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  1. Originally posted by _BrownEyedGirl_[..]

    i was sure that it was "your converse shoes"


    LOL!

    No, the clue's in the line before - "Catholic blues"
  2. well, the response to my suggestion has overwhelmed me...



    Is this topic dying on its feet?...
  3. OK...let's get on with this one, an all time favorite song of mine.
    Well, most of us will probably agree that this is about terrorism. Most of it's lines are about love gone wrong, about misunderstanding of love, which when seen in the context of the rest of the lines will lead you to terrorism. A terrorist has a misunderstood love, for his country, for his religion, or anything else.

    Let's get into details now then...

    So you never knew love... until you crossed the line of grace
    And you never felt wanted... 'til you'd someone slap your face
    So you never felt alive... until you'd almost wasted away

    I'll first explain this without trying to connect it to terrorism. For me, this refers to the fact that we won't understand how good it is to be loved, until we are not loved anymore. Just as anything else, you won't know how good it is to be healthy, until you get sick.
    All three lines refer to this (which is great, this is a theme used A LOT in Persian literature, so these lines are one of the reasons my Dad likes this song!).

    If want to connect it to IRA or other such organizations, it probably means that these people had not understood love, until they were slapped in the face...

    You had to win, you couldn't just pass
    The smartest ass, at the top of the class
    Your flying colors, your family tree
    And all your lessons in history

    This for me, refers to someone who has a messed up love for his country. He's been taught these lessons in history, which are probably biased (it reminds of when I was studying Iran's recent history in school...now that I know more, I see how biased those lessons were). Those biased lessons have made him a man who thinks he's a patriot.

    He "has to win", he has to be "the top of the class", he's always talking about his "flying colors" (i.e. flag) and his "family tree". So he cares a lot about his country, but he doesn't know how to express his love...he's got it wrong. (Reminds me of the Nazis. They always talked about their "family tree" - i.e. their race - and always had their flags with them)

    The chorus now...
    Please... please... please...
    Get up off your knees

    The wrong ideals that this person has, the love that he thinks he has, has got him to his knees, so the singer (in this case Bono ) is begging him to get up of his knees.

    So the person has turned into a terrorist by now (that's why he's on his knees), The next bit to me is as if we're talking with the man, after he's realized he was wrong...

    So you never knew... how low you'd stoop to make that call
    And you never knew... what was on the ground until they made you crawl
    So you never knew... that the heaven you keep, you stole

    These are the facts he didn't know about himself. He didn't know how "low" he made himself, when he made that call, when he gave the order for an attack, or something like that.
    He didn't know what he was doing to his victims, he didn't "what was on the ground" till they made him crawl and see it.

    And finally, the "heaven" line. This could refer to religious fanatics, they think that only they go to heaven, they think they're keeping their own heaven, they don't know that it's not their heaven to keep, they have stolen it.

    Your catholic blues, your convent shoes
    Your stick on tattoos now they're making the news
    Your holy war, your northern star
    Your sermon on the mount from the boot of your car

    These are all non-islamic references I think, so I can't explain them really, maybe someone could explain them to me please!

    So love is hard and love is tough
    But love is not what you're thinking of

    A clear reference to these people's misunderstanding of love.

    September, streets capsizing
    Spilling over down the drains
    Shards of glass, splinters like rain
    But you could only feel your own pain

    October, talk getting nowhere
    November... December... remember
    Are we just starting again?

    The first four lines are describing an attacks. The next three (obviously) are describing talks between the government and the terrorists, which are leading no where. I don't know if the month-names refer to any special IRA talks or anything like that, maybe some of you could help in this.

    So love is big, is bigger than us
    But love is not what you're thinking of

    It's what lovers deal
    It's what lovers steal
    You know I've found it hard to receive
    'Cause you my love... I could never believe

    I think that "lovers" here still refers to those terrorists. They make deals and they steal lives, and Bono here, finds this hard to receive, hard to accept. 'Cause he could never believe those people...

