Most lyrically brillant U2 song?

[SiW87]

Walk On
Miracle Drug
The Fly
Ultra Violet
One?



There's many more. I think Walk On is amoung the top though if you had to really narrow it down. But there are so many!

 

[Theedge070]

For most lyrically brilliant I'd say The Fly. The song supposedly tells the conversation between a man caught in limbo and the devil. It takes place on a pay phone on a city street.

For biggest personal message, it's definitely a tie between One and Walk On, possibly Ciy of Blinding Lights. City is all about raw ignorance and innocence and not being able to see the real, big picture yet, such was the journey to cities like NY and London when the boys were early in their careers. And when I've heard many different background stories for One, the one that surfaces mostly is that it's about a boy in Africa who is writing a letter to his father, who is dying of AIDs. And Walk On is obviously for Aung San Suu Kyi (sp?).

 

[chickadee]

One, Until the End of the World, yeah The Fly - I'd say all of AB is lyrical (and musical) genius, and much of Pop and ATYCLB.

 

[scha]

I'm also an AB fan, I think that whole album is just brilliant. My all-time favourite is- it's no secret - The Fly!
So Cruel always touches me, I so feel the pain in it! And of course Acrobat...
And now I think I'm falling in love with Running To Stand Still.

 

[LikeNoOneBefore]

Walk On and Kite are brilliant. There are definitely others, but those were the first two that came to mind.

 

[BEVERLY56]

All of the above. Right now I'm thinking of So Cruel. Her heart is racing, you cant keep up. The night is bleeding like a cut. Between the horses of love and lust we are trampled underfoot. I also like the earlier verse with the cut adrift but still floating, etc.

 

[badboybono]

Bad and Exit.
And I think all songs from the Joshua Tree. Masterpieces!

 

[kellyo]

I've been listening to Zooropa a lot lately, so - Lemon and Dirty Day. Also Stay, Red Hill, When I Look at the World, most of Pop, all of UF and AB. Now that I'm thinking about it, it would be easier to make a list of songs whose lyrics don't do something for me.

 

[kellyo]

oops - almost forgot - some of the lyrics on Falling at Your Feet from Million Dollar Hotel are amazing to me:

All the information
All the big ideas
All the radio waves
Electronic seas
How to navigate
How to simply be
To know when to wait
Explain simplicity
In whom shall I trust
And how might I be still
Teach me to surrender
Not my will, thy will

 

[Pero]

One, MOFO, Hold me, thrill me