My Top 20 lyrics!

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NShaik

The Fly
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NICK’s TOP 20 U2 Lyrics!
(feel free to post your own :))

20. The Fly - Achtung Baby

It's no secret that a friend is someone who lets you help
It's no secret that a liar won't believe anyone else
They say a secret is something you tell one other person
So I'm telling you, child

Two very simple, but very perceptive observations about human interaction. I love the idea that in some ways, letting someone help you can actually be an act of kindness, and that helping someone and knowing you’ve made a difference is its own reward. Also I enjoy the concept of liars being mistrustful people.

19. Stay (Faraway So Close!) - Zooropa

And if you look, you look through me
And when you talk it's not to me
And when I touch you, you don't feel a thing

A beautiful lyric, I don’t really know what this song is about, but to me this line speaks of unrequited love, and to me it perfectly encapsulates the feeling of desperately wanting to reach someone, or matter to them, but to them you are invisible.

18. Yahweh – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Still waiting for the dawn
The sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Not a particularly intelligent or controversial lyric, but I like the image. It’s pretty. When it gets to this part, I just have this crystal clear image in my mind of the sun, in the morning, shimmering over a perfectly smooth ocean, with a rich red sky.

17. With or Without You – The Joshua Tree

My hands are tied, my body bruised
She's got me with nothing left to win
And nothing else to lose

Absolute classic. Such a potent image, the image of being literally tied up and beaten in the face of love, it perfectly puts across the feeling of helplessness and surrendering of being in love.

16. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – The Joshua Tree

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

This is a nice little lyric that I think is a nice documentary of Bono’s spiritual journey, which is still going on today. Because, although I’m not religious myself, it seems like that is the whole point of the religion – not the answers, or the end, but the journey itself – in some ways, it doesn’t matter that you never find what your looking for, because the looking itself it what the whole point is.

15. Peace on Earth – All That you Can’t Leave Behind

She never got to say goodbye
To see the colour in his eyes
Now he's in the dirt
Peace on Earth

Need I say more, what a poignant, poetic and powerful lyrics. How better can you personalize a war – by looking at a mother who lost a son in a conflict, which there would have been thousands of, and singing of the loss, on a completely personal level? “She never got to say goodbye…” Sometimes when you read about war all the time, it is easy to distance yourself from the grim reality of it, and get too bogged down with the logic or the mission, or whatever the media wants us to think about it, when really when you look at it at a basic level, it is just death en mass.

14. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses – Acthung Baby

Who's gonna ride your wild horses
Who's gonna drown in your blue sea
Who's gonna ride your wild horses
Who's gonna fall at the foot of thee

It is not often that the title of a song is my favourite lyric within it. However, this is an exception. I love the idea of passion and idealism and love being made flesh in the form of wild horses, taking that idea further, and thinking of a lover taming them. And drowning in your deep blue sea – what an image. There’s such a deep emotional resonance within that line, its in image you can really identify with on a personal level.

13. Kite – All That you Can’t Leave Behind

Who's to say where the wind will take you
Who's to say what it is will break you
I don't know where the wind will blow
Who's to know when the time has come around
I don't wanna see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye

I’m not sure specifically what this lyric is referring to. I know the song is Bono writing about his daughter. I’ve always thought personally that it is Bono basically saying that he is a rock star, and spends the majority of life on the road, or in the studio with the band, and when he’s not doing that, he’s talking to important people, and trying to end world debt, and because of this, he really has very little time for his family, so really what he is saying is – I’m not going to be there for the big moments in your life, I’m not going to be there when life-changing decisions have to be made, and one day I may come home to find that something has happened, or changed in your life, and you may be a different person, and I have no idea who that person is going to be. “Who’s to say where the wind will take you.” He is praying for a happy life for his daughter, because he can’t bear the thought of something going wrong, and him not being there to help her.

12. Where the Streets Have no Name – The Joshua Tree

I want to run, I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside
I want to reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

It is difficult to talk about this lyrics out of context with music, and so much of its emotional content is backed up by the delivery, but I still think that as a piece of writing on its own, it is superbly concise and sincere. The song I believe to be about depression, and each line is perfect. The yearning to be a free of it, to run and hide, but it is not a physical thing to hide from, so any kind of running or hiding is futile. Tearing down the walls the hold me inside, again the feeling of being trapped and isolated by your depression, and feeling like if you could just tear down the walls you would be fine, but again, they’re metaphorical walls, and cannot be destroyed. Reaching out and touching the flame to me represents just being connected to life, and experiencing the physical side of it, and how when you’re depressed, you feel completely cut off and alone, and even though you touch things, you feel nothing. Where the Streets have no name, I believe to be about feeling lost, in life, a wonderful metaphor.

