salomeU2000
The Fly
[SIMG]http://bonovox.interference.com/analysis/zooropathumb.jpg[/SIMG]
By Abigail E. Myers
This is the second in my most recent two-part lyrical analysis series. In my last essay I explored one of U2's best known love songs, Rattle and Hum's "All I Want Is You." Many U2 fans believe that this song has a musical and thematic counterpart in another song-- "The First Time," from 1993's Zooropa. The melody of the song, and more strikingly the bass line, is very close to those of "All I Want Is You," and some people have observed that you can sing either set of lyrics to either of the two melodies.
I fear this analysis may be a bit controversial, as I tend to view the song much more optimistically than most people with whom I have discussed the lyrics in the past. However, I readily admit that I am a hopeless romantic, and prefer to read "The First Time" as a much gentler and more hopeful response to "All I Want Is You." After all, it is difficult not to. The song opens with one of the most beautiful first verses in U2's lyrical catalog:
I have a lover
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing
Shows me colours when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time
I feel love
The "lover" that the narrator refers to here is obviously not the same lover he mentions in "All I Want Is You." She might be the same person, but she is changed -- instead of offering him material goods and making lavish promises, she has "taught him how to sing" and "given him hope." This seems to be what our narrator wanted all along: the spiritual gifts of a lover, given simply and unselfishly. He says it quite plainly in the two lines that serve as something of a refrain in a song with no clear chorus: "for the first time, I feel love." This is the love alluded to in "All I Want Is You," brought to a pure and mature fruition.
The focus of the song changes in the second verse, however. The narrator has been blessed in another way as well:
I have a brother
When I'm a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me
When I feel myself going down
I just call and he comes around
And for the first time
I feel love
The "brother" figure here could be an actual brother, or it could be a close friend. The "brother" is an example of platonic, but unconditional, love -- the sort of love that the Greeks referred to as "agape." This love is often identified with the love of Jesus Christ, as is often discussed in more conventional interpretations of this song (as I will discuss later). The "brother" is the ideal of this kind of love, as the "lover" figure in the first verse is the ideal of romantic and/or erotic love. "He spends his [time] running after" the narrator; "he comes around" whenever he is needed.
The speaker in this song, then, seems to be pretty lucky. He has a wonderful "lover" and a devoted "brother." But it is the third verse that often throws listeners -- myself included -- for something of a loop:
My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold
He said, "I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see"
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
This verse is very difficult for two reasons. First, it is the verse to which many listeners refer as the obvious flashpoint for the Biblical and religious allusions in the song. While these listeners are certainly not incorrect, it is also not the only way to read the song. It is also difficult because it does not match the "lovefest" tone of the first two verses; it is slightly bitter, and it would seem to leave the song without the happy ending that some listeners might have been expecting. Neither of these challenges, however, are incompatible with my current interpretation of the song. One can still read the song from both a secular and a hopeful perspective.
The narrator states in this verse that his father "is a rich man" who "gave [him] the keys to his kingdom." This could be a father figure of some sort, or a literal father, who (like the lover in "All I Want Is You") is more focused on the material gifts of love. The father might not be a bad or shallow person; he's just missing something. Nevertheless, by this point in the song, the narrator knows the romantic love of the lover figure and the "brotherly" love of the brother figure. He knows that what the father is offering him here is not what he wants. Thus he leaves "by the back door" and "throws away the keys" --presumably to return to the simpler, purer love of the brother and lover figures. This is confirmed by the quiet, fading repetition, after the verse concludes, of "for the first time...for the first time...I feel love."
As I stated previously, this is not the traditional interpretation of "The First Time." But rewriting the old interpretations is unnecessary at best, and pointlessly derivative at worst. However, for the benefit of first-time (no pun intended!) lyrical explorers, many readers have pointed out the obvious connection of each figure in the song to the Holy Trinity: The lover of the first verse is the Holy Spirit (often conceived of as a feminine force in art and literature); the brother of the second verse is Jesus Christ (who often addressed his followers as "brothers" and is of course the epitome of unconditional love); and the father of the third verse is God the Father (the owner of "many mansions" and the overseer of the "kingdom").
Most pointedly, the third verse recalls both the literal God the Father and the father of the Prodigal Son from what is possibly the most famous of Jesus's parables. "I have many mansions/And there are many rooms to see" is a direct, almost word-for-word reference to Jesus' promise to His disciples that He was "going to prepare a place for them" shortly before His death: "In my Father's house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would not have told you. I go forth to prepare a place for you." Additionally, the action taken by the narrator in the third verse closely mirrors the actions of the Prodigal Son, who ran away from the father who loved him dearly and gave him whatever he wanted. This interpretation is certainly not unlikely, given Bono's deep religious commitments and his Biblical allusions in many other songs. It is, however, not the only possible way to read the song -- particularly if one reads "The First Time" as a sort of sequel to "All I Want Is You."
Regardless of how one chooses to take the song -- as a rejection of materialism for true love, or as the result of a religious commitment, "The First Time" is a gem, often overlooked in the "bang and the clatter" that marks much of Zooropa. For someone who refuses to read the famous Niall Stokes book of lyrical assertions, I continue to read "The First Time" as a hopeful song about a lover who grows up, a brother who never had to, and a narrator at the heart of it who learns what love truly is.
