Love of a self destructive nature

[ICRED]

I've seen many, many references to self destructive love in U2 lyrics. Everything from With or Without You to much of Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop. It seems that these references are the narrator loving a self destructive person. He cannot handle this other person's nature, but cannot lose this person either.

Some songs:

With or Without You
Gone
Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
One
Stuck In A Moment
Stay
Last Night on Earth

among others

This is just something that I find as an interesting recurring theme. I know that some of these songs are not about love relationships, but these themes creep in. How do you feel?

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i agree. i'm not sure about any of the other ones, but i'm willing to bet the self-destructive stuff on achtung baby was more than likely about edge and aislinn's relationship. i remember reading somewhere (the bible?) that much of the lyrics for achtung baby were about their marriage dissolving.

 

[hippy]

The beauty of U2 songs is that they work on so many levels...

If you look at these songs with Bono's spirituality in mind... that self-destrictive love may be his own self crying out to God.

 

[dizzy]

True, hippy.

OTOH, I do agree that WOWY is very dark and negative. It's funny how a lot of people (esp. non-U2 fans) love it and get all sentimental and when they hear it.

 

[ICRED]

Yes Khanada,

Much of Achtung Baby is about Edge and Aislinn's divorce, but was Aislinn self-destructive or especially troubled? Was Edge falling into this self-destructive pattern by loving her? Stuck In A Moment is about Michael Hutchence, who commited suicide. So there is Bono's relation with a self-destructive person. Maybe Bono is drawn to the dark side of the human psyche. That;'s why he writes songs with these lyrical tidbits. Most U2 love songs are about loss and longing. When it comes to the Bible, it's a song from the perspective of Judas, or crying out "How long to sing this song?" Bono has often admitted that he is not a positive person, that he is pissed off about the world. That is his motivation for the humanitarian work he does. While there is definitely hope shining through in thier songs, the world that they sing of is dark and screwed up. One of the things that I love about them is although they have that 60's mentallity of peace and love. They have a grip on reality. They know how much wrong there is. Sorry, I got carried away.

 

[hippy]

Sorry, I got carried away.

I do that ALL the time

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Much of Achtung Baby is about Edge and Aislinn's divorce, but was Aislinn self-destructive or especially troubled? Was Edge falling into this self-destructive pattern by loving her?

i'm not sure, only because i'm not sure why they got divorced. since it was a long divorce, my guess is maybe it was self-destructive at the time because they were having their problems, but maybe for whatever reasons he had, he kept trying to stick it out with her? lots of marriages are only that because of the kids, because it's too inconvenient to get divorced, because neither person can admit they should get divorced, or because it's too comfortable to get divorced (especially with older couples i'd imagine, for fear of not being able to find someone else when they did try to start looking).

oh, and i don't think you got carried away. what you said is true!

 

[IWasBored]

if we were to assume that "so cruel" is about edge and aislinn's divorce, who is supposed to be the narrator? it seems that parts of it would work from anyone's perspective, and it keeps shifting around.

there's more here than meets the eye...or ear...or...whatever...