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  1. Updated.

    Meanwhile, I did a partial interpretation of

    Breathe
    16th of June, Nine 0 Five, doorbell 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.

    16th of June is a reference to Ulysses, a novel by Irish writer James Joyce.
    The man at the door is one of the Jehovah's Witnesses: if I want to stay alive a bit longer there's three things I need to know.

    Coming from a long line of travelling salespeople on my mothers side
    I wasn't gonna buy just anyones cockatoo
    So why would I invite a complete stranger into my home?
    Would you?

    I think everybody knows Bono is coming from a long line of travelling salespeople and that he doesn't like religion and other sorts of cockatoo.

    Every day I die again, and again I'm reborn

    Sins / forgiveness etc.

    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

    Juju has to do with witchcraft.

    Nine 0 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

    I fail to find any clue in the Book of Revelation (written by Saint John the Divine).
    But there is a song called 909, written by a John. I'm pretty sure that's unintended, though.
    Most possible is this explanation: Saint John is patron saint of the ambulance service. The narrator tries to call 999, for he's running down the road like loose electricity, but ends up calling 909, because the band in his head is playing a striptease. But why didn't Bono just sing 999?
  2. I remember a very good interpretation about Breath being about Jehovah's Witness'.
  3. I notice that Desire is listed for 13th November. Is that the review by date or when discussion starts for that song?
  4. I think when discussion starts?
  5. Here we go...
    Desi-iiiii-iii-ire
    (Yeah)

    Lover, I'm on the street
    Gonna go where the bright lights
    And the big city meet
    With a red guitar...on fire
    Desire

    I'm on the street" > he's been rejected maybe by a record company while trying to become a famous rock star and is now back to the drawing board. So he is going to go to a big city with his guitar playing skills.

    She's a candle burning in my room
    Yeah I'm like the needle, needle and spoon


    Maybe he's referring to his guitar as "her". "She" is always with him allowing him to make music. He is "the needle and spoon", needles insert things and spoons collect things, so maybe he plays his guitar for tips and makes a living off of tips.

    Over the counter with a shotgun
    Pretty soon everybody got one


    He has gone overboard with this guitar playing and has a band which "everybody" has.

    And the fever when I'm beside her
    Desire, desire...
    And the fever...getting higher
    Desire, desire...burning, burning

    He is fulfilling his desire to be a musician.

    She's the dollars
    She's my protection

    Once again, his music is earning him money and celebrity status "protection".

    Yeah she's a promise
    In the year of election
    Oh sister, I can't let you go
    Like a preacher stealing hearts
    At a traveling show


    In an election you try to win supporters, and his band's music is giving him so much supporters that he compares it to "a preacher stealing hearts at a traveling show". A preacher is a leader of church who is relatively well known but steals, like many world leaders committing crimes.

    For love or money money money
    Money money money money money
    Money money money
    And the fever, getting higher
    Desire, desire, desire, desire
    Desire, desire


    He is getting greedy and would chose money over love. The "fever getting higher" is his fame growing, much like U2 when they made TJT. He has finally fulfilled his Desire to become a rich and famous musician.
  6. Here's the lyrics, just quote this:

    Yeah...
    Lover, I'm on the street
    Gonna go where the bright lights
    And the big city meet
    With a red guitar...on fire
    Desire

    She's a candle burning in my room
    Yeah I'm like the needle, needle and spoon
    Over the candle with a shotgun
    Pretty soon everybody got one
    And the fever when I'm beside her
    Desire
    Desire

    And the fever, getting higher
    Desire
    Desire
    Burning...
    Burning...

    She's the dollars
    She's my protection
    Yeah she's a promise
    In the year of election
    Oh sister, I can't let you go
    Like a preacher stealing hearts
    At a traveling show
    For love of money money money
    money money money money money
    money money money
    And the fever, getting higher
    Desire, desire, desire, desire

    Desire...  


  7. Yeah...
    Lover, I'm off the street
    Gonna go where the bright lights
    And the big city meet
    With a red guitar...on fire
    Desire

    Kind of agree with fabian on this one, it's an artist/band who is out of the road performing at concerts. They're off the street because of some mainstream success and are off to play the big city with their signature red guitar that is 'on fire' with all of the hits it's helping to shape.