    Hope you like it...loooong as always!!
  4. Wow. Think that pretty much covers it. Case for Please close I think ...
  5. May I add...this is my favorite line from that song:
    "But you could only feel your own pain" ... so true, the last minute when the terrorist pilot of that plane hit the WTC tower, what was on his mind? Definitely his own pain, his own suffering which he connected to America and caused him to take part in the attack. He didn't think of the pain the family of thousands of people all over the world would feel after that second.

    Anyways, if you guys have seen the video for Please, it's a very meaningful one as well...



    I LOVE this video...every scene has it's own meaning. Don't know if this is the place to explain it, but here is a hint for you guys (Crobijn says it on the commentary I think), the old begging man is a metaphor for God.

  6. I couldn't come up with anything to say about it, i love the song, but i just can't seem to be able to say something more elaborated about the lyrics...
    for me he talks about how love can go very wrong, and what that can lead to... the song just passes me a sense of despair, like the singer is struggling with something...don't really know how to explain it...
    And i absolutely loved what Ali said, and makes a lot of sense for me.
    about the video, I never really got it and I've read this coments by corbjin... they just got me more confused..
    but the weirdest is that I still like the video....
  7. Originally posted by _BrownEyedGirl_
    And i absolutely loved what Ali said, and makes a lot of sense for me.
    about the video, I never really got it and I've read this coments by corbjin... they just got me more confused..
    but the weirdest is that I still like the video....


    Thanks
    The video...it's got different ideas in it. It does reference terrorism at some parts, but it's mostly something else. It's more Corbijn than U2, he's saying what he wants in it. You shouldn't try to interpret the song using the video.

    The way I see the video, if the old man is God...at first people are all on knees in front of him and look at him in a confused way. I specially like this one:



    He's looking at the old man (i.e. God) like :"who the f*** is this?!"...not even the religion-people understand God.

    Then suddenly "God" falls on his knees and everyone else stands up, and they pass by him without noticing him, they forget about God (at least, before they noticed his existence and tried to understand him) and then everything gets messed up.

    There is also this scene where this guy on knees goes home, his wife falls on knees and he stands up. He is god in his house and his wife worships him, then the guy in the pic above looks inside the house, and doesn't object, and we see the woman smilin and then the camera focuses on the statue of Jesus Christ behind them. Meaning that the women are treated as slaves at homes and the church and even the women are doing nothing to stop it...or something like that!!

    Shit, I should stop, this is getting long again!!
  8. humm...
    *watching the video again, again, and again*
    thanks for taking the time to explain it.
  9. Ali you are a genius.
    I have been dying to give my views on this song all week. But it's been a very hectic week. Went to London on Wednesday to see U23D (wow) and had to make up the time off on Friday.
    I wanted to get in here before you. I'm so glad I didn't. I can feel the understanding of this song but I can't express myself as well as you can. But I think that I may be able to explain just a little than you would not know.
    So you never knew love... until you crossed the line of grace
    And you never felt wanted... 'til you'd someone slap your face
    So you never felt alive... until you'd almost wasted away
    I think that your explanation of these lines is excellent and may be the right way of thinking but I also think that it could also be referring to someone within the Catholic faith, perhaps at school or in a Convent because it is strict and nuns and priests would years ago 'slap your face' and would suppress a person spirit. I am not at all sure but I have a feeling that although the bigger picture is exactly as you say I think there is somewhere in this song a reference to Bono's father who was a Catholic.

    You had to win, you couldn't just pass
    The smartest ass, at the top of the class
    Your flying colors, your family tree
    And all your lessons in history
    I really don't think that I could add to what Ali has said on these lines because I think it's spot on.

    Please... please... please...
    Get up off your knees

    I can't agree with your explanation of these lines, because I know that to get on your knees when you are a Catholic is what you do in church when you worship God and Bono is saying 'don't look like you are in prayer'.

