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U2 - Breathe
 Album:
No Line On The Horizon (2009)


  1. "16th of June, doorbell rings..."

    .... didnt ur doorbell ring today Bart?


  2. Aha, now I get it.
    But my doorbell didnt ring yet, who should I expect then
  3. Originally posted by fabian:[..]

    It's 9:05 pm.

    Why would he visit a long line of travelling sales people on his mother's side at night?

    Thinking of it: why does he mention his mother?


    Visit? He's "comes from" (is descended from) a long line of travelling salesmen (ancestors) on his mother's side (of the family).


  4. A complete stranger selling cockatoos XD
  5. No one's gonna be surprised I have opinions on this, are they? This is my favorite song from NLOTH and one I really enjoyed live. It's about freedom and the particular freedom you find when you know who you are & you can be yourself.

    The rest below is just me taking some ideas for a walk. Feel free to agree or disagree. Hell, I'll probably disagree with myself by tomorrow.

    16th of June, nine-oh-five, door bell rings
    Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
    There’s a few things I need you to know
    Three

    Yeah, he's talking about door-knocking god-botherers and more broadly, people who want to sell you on their beliefs, who want you to think they've got all the answers.

    Coming from a long line of
    Traveling sales people on my mother’s side
    I wasn’t gonna buy just anyone’s cockatoo
    So why would I invite a complete stranger into my home
    Would you

    But he wasn't born yesterday, he's been around the block a time or two & he's not going to buy into something just because it's strange & new (yes, "cockatoo" is a metaphor for a novelty & not a literal reference to a large noisy bird)

    These days are better than that
    These days are better than that

    Because being able to spot the bullshit and be secure in your beliefs is a good thing.

    Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn
    Every day I have to find the courage
    To walk out into the street
    With arms out

    He struggles with being the man he wants to be and has to start all over again every day and more than that he has to find the courage to be vulnerable to attack (arms out) because talking about what you believe makes you vulnerable (and we've all seen how he gets attacked for it).

    Got a love you can’t defeat
    Neither down nor out
    There’s nothing you have that I need
    I can breathe
    Breathe now

    If I can pun for a second: he's finally found what he's looking for. And he's cool with it.

    16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
    And I’m coming down with some new Asian virus
    Ju Ju man, Ju Ju man
    Doc says you’re fine, or dying
    Please

    But being cool with yourself is no guarantee and shit still rains down on you, the world turns, fortunes rise and fall, the body breaks down and no one really knows when it'll end.

    Nine-oh-nine, St. John Divine on the line, my pulse is fine
    But I’m running down the road like loose electricity
    While the band in my head plays a striptease

    And no one's going to agree with me on this one but I really feel like this is a veiled reference that continues the previous thought about ill-health. 909 (so close to 999) St John Divine (patron saint of the ambulance service). He's okay but freaking out.


    The roar that lies on the other side of silence
    The forest fire that is fear so deny it
    Walk out into the street
    Sing your heart out
    The people we meet
    Will not be drowned out

    I get real 'go out and make a joyful noise' vibe from this part. The 'sing your heart out' really is what it says.If you're gonna do it, do it with your whole self. Don't be quiet, don't be afraid.

    There’s nothing you have that I need
    I can breathe
    Breathe now
    Yeah, yeah

    I'm okay.

    We are people borne of sound
    The songs are in our eyes
    Gonna wear them like a crown

    Walk out, into the sunburst street
    Sing your heart out, sing my heart out
    I’ve found grace inside a sound
    I found grace, it’s all that I found
    And I can breathe
    Breathe now

    Music has brought him to this point of grace/acceptance/God/etc.

    So basically Bono's singing about Bono and God. Bet you're surprised by that.
  7. very good analysis Sonia


  9. when i answered the door it was a guy from FedEx


  10. Lol. My lack of English knowledge
  11. 15 minutes till Breathe time. iTunes is ready.
  12. I couldn't stop humming Breathe during my Chemical Ingeneering exam today evening. And I mean that I COULDN'T STOP humming it.
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Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.