11. Even Better than the Real Thing – Acthung Baby

We're free to fly the crimson sky
The sun won't melt our wings tonight

I don’t know why, but this lyric slays me every time. I’m not a fan of the song, but whenever I’m having a spliff and listening to this song, and it gets to this bit, I close my eyes, and I can feel myself flying through a crimson sky. The floaty, elusive guitar solo that precedes it complements it perfectly.

10. One – Acthung Baby

One love, one blood, one life
You got to do what you should
One life with each other
Sisters, brothers
One life but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other
One

Always the most emotional part of any U2 concert for me when this lyric is sung. I love the message of this song, it is really beautiful. I love the idea that although we are all different, and beautiful in our own way, we are united by our humanity. It is one thing we all share in common, and U2 concerts are the perfect illustration of this concept – people coming together from all parts of the world, from all different background. Rich people, poor people, white people, black people, men, women, gays, straights, it doesn’t matter – for that one night, everyone in the arena is there for the same reason. They are one, but they are not the same. And the same is true of examples in life when people pull together to achieve great things.

9. Beautiful Day – All That you Can’t Leave Behind

See the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colours came out

This is a wonderful lyric, very colourful, and a nice little biblical reference, which is always fun in U2 songs!

8. Please – Pop

September, streets capsizing
Spilling over, down the drain
Shards of glass, splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain
October, talk getting nowhere
November, December
Remember, are we just starting again

A classic from the sombre final act of Pop, an inconsistent album, but nonetheless, possessing its own moments of greatness, and to me this is the greatest. I love the description of absolute chaos in the streets of a conflict, the visual intimidation and terror, and the immediacy of it all happening in front of your eyes. I think this lyric wouldn’t have been written if Bono had never gone to Sarajevo, because while he has not been in a conflict, he has seen the consequences and aftermath with his own two eyes, and so can write convincingly about it. I love how he sets up everything happening on the personal level, with such chaos, intensity and sense of rush, “Shards of glass splinters like rain” being a truly terrifying image, and then goes to talk about things on a global scale, and talks of politicians wasting time and lives over negotiations, and the refusal to compromise. It’s an important lyric because it removes the comfortable distance that we have from war, which is something that is not done often enough, and people need to know what’s really going on out there, and why it is not ok.

7. Crumbs from your table – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Would you deny for others
What you demand for yourself
……………….
Where you live should not decide
Whether you live or whether you die
Three to a bed
Sister Ann, she said
Dignity passes by

These are in fact two lyrics from the same song, but thematically saying the same thing. I think Bono writing here is very effective. He is of course writing of the poverty + aids crisis in Africa at the moment. He speaks in the most childish and simple way, and has been accused of dumbing down the problem. However, I don’t see is this way at all. Bono is saying what needs to be said in the simplest way possible. A lot of the time politicians will use rhetoric, and para-phrasing to trick the listener into his or her way of thinking, whereas Bono is using the opposite tactic – he is saying it in the simplest was it can possibly said, and when it is said in this way, you realise just how ridiculous the situation is, and how disgusting it is that it has been allowed to go on this song. “Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die.” This is such an obvious thing to say, but the sad thing is, it needs to be said, and it really shouldn’t need to be said, but the fact that it does means there is a serious problem. Bono has spoken of the crisis in Africa as a country being on fire while the superpowers of the world are standing around holding watering cans.

6. Sunday Bloody Sunday - War

And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won
Trenches dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart

Another lyric about loss during way. There’s not much I can say about this lyrics that hasn’t been said within it, it is precise, true and shocking, as it should be.

5. Running to Stand Still – The Joshua Tree

You got to cry with out weeping, talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison from the poison stream
Then I floated out of here

This is one of those songs that lyrically I have never really understood. I’ve heard that it is about heroine addiction, and Bono’s mime when he performs this during the Zoo TV tour certainly supports, and while some lyrics make sense in this context (“She walks through the streets with her eyes painted red”) there is still a lot to be explained. However, this is one of those lyrics that it doesn’t matter what it is about, or what it symbolises, it is just perfect. It’s such a powerful concept, that you just don’t need to know what it is about, and in some ways it is better not to know, as it retains its mystery. The idea of trying to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, and scream without raising your voice is such a painful thing to visualize. I don’t understand what it means, but every time I hear this part of the song, it absolutely amazes me.

