You're gone and so is God

[ADecentMelody]

What does this mean? Any insights? It's a great love song, 'cept for this little bit.

 

[beli]

I agree. I dont understand that bit. And I dont like it.

 

[discothequeLP]

hmmm. . . i think its about the sadness when you lose someone (a lover probably) that you feel right afterwards. Regardless of the meaning, I think the way the line sounds and the way Bono sings it is beautiful

 

[ADecentMelody]

hmmm. . . i think its about the sadness when you lose someone (a lover probably) that you feel right afterwards. Regardless of the meaning, I think the way the line sounds and the way Bono sings it is beautiful

I would agree that if you lose someone you would feel that way, but in the song it's more of a statement:

Little sister
I’ve been sleeping in the street again
Like a stray dog
Little sister
I’ve been trying to feel complete again
But you’re gone and so is God

 

[-macphisto-]

Its just a feeling that you get when you lose something or someone, you feel alone and you feel emptieness, and maybe frustration. It's something that words cant explain really, but when you hear it, it makes sense to that person hearing it?

 

[fastcars]

I'd take it as...feeling totally alone, you can be with hundreds of people, and still feel alone inside. So if he says 'you're gone and so is god', he feels so alone that he feels not even god is there to turn to...it's a state of mind. or something. lol

 

[pop_mofo]

I would agree that if you lose someone you would feel that way, but in the song it's more of a statement:

Little sister
I’ve been sleeping in the street again
Like a stray dog
Little sister
I’ve been trying to feel complete again
But you’re gone and so is God

When you see the line in this context, it seems to be about being abandoned by a lover and that sense of aloneness. The lyric captures the desperation that you feel when you think that you won't get that person back and no matter how hard you pray for them, they don't come back.

This is just how I've always interpreted the line. I don't know. Maybe I'm way off.

Let's discuss.

Peace.

 

[starsgoblue]

I agree with FastCars...it a description of feeling utterly alone and without anyone to turn to. That feeling can be temporary....I'm sure everyone has felt so down that nobody, not even God, was on their radar screen. I don't think this is a statement of a feeling that is permanent...

 

[Jamila]

well said, pop_mofo.

I love "A Man and A Woman" especially the phrase the phrase about not wanting to lose Love to find romance.

A VERY IMPORTANT INSIGHT from the B-man.

GRACE FINDS BEAUTY IN EVERYTHING....

 

[stray dog]

I will NEVER leave thee nor forsake thee.....Jesus

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

It sure can feel that way, though. I'm quite happy he doesn't feel the need to censor himself. It's quite reminiscient of Mofo: "Lookin' for to fill that God-shaped hole"

And in interviews, he still said that he was a believer even then. But he's an artist, expressing real feelings and concerns.

 

[ADecentMelody]

The question still remains: why did Bono state this in this song? He has described this song as a love song to Ali as well as a love song between two people who have been together for a long time. Why were the lines above added?

 

[kiwilad]

I agree with FastCars...it a description of feeling utterly alone and without anyone to turn to. That feeling can be temporary....I'm sure everyone has felt so down that nobody, not even God, was on their radar screen. I don't think this is a statement of a feeling that is permanent...

That's definitely what it sounds like, but I wasn't aware this song was about losing someone, I thought it was about hanging on to someone, despite all the temptations and voices urging you to stray. So at what point in the song does the narrator become alone?

Or...

is the partner still there, but the narrator isn't connecting with her at all any more, like his world has thrust him so far in a certain direction (stardom I guess) that he just can't connect anymore. So she's gone in a chemistry sense, the connection is lost. And not only this, but the narrators journey has caused him to lose sight of god too.

Yet despite this he is still unwilling to throw away the love he knows is there for a romance he knows is hollow. He'd rather fight and search for the love he had.

Or not

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Bono has also said that he doesn't think straightforward love songs are any good. Anything he's written for Ali in that vein is kept private, and that he adds non-biographical bittersweetness to some songs to give them depth

 

[bsp77]

I always thought it made perfect sense. I could be wrong, but I figured that a lot of the lyrics in this song are about when he is on tour, away from her and has temptations.

 

[UVMan]

I agree with FastCars...it a description of feeling utterly alone and without anyone to turn to. That feeling can be temporary....I'm sure everyone has felt so down that nobody, not even God, was on their radar screen. I don't think this is a statement of a feeling that is permanent...

That's a nice clarification "god is not even on the radar screen." I've never got to that level of lonliness, I've always felt that even in my darkest moment God would be there, so for me this is an excelent comparison I guess you could say. Wow, until this thread I never really thought about that lyric.

 

[BluRmGrl]

To me the line just seems a profound comparison of what it feels like to be away from the love of your life, the person what makes you feel complete...

 

[stray dog]

feelings be what they will,
Jesus is my Saviour still.

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

God represents something that's bigger than us. Maybe everything. So when he says that he might mean you're gone and it feels like everything else.

basically along the lines of "my world came crumbling down"

 

[starsforu2]

I like the idea of the line as hyperbole. When he's been kicked to the curb and his self-pity is at his height. She's gone and so is God. Most of us believe that God doesn't move; we do.
The abyss that he feels like he is in is dark and he doesn't perceive anything but his own loneliness.
I took this literally at first, and will continue to have some problems embracing this line, but this makes it easier. I'm sure that he meant this in the artistic lyrical sense and not the literal sense.

Unless his God is woman, which I understand sometimes. They are so damned irresistable!

 

[deltau922]

That's a great verse - the words and the bassline. I also love the lyric about how real love will find you and catch you by the heel.