Purple eyes

[Alisaura]

Who does Bono know that has purple eyes?
He's referenced them twice at least in his lyrics - "See the purple of her eyes" in Love Rescue Me, and "purple irises the camera can't see" in COBL - is it just a co-incidence?

(... the more I look at the word "purple" the weirder it looks... )

 

[last unicorn]

Interesting. I think it depends on lightning. Every eye colour could look like everything and sometimes there are just little sprinkles of different colours in them. So I don't think it's a wrong picture. Maybe the lyrics refer to looking into someone's eyes at a certain time of day with a particular lightning or whatever.
Or maybe it's something completely different.
Purple is my favourite colour, it's also a very deep and symbolic colour, so I am always interested in purple things.

 

[Screwtape2]

I think it refers to either being drunk or suffering from insomnia. Purple is produced by mixing red and blue. So blue eyes that are bloodshot could be explained as being purple. Just a thought.

 

[love2bmama]

for some reason in LRM I've always thought of the purple as referring to dark circles under the eyes, and in COBL I've taken it more literally, as in a certain hue of blue that is more purple but doesn't come across accurately in film. Who knows why those are my impressions, but there they are.

 

[U2girl]

I thought of the effect of taking a picture of someone with the flash on your camera - the eyes (pupils?) turn red.

 

[Alisaura]

Interesting... I hadn't considered the bloodshot/hungover/shadows-under-eyes option.

Wikipedia tells me that it is possible to have violet or purple eyes (as in the actual iris colour), but it's incredibly rare.

 

[last unicorn]

Interesting... I hadn't considered the bloodshot/hungover/shadows-under-eyes option.

Why does this description remind me of a certain someone?

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

Maybe he's talking about Elizabeth Taylor, she's the only person I've ever heard of with purple eyes

 

[yolland]

I know a guy who has eyes which often appear purple, depending on light and what he's wearing. Basically they're hazel, but the effect is often a plum color (as opposed to the bright, more reddish hue that a 'purple' crayon has). Or like DreamOutLoud mentioned, there's a type of blue iris color Elizabeth Taylor is famous for that looks like deep powder blue in some light, violet in others.

No idea who Bono might know with eyes like either of the above, though. He may not know anyone like that and it's just an image of intimacy--a lot of people believe their lover has some special quality to their eyes which can only be seen very close up, and like the thought that they're the only one who gets to see it.