California (There Is No End To Love) - Song Discussion

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This is a joyful tune, but, like most good U2 songs, it's lyrically ambivalent and reflective.

There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no end to love

I didn’t call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone’s a star in our town
It’s just your light gets dimmer
If you have to stay
In your bedroom, in a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby

We come and go
But stolen days you don’t give back
Stolen days are just enough

Hardly the stuff of generic pop songs.
 
youarenotimmune said:
This is a joyful tune, but, like most good U2 songs, it's lyrically ambivalent and reflective.

There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no end to love

I didn’t call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone’s a star in our town
It’s just your light gets dimmer
If you have to stay
In your bedroom, in a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby

We come and go
But stolen days you don’t give back
Stolen days are just enough

Hardly the stuff of generic pop songs.
Click to expand...

I quite like this tune (in fact I like all of them).

And I agree that most of Bono's best lyrics are ambivalent, and frankly I miss the more impressionistic Bono, like the one hinted at here. Someone here, I think it was Irvine (though perhaps it was Jeevey) made a very good observation once in noting that Bono's lyrics have gotten much more literal than they used to be. I agree with that, and I think it's yielded decidedly mixed results. He's gotten better at that style, to be sure. The lyrics on this record (all co-credited to The Edge for the first time) are a dramatic improvement over the horrid OL and the worst of NLOTH.

But...

True colours fly in blue and black
Blue silken sky and burning flag.

What does that mean? What does Elvish Presley and America mean? How the fuck should I know. But I loved it. It's all more prose than poetry these days, and I miss the poetry.
 
youarenotimmune said:
This is a joyful tune, but, like most good U2 songs, it's lyrically ambivalent and reflective.

There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no end to love

I didn’t call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone’s a star in our town
It’s just your light gets dimmer
If you have to stay
In your bedroom, in a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby

We come and go
But stolen days you don’t give back
Stolen days are just enough

Hardly the stuff of generic pop songs.
Click to expand...

I agree, for the most part, but then again, "There is no end to love" feels meaningless and easy.
 
Nick66 said:
But...

True colours fly in blue and black
Blue silken sky and burning flag.

What does that mean? What does Elvish Presley and America mean? How the fuck should I know. But I loved it. It's all more prose than poetry these days, and I miss the poetry.
Click to expand...

You and me both, brother. TUF is my favorite U2 album, and if I recall correctly, it's yours as well, right?

A lot of the lyrics on TUF seem indecipherable, but they add to the ethereal sonic landscape the album builds. TUF really was an impressionistic masterpiece. Certainly their most visceral album. They painted pictures rather than telling stories.

It's striking how TUF is the polar opposite of Songs of Innocence, which is such a tightly produced record. They labored on it for fucking ever. With TUF, Eno helped them capture lightning in a bottle. Elvis Presley and America really sums it up; a stream of consciousness by Bono where the lyrics make no sense, but listening to it makes you feel like you're floating away in a dream.

No other album affects me the way TUF does. It isn't just my favorite U2 album; it's my favorite album by any band.
 
mama cass said:
you have clearly not been there... (lucky you i guess!)
Click to expand...

Another sentence which I don't understand. Do you mean I haven't had hard times? Pfft.

Do you mean I didn't live in an apartment in California which happened to have one of the walls covered in mirrors and not have any money to go out? Well, strangely, I did that too.... :lol:

But, I don't have any idea what it means to say, "There is no end to love." It sounds like vague and easy positivity to me. It sounds like a platitude from Christian rock.
 
Musikwala said:
It sounds like a typical vague U2ism or a typical Bonoism like "love is all we have left" or "to love i rhapsodize". lol.
Click to expand...

I don't know. It feels different to me. I know what those mean. But what would it mean for Love to have no end? Does it mean you don't fall out of love? Does it mean you love people after they die? Why would love have an end? I don't completely get what he means. It feels vague and overly.....everything and nothing.

It bugs me.
 
There is nothing really vague or really positive about:
"There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no end to love"
 
youarenotimmune said:
This is a joyful tune, but, like most good U2 songs, it's lyrically ambivalent and reflective.

There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no end to love

I didn’t call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone’s a star in our town
It’s just your light gets dimmer
If you have to stay
In your bedroom, in a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby

We come and go
But stolen days you don’t give back
Stolen days are just enough

Hardly the stuff of generic pop songs.
Click to expand...

youarenotimmune said:
There's no end to grief. That's why I need to know there's no end to love.

I think it's quite poignant, actually.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%!