By Abigail E. Myers
This is the second in my most recent two-part lyrical analysis series. In my last essay I explored one of U2's best known love songs, Rattle and Hum's "All I Want Is You." Many U2 fans believe that this song has a musical and thematic counterpart in another song-- "The First Time," from 1993's Zooropa. The melody of the song, and more strikingly the bass line, is very close to those of "All I Want Is You," and some people have observed that you can sing either set of lyrics to either of the two melodies.
I fear this analysis may be a bit controversial, as I tend to view the song much more optimistically than most people with whom I have discussed the lyrics in the past. However, I readily admit that I am a hopeless romantic, and prefer to read "The First Time" as a much gentler and more hopeful response to "All I Want Is You." After all, it is difficult not to. The song opens with one of the most beautiful first verses in U2's lyrical catalog:
I have a lover
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing
Shows me colours when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time
I feel love
The "lover" that the narrator refers to here is obviously not the same lover he mentions in "All I Want Is You." She might be the same person, but she is changed -- instead of offering him material goods and making lavish promises, she has "taught him how to sing" and "given him hope." This seems to be what our narrator wanted all along: the spiritual gifts of a lover, given simply and unselfishly. He says it quite plainly in the two lines that serve as something of a refrain in a song with no clear chorus: "for the first time, I feel love." This is the love alluded to in "All I Want Is You," brought to a pure and mature fruition.
The focus of the song changes in the second verse, however. The narrator has been blessed in another way as well:
I have a brother
When I'm a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me
When I feel myself going down
I just call and he comes around
And for the first time
I feel love
The "brother" figure here could be an actual brother, or it could be a close friend. The "brother" is an example of platonic, but unconditional, love -- the sort of love that the Greeks referred to as "agape." This love is often identified with the love of Jesus Christ, as is often discussed in more conventional interpretations of this song (as I will discuss later). The "brother" is the ideal of this kind of love, as the "lover" figure in the first verse is the ideal of romantic and/or erotic love. "He spends his [time] running after" the narrator; "he comes around" whenever he is needed.
The speaker in this song, then, seems to be pretty lucky. He has a wonderful "lover" and a devoted "brother." But it is the third verse that often throws listeners -- myself included -- for something of a loop:
My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold
He said, "I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see"
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
This verse is very difficult for two reasons. First, it is the verse to which many listeners refer as the obvious flashpoint for the Biblical and religious allusions in the song. While these listeners are certainly not incorrect, it is also not the only way to read the song. It is also difficult because it does not match the "lovefest" tone of the first two verses; it is slightly bitter, and it would seem to leave the song without the happy ending that some listeners might have been expecting. Neither of these challenges, however, are incompatible with my current interpretation of the song. One can still read the song from both a secular and a hopeful perspective.
The narrator states in this verse that his father "is a rich man" who "gave [him] the keys to his kingdom." This could be a father figure of some sort, or a literal father, who (like the lover in "All I Want Is You") is more focused on the material gifts of love. The father might not be a bad or shallow person; he's just missing something. Nevertheless, by this point in the song, the narrator knows the romantic love of the lover figure and the "brotherly" love of the brother figure. He knows that what the father is offering him here is not what he wants. Thus he leaves "by the back door" and "throws away the keys" --presumably to return to the simpler, purer love of the brother and lover figures. This is confirmed by the quiet, fading repetition, after the verse concludes, of "for the first time...for the first time...I feel love."
As I stated previously, this is not the traditional interpretation of "The First Time." But rewriting the old interpretations is unnecessary at best, and pointlessly derivative at worst. However, for the benefit of first-time (no pun intended!) lyrical explorers, many readers have pointed out the obvious connection of each figure in the song to the Holy Trinity: The lover of the first verse is the Holy Spirit (often conceived of as a feminine force in art and literature); the brother of the second verse is Jesus Christ (who often addressed his followers as "brothers" and is of course the epitome of unconditional love); and the father of the third verse is God the Father (the owner of "many mansions" and the overseer of the "kingdom").
Most pointedly, the third verse recalls both the literal God the Father and the father of the Prodigal Son from what is possibly the most famous of Jesus's parables. "I have many mansions/And there are many rooms to see" is a direct, almost word-for-word reference to Jesus' promise to His disciples that He was "going to prepare a place for them" shortly before His death: "In my Father's house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would not have told you. I go forth to prepare a place for you." Additionally, the action taken by the narrator in the third verse closely mirrors the actions of the Prodigal Son, who ran away from the father who loved him dearly and gave him whatever he wanted. This interpretation is certainly not unlikely, given Bono's deep religious commitments and his Biblical allusions in many other songs. It is, however, not the only possible way to read the song -- particularly if one reads "The First Time" as a sort of sequel to "All I Want Is You."
Regardless of how one chooses to take the song -- as a rejection of materialism for true love, or as the result of a religious commitment, "The First Time" is a gem, often overlooked in the "bang and the clatter" that marks much of Zooropa. For someone who refuses to read the famous Niall Stokes book of lyrical assertions, I continue to read "The First Time" as a hopeful song about a lover who grows up, a brother who never had to, and a narrator at the heart of it who learns what love truly is.