4. Mothers of the Disappeared – The Joshua Tree

In the wind we hear their laughter
In the rain we see their tears
We hear their heartbeat
We hear their heartbeat

Similar to Peace on Earth, this is a song about mother’s losing their children in war. To me, this is such a sensitive and beautiful lyric. It is about the consequences of war. Whenever you read of consequence of war, in the papers or in history books, it is always referring to battles and victories, and countries changing hands or people being freed or whatever, but no-one ever stops to think about the real consequences. When you think of your life, and how precious and complicated it is, imagine it being completely ruined by the loss of a loved one, a member of your family. Imagine the pain and intensity, and complete finality of the death, knowing they will never be back, knowing you will never hear their laughter or see their tears again. Then imagine that multiplied by a million, and that is the real consequences of war. It is also a beautiful lyric, because I think it says something about death in general, not just in relation to war. Because Bono is not saying that we should forget people who are taken from us, or that we should spend our lives in mourning – more that we make a special place in our heart for that person, and so carry them with us wherever we go. And so when we hear the wind, we may be briefly reminded of that person’s laughter, and what it meant to hear that person laugh, and what that person meant to us, in our lives.

3. Walk On – All That you can’t leave Behind

You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

This song is written about Aung Sung Suu Kyi, the rightful democratic leader of Burma, who is currently under house arrest. The album which this song is on is actually banned in Burma, because of the dedication of Aung Sung Suu Kyi. To me this lyric is all about the true nature of freedom. What this lyrics is saying is that just because you aren’t in prison, doesn’t mean you are free. Freedom can be taken away from us in all sorts of ways. Just by making us compromise more than we should have to compromise, we can take away somebody’s freedom, and it gets to the point when you have to consider the price. And so to be imprisoned for refusing to compromise your beliefs I believe to be an amazing thing. There a dignity in that, and a victory. And internal victory. Because if the threat of prison isn’t enough to break someone, or make them compromise their beliefs, then that person is the stronger person, and the people putting the person away are really the ones who are afraid, and that’s why they do what they do, but really the real victory lies with Aung Sung Suu Kyi, “A Singing bird in an open cage.” Bono once said this in an interview, and I think it is of particular relevance here: “Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's not OK, but you can change it”
2. Miss Sarajevo – Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1

Is there a time to run for cover
A time for kiss and tell
Is there a time for different colours
Different names you find it hard to spell

This song is about the conflict in Sarajevo, and the beauty contest that was held during that contest. What this song is saying is that these people deserve the right to live normal human lives, they are just like us. They should have time for beauty contest, and high streets shopping, and everything that we have. And we should have time to think of them not having it. It’s so easy to distance yourself from what’s actually happening, because it alleviates you from any personal sympathies or feelings of responsibilities. Its all about the humanity of war, and death. I love the thought of different colours, different names you find it hard to spell. Because we only see slice of this world through the television and in newspapers, but it is a completely 3-dimensional world for them, and there is no way we could ever understand what it must really be like for them, and this song conveys that. Bono’s not saying that he understands, but he is saying we should recognise that we don’t understand, and that as bad as we may think it is, from them it is a hundred times worse than that.

1. Miracle Drug – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

I want to trip inside your head
Spend the day there
To hear the things you haven’t said
And see what you might see

I want to hear you when you call
Do you feel anything at all
I want to see your thoughts take shape
And walk right out

Freedom has a scent
Like the top of a new born baby’s head

The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I’ve seen enough, I’m not giving up
On a miracle drug

Of science and the human heart
There is no limit
There is no failure here sweetheart
Just when you quit

I am you and you are mine
Love makes nonsense of space
And time will disappear
Love and logic keep us clear
Reason is on our side, love

The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I’ve had enough of romantic love
I’d give it up, yeah, I’d give it up
For a miracle drug, a miracle drug
A miracle drug

Oh God, I need your help tonight

Beneath the noise
Below the din
I hear a voice
It’s whispering
In science and in medicine
I was a stranger
You took me in

The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I’ve had enough of romantic love
I’d give it up, yeah, I’d give it up
For a miracle drug, for a miracle drug

Miracle, miracle drug

I wanted to pick a line out of this song, that would be my favourite lyrics of all time. However, it was impossible, as every lyrics in this song is just perfect. It is, to me, the best thing Bono has ever written. It is poignant, powerful, human, magical, optimistic, inspirational, and everything a great song should be, all within 4 minutes!

For those who don’t know, this song was written about Christopher Nolan, a boy who went to the same school as U2. He was born with cerebal palsy, and paralysed for life. But his mother didn’t believe that he was vegetable. She saw something in his eyes, and somehow she knew that he was alive and awake inside. And she read to him, she taught him, gave him an education, and did everything she could to make him a real human being, even though throughout his life, she had no way of knowing if there was even any thought or consciousness behind the eyes. But scientists developed this pill – I don’t know the technical side, but it allowed him to move his head by about an inch or two. And he learned to type, and he began writing beautiful poetry. And he has so many thoughts and feeling that he had never been able to express but now he could, all thanks to his mother’s love, and science.