Maybe mama cass was onto something in saying that maybe you need to have experienced some hard times in life to appreciate what Bono is getting at here.

This song struck me immediately for both its overall joyful sound (and one that may grab the general public, I may add) and for the lyrics you mentioned.

I immediately connected to the grief/love theme and strangely, and this sounds so corny, but this brought me back to my one and only trip to California so far in my life. It was 2002 and I was with my Mom, Dad and brother. I remembered my Dad in particular loving this trip, especially the trip down the Pacific coast highway from San Francisco to LA. As I was driving and listening to this song for the first time, I immediately thought of the place we stayed at on the beach in Malibu and my Dad saying something to the effect of "I don't know how heaven could exist with places like this here on Earth."

My Dad passed away after a battle with lung cancer in April 2009.
The "stolen days" lines are literally word for word the advice he would probably give me about how to live my life now.

Call me crazy, but California evoked all of this for me by the time it hit the chorus on the first listen. Not a bubblegum pop song by any stretch.
 
youarenotimmune said:
You and me both, brother. TUF is my favorite U2 album, and if I recall correctly, it's yours as well, right?

A lot of the lyrics on TUF seem indecipherable, but they add to the ethereal sonic landscape the album builds. TUF really was an impressionistic masterpiece. Certainly their most visceral album. They painted pictures rather than telling stories.

It's striking how TUF is the polar opposite of Songs of Innocence, which is such a tightly produced record. They labored on it for fucking ever. With TUF, Eno helped them capture lightning in a bottle. Elvis Presley and America really sums it up; a stream of consciousness by Bono where the lyrics make no sense, but listening to it makes you feel like you're floating away in a dream.

No other album affects me the way TUF does. It isn't just my favorite U2 album; it's my favorite album by any band.
Click to expand...

I agree with all this, including the last bit. Very well said.

Salome said:
There is nothing really vague or really positive about:
"There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no end to love"
Click to expand...

Yeah. I don't find this lyric to be particularly positive, and it's certainly not vague, I think Bono's meaning is pretty clear here. In fact it's a pretty simple, though yes poignant, sentiment and I don't think there's any need to over analyse it.

I do quite like the song, and as others have said I don't find it be be "bubblegum" or devoid of meaning at all.
 
youarenotimmune said:
You and me both, brother. TUF is my favorite U2 album, and if I recall correctly, it's yours as well, right?

A lot of the lyrics on TUF seem indecipherable, but they add to the ethereal sonic landscape the album builds. TUF really was an impressionistic masterpiece. Certainly their most visceral album. They painted pictures rather than telling stories.

It's striking how TUF is the polar opposite of Songs of Innocence, which is such a tightly produced record. They labored on it for fucking ever. With TUF, Eno helped them capture lightning in a bottle. Elvis Presley and America really sums it up; a stream of consciousness by Bono where the lyrics make no sense, but listening to it makes you feel like you're floating away in a dream.

No other album affects me the way TUF does. It isn't just my favorite U2 album; it's my favorite album by any band.
Click to expand...

M


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
This is a song that you would crank on your car stereo whilst you are in a good mood and belt out the chorus. Bono may sound like he has ingested helium but this is a feel good track for me.
 
I lost my Dad suddenly this past February. It is still very painful for the family and myself.

I know what Bono means by "there is no end to grief" - he's damn right about that. But also, "there is no end to love" - very very true.

Funny thing is, while i know that Dad is no longer here, its strange because it really doesn't seem like he is gone. I suspect that faith plays a part into that, but its just the strangest feeling....like i know i will see him again.

Anyway this song is certainly a gift for the fans. We can interpret it so many different ways but i know what those lines mean to me.
 
Mrs. Garrison said:
I lost my Dad suddenly this past February. It is still very painful for the family and myself.

I know what Bono means by "there is no end to grief" - he's damn right about that. But also, "there is no end to love" - very very true.

Funny thing is, while i know that Dad is no longer here, its strange because it really doesn't seem like he is gone. I suspect that faith plays a part into that, but its just the strangest feeling....like i know i will see him again.

Anyway this song is certainly a gift for the fans. We can interpret it so many different ways but i know what those lines mean to me.
Click to expand...


Sorry for your loss Mrs. Garrison and I'm glad you can find some comfort in this song or any song for that matter.


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
 
Well, maybe the California they're singing about is more of an idea..an idealised notion of California that a kid in the North Side of Dublin might create in his mind to escape the dreariness around him..."that's what took me where I need to be."

Hey, I know it's a stretch, just trying to help you out with something that might help put the song in context when you listen. :)
 
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