How real are the Sometimes You Can't Make It On Own lyrics?

[DPrinceNY]

I am just curious did Bono really not pick up the phone when his Dad called...

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

Every line in this song seems like it actually would happened so would Bono really do such a harsh thing as not pick up the phone?

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

I think it's that when he doesn't pick up the phone he thinks it was his father calling him (and that is after he had died). ...And he will never know who was calling, capisce?

 

[DPrinceNY]

I think your right, I guess I over interpreted the lyrics.

 

[theedge111]

I love the added verse that Bonos been adding at the end when performing the song live, i think its:

I don't want you back
no tears goodbye
we'd only fight again.

It gives me chills, but seems very odd in context with the rest of the song no?

 

[Axver]

I love the added verse that Bonos been adding at the end when performing the song live, i think its:

I don't want you back
no tears goodbye
we'd only fight again.

It gives me chills, but seems very odd in context with the rest of the song no?

That's a snippet of some other song, I forget which.

 

[Axver]

I am just curious did Bono really not pick up the phone when his Dad called...

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

Every line in this song seems like it actually would happened so would Bono really do such a harsh thing as not pick up the phone?

I can imagine that line being real. I've let the phone ring out when I know my father's calling quite a few times.

 

[theedge111]

That's a snippet of some other song, I forget which.

Now that is very intresting, anyone know what song it is??

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Re: Re: How real are the Sometimes You Can't Make It On Own lyrics?

I can imagine that line being real. I've let the phone ring out when I know my father's calling quite a few times.

 

[neutral]

The song is called No Regrets, it's by Tom Rush.

 

[neutral]

And I think Bono is saying that like his father, he sometimes does not reach out for help or comfort when it is needed. Instead he shuts people out.


And it's you when I don't pick up the phone to reach out to someone, etc

TheFlyOnTheWall's interpretation may be right though.

 

[theedge111]

The song is called No Regrets, it's by Tom Rush.

Thanx once more Neutral, it seems your always there for me

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

TheFlyOnTheWall's interpretation may be right though.

I think I somewhere heard something about that, like from Bono, but I can't be sure. I always thought about it that way...

 

[Lucy3011]

And I think Bono is saying that like his father, he sometimes does not reach out for help or comfort when it is needed. Instead he shuts people out.


And it's you when I don't pick up the phone to reach out to someone, etc

I always saw it as that as well. It just fits with the line before.
Like he sees his father when he looks at himself in the mirror. And he also recognises his father in him when he doesn't pick up the phone - because that's something Bob used to do.

That's just how I've always interpreted it.

 

[BostonAnne]

And I think Bono is saying that like his father, he sometimes does not reach out for help or comfort when it is needed. Instead he shuts people out.


And it's you when I don't pick up the phone to reach out to someone, etc

I agree. I think of it as not picking up the phone and dialing. I never thought of it as Bono not answering his Dad's phone calls.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Re: Re: Re: How real are the Sometimes You Can't Make It On Own lyrics?

I'm not sure how I mabnaged to agree with something that I actually don't agree with... too much booze methinks!

 

[* MoFo *]

i always saw it as his 'fear' to pick up the phone durin bobs illness... incase it was bad news

'and its you (because of you) when i dont pick up the phone'

some good interpretations here tho

 

[Party Boy]

No regrets - great song - cant remember but some Irish artist had a version of No regrets which was very popular maybe 10 years ago or so... really struggling to remember who sang it...

 

[2Hearts]

I'm currently reading Bill Flanagan's "At the End of the World", and Ch. 37 is an interview with Bob Hewson. I absolutely loved that chapter. To me, Bob comes off as a charming, decent, and loving father. He and Larry always got along real well, so that should tell you alot about what kind of person he was. I think that it's a shame that neither Bono or his dad is a 'bad' person, but they just didn't click when they were around each other. I think we all have seen or been in relationships like that.

 

[marik]

i have a version that Bono referenced of No Regrets, by Scott Walker. Bono even sings it in a gruff voice, just like Walker's version

 

[Jamila]

What that line in SYCMIOYO is referrign to was made reference to by Bono in an interview he did in 2003 saying that in the first few months after his da's passing, Bono would pick up the phone when it rang expecting to hear his da's voice on the other end only to realize the sad truth when he heard the other voice that his da had passed on.

Bono is referring to how hard it was for him during the first year after his da passed for him to deal with the fact that his da was gone.

A very beautiful song by a most BEAUTIFUL Heart and Soul - Bono.

 

[U2DMfan]

I agree with some others, I have always read it in the 'reflective' context.

He's saying, "dad, I don't pick up the phone to call you, because I am just like you, and you don't either"

"we're the same soul"
"if we weren't so alike, you'd like me a whole lot more"
"it's you when I look in the mirror"
"it's you when I don't pick up the phone"

he wrote it universally though, it could mean any of the above, which generally means a well written lyric.

 

[Gary]

There were perhaps some tweaking of lyrics so the words fit with the music or for rhyming purposes, but otherwise I think the song's lyrics probably accurately reflect Bono's relationship with his Dad.

 

[intedomine]

It seems as though it was a kind of uneasy relationship, and although the song is brilliant, the lyrics are so real they make me feel uncomfortable and force me to reassess my own relationships with people close to me. It's chilling.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I had a random interpretation of that line. I'm almost embarrassed to say, because it seems silly, but it struck me that perhaps it could even be that when you don't pick up the phone, the answering machine picks it up. And that the message could be either Bono's father calling or maybe even that Bono's voice on the message machine sounds like his father's in the same way he sees him when he looks in the mirror.

ok, farfetched. but that was my initial thought.