He is provoking Jesus to come back from the dead and show himself above the din and confusion of all that is going on in this world around him.
‘Listen to your words they’ll tell you what to do’
I think that this is a challenge and confronts Jesus with the teachings of the Bible.
You always tell us what to do, so why do you not give all the help you can to us?
‘Blades in rotation’ – Helicopters in war? ‘Marching bands playing out their time’ – war again?
‘Jesus were you just around the corner?
Did you think to try and warn her?
Or are you working on something new?’
I think that this is the thought that if we are to believe in God and that he sees all that is happening then how can we understand when there is injustice in death. This could refer to anyone, not any particular person. It could refer to the death by illness or accident of someone dear, or perhaps to a nation of people in war, disease or famine. Why, God did you not intervene to prevent this? Were you too busy?
The last question to be asked of his God is,
‘If there’s an order in all of this disorder
is it like a tape recorder?
Can we rewind it just once more
If we fuck up in this life do we get another chance??
This song is between Bono and his God but it also shows the listener that he is not preaching to people the rights and wrongs of his beliefs. He is just expressing them and outlining the fact that he is still constantly asking questions and looking for proof that there is a justifiable reason to believe.
I love the album Pop and have a great deal more that I could add to this discussion on this topic, but I wonder if, as things have gone so quiet, would it be a good time to move to another album. I really don’t mind but it’s just a thought.
Lady G.