    So you never knew... how low you'd stoop to make that call
    And you never knew... what was on the ground until they made you crawl
    So you never knew... that the heaven you keep, you stole

    I think that the first line refers to the warning that the IRA gives when there is a bomb due to go off. Because there is always a phone call. It was not always in time for the authorities to do anything about it and save lives but there was always a phone call.
    The next line I don't understand at all.
    The last line I think is hard to explain but I think that you could look at the line in Sunday Bloody Sunday where it says 'And claim the victory that Jesus won', which means that our salvation was won by Jesus dying on the cross.

    Your catholic blues, your convent shoes
    Your stick on tattoos now they're making the news
    Your holy war, your northern star
    Your sermon on the mount from the boot of your car

    'Catholic blues, convent shoes' is the terrorist as a Catholic and walking in the way of God.
    Next line - not a clue
    The holy war is referring to an organisation fighting in the name of God. The northern star is referring to the star of Bethlehem, seen in the sky before the birth of Christ.
    The sermon on the mount is from the Bible, the gospel of Matthew when Jesus spoke to his disciples and a large crowd.
    'the boot of your car' I am sure refers to a car bomb set by the IRA and justified in the name of religion. Car bombs were very often a tool of destruction used by the IRA in northern Ireland.

    So love is hard and love is tough
    But love is not what you're thinking of

    Ali has got it I'm sure. No more to be said.

    September, streets capsizing
    Spilling over down the drains
    Shards of glass, splinters like rain
    But you could only feel your own pain

    October, talk getting nowhere
    November... December... remember
    Are we just starting again?

    again I think that Ali has got it spot on, and I don't know the full facts of when the talks were taking place, but I'm sure that Bono did and that that's what it's all about.

    So love is big, is bigger than us
    But love is not what you're thinking of

    It's what lovers deal
    It's what lovers steal
    You know I've found it hard to receive
    'Cause you my love... I could never believe

    On these lines I have to differ in the way that Ali sees it, because to me this is summing up the real meaning of love.
    It means to me that religion misinterpreted is not love. The love of God is as passionate as lovers stealing secret love in the night. Romeo & Juliet if you like. Not this religious crap that has been explained to us.
    That last 2 lines are certainly referring to the Catholic church.
    To' receive' is to partake in communion, which is a very important aspect of the Catholic religion.
    The belief is that when a person takes part in communion that they are receiving the body and blood of Christ. When Bono says that he finds it hard to 'Receive' it means that he is unable to participate in the Catholic faith because he cannot fully believe in it.
    To understand this you need to know that although he was brought up with a very religious background. He had a father that was a Catholic and a mother that was a protestant.

    If you have all got bored with this I can only apologise. But I really do love this song.
    Lady G


  10. Originally posted by ladygodivaAli you are a genius.


    Now that coming from you, made my day

    Originally posted by LadyI wanted to get in here before you. I'm so glad I didn't. I can feel the understanding of this song but I can't express myself as well as you can. But I think that I may be able to explain just a little than you would not know.


    Haha! I was waiting for you to post actually, that's why I didn't post on right after Dan announced it, but I just got bored and decided to write it anyway!

    To sum up what I think about your review, whatever you disagreed with me on, I agree with your way of seeing it! Actually the ones you said about :"I think you're wrong" are the ones that I wasn't sure about, and I like your interpretation much better. Most of it is because of my not-so-good knowledge of the Christian faith and sects.

    I absolutely love the way you described the last lines, "It's what lovers..." , it makes much more sense to consider it what love is really about. And I can now see that this song has much more anti-"religion" (notice the quotation marks please!) comments than I thought...I like it even more now!


  11. I'm sure that I have read a comment made by Bono sometime that religion gets in the way of God and I think this song sums that up very well.

    Lady G
  12. You Guys really have wrapped up Please before you. I love this topic. Such insight. I have absolutely nothing to add.

    Johnny to choose on Tuesday I think.
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