whats the U2 song "Flower Child" about?

[MattFromNYC]

whats the band said its about.. or your thoughts on it?

just curious. its one of my newest faves.

 

[indra]

Uhoh!

U2's gone bohemian?

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Like any other rock song

it's probably about sex

 

[MacPhistoPT]

ysi please? I never heard it

 

[david]

Like any other U2 song it's probably about God.

 

[Bonochick]

ysi please? I never heard it

This song cannot be done as a YSI. We can't have an active link to the file here, as it was officially released through iTunes.

 

[Rachel D.]

I siphoned it, along with many other iTunes-only songs (some of us can't afford to get them "legally" and shouldn't be deprived of good music for that reason), from u2mp3s.com a year ago when the site was actually easy to use. Now it's just a mess and I don't bother with it anymore.

From the lyrics, I think it's either about Ali or one of Bono's daughters.

I guess this is where you say, "Well, DUH!"

 

[astepcloser24]

I love this song. I'm actually listening to it now. My fav. line is "wild, you grow wild in my heart". Like any U2 song, it's hard to know what was on Bono's mind when he wrote this, but my guess is that it's a love song, possibly aimed at Ali, like "the seeds that you sew, you want to watch them growing" like adknowledging that Ali is the mother of his children and then "wild, you grow wild in my heart" meaning he's adknowledging his love for her. However, the rest of the song doesn't really add up to Ali and his kids in my mind. It's (it can) have multiple meanings. I'm not too sure on this one.

 

[Ellay]

I was listening to a bootleg at the weekend (I think it was Popmart live from Hannover (earpiece)) and Bono actually refers to Flower Child half way through it. Even though then, the song hadn't been written.

 

[flowerchildH]

i've never heard of that mention, but it is very interesting. i love this song, its one of my favorites. i've always taken it as a father lovingly watching his daughter grow up and out of his household, and the fact that he can't stop that process, no matter how hard he tries. i also feel a bit of bitterness at the end. it reminds me of how a father feels after his marries off a daughter, that they aren't yours anymore, and that they are gone. i don't know, just some thoughts.

 

[last unicorn]

Interesting takes on this song. I feel it is very close to Original of the Species, but with more erotic metaphors. Bono's mixing up different stories here. It could be about love, his wife and family, or women and love in general. Btw, I love this song, it's so playful and the lyrics are great.

 

[mandrake]

I really really like this one and I wish it had ended up on All You Can't Leave Behind. I really feel this is a song about God in my opinion though.

 

[Varitek]

I agree that it's about a father's feelings towards his daughter, but I think the bitterness at the end is directed at not a husband, but a guy who breaks his daughter's heart. The chorus is for the daughter, but look at the last two verses:

What's on your breath is the fear of death
That makes such a man promiscuous
Your mouth was dry like when you were about to lie (he lied and said he loved her?)
And her lips are so luscious (because of sexual attraction?)
You've seen it before, you hurled at her door
Like a dog when she needed a man (you are an opportunistic dog/pig - shweinhund, lastunicorn - who took advantage when she was needy/vulnerable)
Now she aches and she breaks, and she takes
On the weight of your world, 'cause she almost can (this is obvious: daughter has gotten hurt, can't quite handle it)

...

The sky was steel grey, up on Appian Way
As the yellow hats dug up the road (depressing imagery)
Didn't hear what you said, as the lights turned red
On a love that should have stayed gold
Gold (he wishes the love hadn't gone bad/ended because he wants to protect his daughter)


great song, just one I don't relate to very much at this point in my life.

 

[Varitek]

I really really like this one and I wish it had ended up on All You Can't Leave Behind. I really feel this is a song about God in my opinion though.

Wow, 2 posts in 4 minutes on a slow thread in a slow section of the forum, weird.

Anyway, there are lots of u2 songs where I can understand why people think they are about God. Not this one. Care to explain????

 

[last unicorn]

I agree that it's about a father's feelings towards his daughter, but I think the bitterness at the end is directed at not a husband, but a guy who breaks his daughter's heart. The chorus is for the daughter, but look at the last two verses:

What's on your breath is the fear of death
That makes such a man promiscuous
Your mouth was dry like when you were about to lie (he lied and said he loved her?)
And her lips are so luscious (because of sexual attraction?)
You've seen it before, you hurled at her door
Like a dog when she needed a man (you are an opportunistic dog/pig - shweinhund, lastunicorn - who took advantage when she was needy/vulnerable)
Now she aches and she breaks, and she takes
On the weight of your world, 'cause she almost can (this is obvious: daughter has gotten hurt, can't quite handle it)

...

The sky was steel grey, up on Appian Way
As the yellow hats dug up the road (depressing imagery)
Didn't hear what you said, as the lights turned red
On a love that should have stayed gold
Gold (he wishes the love hadn't gone bad/ended because he wants to protect his daughter)


great song, just one I don't relate to very much at this point in my life.

Great interpretation, I like that.

The lyrics are really cool

Around the time of ATYCLB, Bono seemed to focus a lot on his family and wrote some songs that are supposed to be about his kids - remember OOTS is from that time as well. His daughters were still very young back then and he was already thinking about what would happen to them when they were becoming adults.

It will be interesting to see/hear, if there will be such a theme on the new album as well.

 

[Varitek]

I really really like this one and I wish it had ended up on All You Can't Leave Behind. I really feel this is a song about God in my opinion though.

I don't know where you went, but I'm still really curious as to how you came up with God for this song.

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Anyone?

cf_177@hotmail.com

 

[flowerchildH]

you know, the band has never mentioned this one, which i though was always very interesting. they have always said something, even if it was just a little tidbit of info on the other outtakes, so it seems a bit odd for there to be no acknowledgment of this one. they've said in the past however that there songs must be personal for them to make it onto an album, so it probably is. this song kind of intrigues me.