spiritual U2 songs is Zooropa. This is something that I can feel in its totality, but I could never explain...

This is it: don't you guys think U2 is great, intuitive, and if we try to explain every little thing Bono says it would be a waste of time?

Thank you, good night! God bless you!

Desert Rose (I dreamed I saw one...)


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Hello Desert Rose,
I've also been a fan since I was a small child so I do believe you. I agree with you for the most part about the interpretation of U2's songs. They are complex and I feel that most of them can't be nailed down to one interpretation. And I wonder, also, how big of a role Bono's subconscious mind plays in the writing of some of his songs. For instance, Bono originally claimed that the song Tomorrow was written about the violence in Northern Ireland. Years later, Bono realized that this song was really about his mother. I remember reading in Nial Stokes' book, Into the Heart, that Bono said he had convinced himself that it was about Norhern Ireland, but realized that, subconsciously, he had written it about the death of his mother. This adds a whole perspective and emotion to the song.

In light of this, I wonder how many other songs have a subconscious meaning. I wonder if the concise interpretation that Bono gives us for some of the songs is completely accurate. I do feel that there is something unsaid. Maybe there is something within the songs that is too personal to simply outright say?

However, while perhaps it is rather pointless and a waste of time to speculate upon the meanings behind the lyrics (we may never know what Bono is singing about),it is rather irresistible. Who knows; maybe one of us will stumble upon a hidden meaning.

Thanks for your thoughts Desert Rose. I've thought of the same things but didn't know how/whether to voice them.
smile.gif
 
Hi Desert Rose!

I once read something that went something like this: "What is left out is really what matters". I do believe that there are lots of unsaid things in Bono's lyrics, but when he doesn't voice them the music fills out the void. And about meanings, of course there is much more apart from the obvious (and not so obvious) interpretations we all come up with. The man is leaving pieces of him everywhere! And I think that what we can't explain, the intangible part of the songs is on what we are really getting hooked on. I can't explain it either, it's just like trying to put up in words what water tastes like. Try it. Definitely there is something deeper and as Spectre said maybe even Bono isn't really always aware of it. But my theory is that those unsaid things are the ones that actually make the connection between the band and us. A heart connection that is. You can sense it, unlike what happens with those fake plastic bands -and it goes beyond authenticity- its about telling the truth, even if it hurts a little sometimes. Am I making sense? It's past 3am here and tomorrow is going to be kind of a chaotic day where I live, since we've got hurricane Keith coming...
 
Thank you guys for getting the meaning of what I was trying to say. That's it! I have this feeling that sometimes even Bono isn't sure of what he's saying, and as I have been in a band too I have a certain idea of what it is: writing things first and then somebody else comes up to me and say what the song is about...
I know, I agree it's irresistible to speculate and try to find out what a song is about. But I do believe that the same song can touch different people around the wrong with different meanings, and I would never say to someone "This is not what this is about". I love Zooropa and I'd never said it was just about the chaos (because of the first verses), though I spent some years without paying attention to this song as I didn't like that first part full of advertising. But when the music "changes" a little bit when he says "and I don't know the meaning, the meaning of what we've got" after all that compass, map, religion...
It's something I could understand so perfectly! I could feel in my soul!
Maybe it's the 'heart connection'one:love mentioned. And this is what I believe the most. Once we feel the music in our hearts, it doesn't matter how many different meaning we can find...

Desert Rose
 
Desert Rose,

First of all, what a nice surprise! Finally I meet another Brazilian U2 fan here, I was wondering where Brazilian fans were. We know U2 has a huge fan base in Brazil, but they haven?t shown up here yet. I?ve been a U2 freak for the last 15 years. Allow me to say to you welcome aboard.

When I read your first post I thought Oh my God, that?s the point, we can feel their music, we don?t need explanations, English is not our native language, but the heart-connection that one:love said is still there.

Bono is a poet, a great one, there is no songwriter like him. Every lyrics he writes can touch me, can speak to me, as he could understand exactly what I need to hear. As you said I too can listen to their songs over and over again, I never get tired of doing that, and IMHO there is no one single song that seems to be meaningless to me.

Sometimes I wonder how come these four multi talented men were destinated to grow up together, in a country with so many problems and how they have become what they are. We have a lot of problems in our contry too but I think they are completely different from those in Ireland. I?ve been trying to find a book entitled Race of Angels - The Genesis of U2, because as fas as I know this book contains some answers to my questions about Bono?s amazing songwriting and the perfect connection between them.

Wow my reply is getting much longer, so I?ll stop right here.
Hope to see you around


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And you can dream
So dream out loud
 
Desert Rose: I totally think U2 is great, intuitive and the best band out there, but I don't think it's a waste of time to try and explain to ourselves a lot about what the songs mean. I think each person has their own way of connecting to U2.
For me, I like to listen to a new song by the band, and just listen to it. I don't worry about what the lyrics mean, why Bono chooses to sing a particular way, or why the guitar comes in at a certain point, ect.
But after a while, I love looking at the lyrics and try to discover meaning. I don't always worry about what Bono meant, just what I get out of it. To me, it makes listening to the song an even better experience.
I love Zooropa too, and only just recently have started looking at it closely to find more meanings. Now, listening to the opening intro and the switch halfway brings more meaning as I feel they go hand in hand with the lyrics and trying to break out of this stagnant consumer obssessed culture.
As I reread this, it sounds a bit defenseive, but I get so much out of exploring their music on many levels, and I totally think you can get that feeling that you're talking about, even by doing some analysis with the words and music. Let me know your thoughts.

skyanin
 
I've said it before, but man, I love this place! I love that there are so many people here who think so closely what I think, and I read things here that I didn't even realise I thought the same thing until I read them...
Welcome Desert Rose! I completely understand what you and the others are saying... It's that indefinable quality that binds U2's varied music together, from I Will Follow to With or Without You to One to Zooropa to Mofo...
I also share your feelings about Zooropa, the second part is so amazing coming after the first part, in how different it is...
I'm not feeling terribly articulate today, so I'll leave it there for now...
It's dropped off the first page here, but I'll find it and put it back on the top... MrBTH wrote an incredible commentary on the Zooropa album that I think we'd agree with... I certainly did, anway.
 
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