    She's a candle burning in my room
    Yeah I'm like the needle, needle and spoon
    Over the counter with a shotgun
    Pretty soon everybody got one
    And the fever when I'm beside her
    Desire
    Desire

    This one is the one that gets me thinking. Immediately I see a drug reference. I think, that 'she' may be money. I also think that this may be from a new perspective, a drug user. We've all heard the phrase, time is money. Well in this case, I think the candle burning is money, both symbolic of the candle burning out over time but also being used for drugs. The narrator is like the needle, just feeds bad into society. Needle and spoon is the drugs being prepared. So all this is in aid of getting high before hitting the local shop with an armed robbery where the intention is to take cash. So the fever that the drug user gets after stealing the money and having it beside them is the desire. It may also refer back to the band, maybe they're crashed and success is no longer there, but the desire to still be rich is.

    And the fever, getting higher
    Desire
    Desire
    Burning...
    I'm Burning...

    I think this simply refers to how over time, the problems and the desire for money etc are worsening.

    She's the dollars
    She's my protection
    Yeah she's a promise
    In the year of election
    Oh sister, I can't let you go
    Like a preacher stealing hearts
    At a traveling show

    This one reveals that 'she' is money, she's dollars. That money is protection, protection either by security or protection from simply being thrown out for not paying rent. The money is also the promise in the year of election. Politicians always promis emore money for this, more money for that. Never arrives though. Still in reference to money, I can't let you go, it's like the preachers stealing hearts at the travelling show.

    For love or money money money
    money money money money money
    money money money
    And the fever, getting higher
    Desire, desire, desire, desire


    This is where everything ties in. Do the band play the big city for the love of performing or for money (repeated multiple times). Does the drug user hit the shop for money for for the thrill/addiction (possible love, just not in the traditional sense) to buying more drugs. And the preachers. Do they do it to convey the message of love or is it simply for a get rich quick scam?
    ------------------------------------------
    That's my inerpretation, not 100% sold on my explanation of the drugs but hope it comes across. Bono once said of the song "I wanted to admit to the religiosity of rock 'n' roll concerts and the fact that you get paid for them. On one level, I'm starting to criticise these lunatic fringe preachers, "stealing hearts at a travelling show" - but I'm also starting to realise that there's a real parallel there between what I'm doing and what they are."
  9. Needdle and spoon is of course a drug reference, but I think it's also metaphorical. "She's a candle, burning in my room // I'm like a needle, neddle and spoon" - I'm rich and famous as Tim has explained in the previous paragraph. I have success and I get almost everything I want. People craves for me. I have a beautiful woman waiting for me in the room ('a candle burning in my room') while everyone needs me as an addict needs heroin ('I'm like the needle and spoon', the utensils used for taking heroin)... My 2 cents
  10. Originally posted by ASortOfDesire:Here's the lyrics, just quote this:

    Yeah...
    Lover, I'm on the street
    Gonna go where the bright lights
    And the big city meet
    With a red guitar...on fire
    Desire


    Agree with previous comments that vthis could be about a rock band/artist trying to make it big and going to the big city. However, I also feel it could be a reference to drugs infiltrating big cities, going where they will be used.


    She's a candle burning in my room
    Yeah I'm like the needle, needle and spoon
    Over the counter with a shotgun
    Pretty soon everybody got one
    And the fever when I'm beside her
    Desire
    Desire


    Definately reference to drugs, and in particular heroin, which is prepared by warming (or burning - see later) the drug in a spoon over a candle and then sucked up ina syringe before injected. I have also thought however, that the candle/spoon and needle reference could be a reference to a relationship. She's the heat source that inflames the stresses/beauty of a relationship and he just sucks up everything she has to give. Over the counter - an easy way of getting money, therefore everybody's got a shotgun to get easy money. Fever when I'm beside her - sex. Often Bono has sung live "fever when I'm inside her".


    And the fever, getting higher
    Desire
    Desire
    Burning...
    Burning...


    More Desire leads to more drugs/sex/relationship being wanted, but they "overcook" it and the drugs start to burn.


    She's the dollars
    She's my protection
    Yeah she's a promise
    In the year of election
    Oh sister, I can't let you go
    Like a preacher stealing hearts
    At a traveling show


    The complete insecurity of the drugs/sex/relationship. It can all fall apart at any minute, just like a false promise, but she still can't be let go. She's an addiction.


    For love of money money money
    money money money money money
    money money money
    And the fever, getting higher
    Desire, desire, desire, desire

    Desire...  



    I think I've covered almost all bases there!!!

    I do think the song is primarily about heroin and the desperation in the addiction. It makes you blind to the downsides of it. You'd do anything for the money to be able to acquire more heroin. The addiction is the Desire.

    Bono did once introduce this song very simply as "a song about blind ambition". I think it was in the Elevation promo tour 2000-12-05 at Irving Plaza, and it is one of my favourite ever performances.
  11. Shit, I had completely missed this starting, will have to find some time to analyze Desire (one of the worst U2 songs IMO).
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