Originally posted by vanquish:My favourite:
Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus
to the lepers in your head?
There are too many brilliant lines from One, but I think this is one of the greatest lines ever written. Sheer genius on Bono's part to use such strong gospel imagery to convey such bitterness - you can almost taste the bile in his mouth
In fact most of Bono's best lyrics are bitter or bleak and not particularly nice at all.
These are some of the other lyrics I thought particularly notable (though I'm sure I forgot some important ones) and are in no particular order:
Midnight is where the day begins
A far more elegant rewording of the old proverb "the night is always darkest before the dawn". The "these are the days....work has come asunder...look to something other" line is also a favourite of mine.
Don't worry baby, it'll be alright
You've got the right shoes to get you through the night
A brilliantly sarcastic attack on the pervasive materialism of the 90s
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
Such evocative imagery - with just these few words (let alone the way he sings them) Bono manages to convey the dark side of love and the anguish of heartbreak
The 'my hands are tied...nothing left to win' part is also great
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief
Probably the best example of Bono's patented 'truisms'
We're cut adrift, but still floating
I'm only hanging on
To watch you go down
Another bitter lyric, you just have to look at other songwriters who also write break-up songs (eg. John Mayer) to see how ahead of the game Bono was even 20 years ago.
So Cruel has a lot of especially good lines: "desperation is a tender trap", "head in heaven/fingers in the mire" and "between the horses....trampled underfoot" are all excellent.
Like a desert needs rain
Like a town needs a name
I need your love
Actually all of Hawkmoon has powerful love-related similes.
I especially like how Bono inserts references to American culture throughout the song eg. town needs a name, a freeway out, sweet soul music - which all help place the song and contribute to its atmosphere.
The more you know the less you feel
Some pray for, others steal
Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel
Luckily
More philosophical insights by Bono. That his observations are so on the mark also helps.
Darkness falls and she will take me by the hand
Take me to some twilight land
Where all but love is grey, where I can't find my way
without her as my guide
Despite being virtually unknown, She's A Mystery To Me has some of Bono's best romantic lyrics, similar to Slow Dancing except with more potent imagery
If Coke is a mystery
Michael Jackson history
If beauty is truth and
surgery the fountain of youth
Similar to Zooropa, this is also an attack on materialism. Like the references to Keats.
The MJ line shows surprising foresight on Bono's part back in 1997
I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls, these city walls
Only to be with you
An Old Testament allusion that perfectly encapsulates the grandeur and majesty that is a signature U2 trait.
Naked flame
She stands with a naked flame
I stand with the sons of Cain
Yet another amazing line that uses a particularly poignant biblical symbolism, the rest of the song also has vivid imagery (eg. dress torn in ribbons and in bows/ like a siren she calls to me)
In a parked car in a crowded street
You see your love made complete
Thread is ripping
The knot is slipping
Love how the first two lines seem ambiguous and read so innocuously however their meaning is far more sinister (a car bomb). This is hinted at by the violent imagery of the next two lines.
The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
Possibly Bono's best 'happy' lyric; Like my WOWY choice, the brilliance of this lyric is due to it's elegance. The symbolism of the heart as a flower is so incredibly evocative and yet the whole thing is delivered just two lines.
Lyrics like this is why Beautiful Day is more than just the throwaway pop song many U2 fans seem to deride it as.
Jesus, were you just around the corner
Did you think to try and warn her
Or are you working on something new
Is there an order in all of this disorder
Is it like a tape recorder
Can we rewind it just once more
Flawlessly conveys the frustration and helplessness of a man questioning God (and trying to suggest explanations for his actions). The colloquialism of Bono's writing here (and throughout the 90s) lyrics is in stark contrast to his 80s lyrics.
Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
What a childishly simple yet eloquent way to describe the concept of grace
I stopped outside a church house
Where the citizens like to sit
They say they want the kingdom
But they don't want God in it
A darkly ironic line intended to be a stinging criticism of fundamentalist "bible and a gun" Christianity in the US.
Earth, sky, scenery
Is she coming back again
Men of straw, snooker hall
Words that build or destroy
Dirt, dry, bone, sand and stone
The literary equivalent of impressionist art, love how the loose association of single words create atmosphere.
I have a lover, a lover like no other
She got soul soul soul, sweet soul
And she teaches me how to sing
Shows me colours when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time I feel love
What can I say? Utterly poetic and romantic
You say when he hits you, you don't mind
Because when he hurts you you feel alive
Oh... is that what it is
Deeply affecting line. You can't help but feel the persona's empathy for this woman who is so broken that she needs this abusive relationship to "feel alive"
The rest of Stay is also lyrical genius, 'demons you drowned', 'vampire or a victim' etc.