And that’s what the song is about. Its about two things – what mankind can achieve when they really put their mind to it, and how powerful love really is. I firmly believe that love transcends all emotions. It can make us do things nothing else can. It can make us lose all sense or logic or reason or rational, it takes us over, and becomes a force in itself. It can be destructive, but Bono here is focussing on the beautiful side of it – how it can be an almost magical thing. Through the mothers love here, she has given her son a life which otherwise would have been wasted, because she loved him. And Bono paints a picture of this love with such skill and honesty. I want to hear you when you call, Do you feel anything at all, I want to see your thoughts take shape, And walk right out. You can feel the yearning of the mother in these lyrics, see how she desparately wants to know what’s going on inside her songs head, but she never can. Until science intervenes, and there is the other theme of the song – how science can affect peoples lives in the most wonderful ways. Again, science, a very dangerous thing, but here Bono talks about how we can use it to make the world a better place. Of science and the human heart, There is no limit. When science or indeed, anything is used with love and good intention, it can only produce positive results. And that is really I think the most important message of all in U2s songs – That love is everything.
 
Great post! I totally agree with Miracle Drug for the top spot. I think thats one of their top 5 songs of all time.
 
great post and great lyrical choices.

I could make a list like this but it would take me soooo long:banghead:
 
Lyrics to "A Sort of Homecoming" put you right at the turmoil that Bono speaks of or maybe even has witnessed at a point in his live maybe even in Ireland.:bow:

And you know it's time to go
through the sleet and driving snow
across the fields of mourning to a
light that's in the distance

And you hunger for a time
time to heal, desire time
and your earth moves beneath
your own dream landscape

Oh, oh on borderland we run
and still we run, we run and don't look back
I'll be there, I'll be there
tonight, a highroad, a highroad out of here

The city wall are all come down
the dust a smokescreen all around see
faces ploughed like fields that once
gave no resistance

And we live by the side of the road
on the side of a hill as the valley explode
dislocated, suffocated the land grows weary of its own

Oh coma way, o coma way. o coma way o coma way say I
oh oh on borderland we run
and still we run, we run and don't look back
tonight, tonight

Oh coma way, o coma way. o coma way o coma way say I

The wind will crack in wintertime
a bomb-blast lighting waltz
no spoken words, just a scream...
Tonight we'll build a bridge across the sea and land
see the sky the burning rain
she will die and live again tonight

And your heart beats so slow throught rain and fallen snow
across the fields of mourning
to a light that's in the distance
Oh don't sorrow, no don't weep
for tonight at last
I am coming home
I am coming home



These words are so very stirring to me, anyway.:sad:
 
Awesome post!!! I wish I could make a list...I agree with Miracle Drug that song is so amazingly beautiful! I agree with all the lyrics as well

A Sort of Homecoming is also some of my favorite lyrics....

to add to your list I would have to add Heartland...those lyrics put such beautiful imagery right into view Totally beautiful song:drool:
 
Choosing 20 will take me years....they are all so good:drool: I'll put down the ones that really stand out for me


Walk On
You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

COBL
Neon heart dayglo eyes
A city lit by fireflies

The more you know the less you feel
Some pray for others steal
Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel… luckily

Beautiful Day

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
See the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colours came out
It was a beautiful day
A beautiful day
Don’t let it get away

Streets - I could just quote the whole damn song:heart: its my favorite..but especially this part.
I'll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name

I still haven't found.....
You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross of my shame

Even Better Than the Real Thing.. .for the obvious reasons:combust:
We're free to fly the crimson sky
The sun won't melt our wings tonight.
Oh now, oh yeah, here she comes
Take me higher, take me higher
You take me higher, you take me higher


Gone
You're taking steps that make you feel dizzy
Then you learn to like the way it feels.

The Fly
They say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by the moon
Y' know I don't see you when she walks in the room

So Cruel
Her skin is pale like God's only dove
Screams like an angel for your love
Then she makes you watch her from above
And you need her like a drug

Running to Stand Still I think this is a beautiful song:heart:
You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice.
 
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AWESOME post :applaud: It is always great to hear about other people's interpretations and what they understand out of some songs, because it can give you a ne complete view on the song :)

It is also very true waht you said about those simple and obvious yet so powerful lyrics, you know :yes: . I don't write music but every now and again write some poem and well, U2 is my main inspiration, and I always wonder how in some songs Bono, through such simple words, can write about so deep a thing, when sometimesd we try to talk about it and stuff and we can't describe it with words.

Amazing post, gotta make my list someday :p :D
 
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