U2

Irish rock band

U2 is a rock band from Dublin, Ireland. Formed in 1976, U2 have consistently been one of the most popular acts in the world since the mid-1980s. The band has sold upwards of 170 million albums worldwide. The band consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar) and Larry Mullen (drums and percussion).

U2 performing in 2005

Quotes

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  • When Aung San Suu Kyi was released, we punched the air.
    When she came to Dublin to thank Ireland and Amnesty International, we Irish could not have been more proud.
    When her party the NLD won a landslide in the elections and she stood her ground to become de-facto head of the country, an impossible journey seemed to be reaching its destination. We wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but instead held our breath. She had built her reputation on her refusal to compromise her beliefs (as well as on the personal sacrifice that entailed), but forming a government requires a certain amount of pragmatism. We feared the military's brutality would be quick to show itself again if she overstepped the mark, and while hopeful for progress, we wondered if we would find ourselves once again campaigning for her release.
    But what has happened this year, and in particular these past months – this, we never imagined.
    Who could have predicted that if more than 600,000 people were fleeing from a brutal army for fear of their lives, the woman who many of us believed would have the clearest and loudest voice on the crisis would go quiet. For these atrocities against the Rohingya people to be happening on her watch blows our minds and breaks our hearts. … the violence and terror being visited on the Rohingya people are appalling atrocities and must stop. Aung San Suu Kyi's silence is starting to look a lot like assent. As Martin Luther King said: "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." The time has long passed for her to stand up and speak out.
    We know that Aung San Suu Kyi has in front of her real complexities that the outside world cannot understand — but nor should we have to. The complexity of the situation in Myanmar she inherited from her father did not sway her to compromise her ideals back in 1998, nor should it now.  At some point, a fragile balancing act becomes a Faustian pact.
    We also believe we can't direct our anger solely in her direction. That plays right into the hands of those who are carrying out the violence. Min Aung Hlaing is not a widely recognised name outside Myanmar — it should be. This man is the Commander General in Chief of the Defence Services who answers to no-one when a security threat is declared.  While this in no way excuses her silence, Aung San Suu Kyi has no control, constitutional or otherwise, over his actions, and it is he who has authorised and overseen the terrorization of the Rohingya people under the guise of protecting Myanmar from terrorism. Condemning her and ignoring him is a mistake. If this horror of human rights abuses is to stop, and if the long-term conditions for resettlement of the Rohingya people are to ever occur, General Min Aung Hlaing and his military must be just as much the focus of international action and pressure as Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian government.

Song lyrics

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All lyrics written by Bono, except as noted

Boy (1980)

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  • I was on the outside when you said
    You said you needed me.
    I was looking at myself.
    I was blind, I could not see.

    A boy tries hard to be a man
    His mother takes him by the hand
    If he stops to think, he starts to cry.
    Oh why?

  • Monday morning,
    Eighteen years are dawning,
    I said "how long?"
    • Out of Control
  • Started a landslide in my ego
    Looked from the outside to the world I left behind.
    In the world I left behind
    Wipe their eyes and then let go
    In the world I left behind
    Shed a tear and let love go.
  • I try to sing this song
    I, I try to stand up
    But I can't find my feet.
    I, I try to speak up
    But only in you I'm complete.
  • I can't change the world
    But I can change the world in me
    I rejoice.
    • Rejoice
  • I watched the way it was
    The way it was when he was with us
    And I really don't mind
    Sleeping on the floor
    But I couldn't sleep after what I saw
    I wrote this letter to tell you
    The way I feel.
    • Stranger in a Strange Land
  • I wish you were here
    I wish you were here
    To see what I could see
    To hear
    And I wish you were here
    • Stranger in a Strange Land

War (1983)

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  • I can't believe the news today
    I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
    How long, how long must we sing this song?
    How long, how long?
    'Cos tonight,
    We can be as one, tonight.
  • Broken bottles under children's feet,
    Bodies strewn across the dead end street.
    But I won't heed the battle call.
    It puts my back up,
    Puts my back up against the wall.

    Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

    • Sunday Bloody Sunday
  • And the battle's just begun
    There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
    The trenches dug within our hearts
    And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
    Torn apart.
    • Sunday Bloody Sunday
  • Under a blood red sky
    A crowd has gathered in black and white,
    Arms entwined, the chosen few.
    The newspapers says, says
    Say it's true it's true...
    And we can break through.
    Though torn in two,
    We can be one.
  • And so we are told this is the golden age
    And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
    Though I want to be with you,
    Be with you night and day.
    Nothing changes
    On New Year's Day.
    • New Year's Day
  • I don't know, I don't know which side I'm on.
    I don't know my right from left or my right from wrong.
    They say I'm a fool, they say I'm nothing
    But if I'm a fool for you oh, that's something.
  • And we live by the side of the road
    On the side of a hill
    As the valleys explode
    Dislocated, suffocated
    The land grows weary of its own.
  • Early morning, April four
    Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
    Free at last, they took your life
    They could not take your pride.

    In the name of love.
    Once more in the name of love.
    In the name of love.
    Once more in the name of love.

    • Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  • If I could, you know I would.
    If I could, I would let it go.
    This desperation.
    Dislocation.
    Separation.
    Condemnation.
    Revelation.
    Temptation.
    Isolation.
    Desolation.

    Let it go,
    And so to fade away.

  • Sleep
    Sleep tonight
    And may your dreams
    Be realised.
  • Love don't need to find a way
    You find your own way
    I forget that I can't stay
    And so I say that
    All roads lead to where you are.
    • Love Comes Tumbling
 
I wait, without you
With or without you...
  • I want to run.
    I want to hide.
    I want to tear down the walls
    That hold me inside.
    I want to reach out
    And touch the flame
    Where the streets have no name.
 
I'll show you a place, high on a desert plain, where the streets have no name
  • The city's aflood
    And our love turns to rust.
    We're beaten and blown by the wind,
    Trampled in dust.
    I'll show you a place
    High on a desert plain
    Where the streets have no name.
    • Where the Streets Have No Name
  • I have climbed highest mountain;
    I have run through the fields.
    Only to be with you;
    Only to be with you.

    I have run;
    I have crawled.
    I have scaled these city walls,
    These city walls.
    Only to be with you.

  • You broke the bonds and you
    Loosed the chains,
    Carried the cross
    Of my shame.
    Of my shame.
    You know I believed it.

    But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

    • I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
  • See the stone set in your eyes
    See the thorn twist in your side.
    I'll wait for you.

    Sleight of hand and twist of fate
    On a bed of nails she makes me wait
    And I wait – without you.

    With or without you,
    With or without you.

  • See across the field
    See the sky ripped open
    See the rain comin' through the gapin' wound
    Howlin' the women and children
    Who run into the arms
    Of America.
  • Sweet the sin, bitter the taste in my mouth.
    I see seven towers, but I only see one way out.
    You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking
    Scream without raising your voice.
  • Sleep comes like a drug in God's country
    Sad eyes, crooked crosses, in God's country.
  • And in the world, a heart of darkness, a fire-zone
    Where poets speak their heart then bleed for it.
  • She's the candle burnin' in my room
    Yeah, I'm like the needle
    The needle and spoon
    Over the counter, with a shotgun
    Pretty soon, everybody's got one
    I'm in a fever, when I'm beside her
    Desire
    Desire.
  • All I got is a red guitar
    Three chords and the Truth
    All I got is a red guitar
    The rest is up to you
    • All Along the Watchtower, by Bob Dylan, these lyrics were added by Bono in verse 4
  • Blinded, you lost your way
    In the side streets and the alleyways
    Like a star exploding in the night
    Filling up the city with broad daylight.
  • Many strangers have I met
    On the road to my regret
    Many lost who seek to find themselves in me.
    They ask me to reveal
    The very thoughts they would conceal.
    Love, rescue me.
  • I've conquered my past
    The future is here at last
    I stand at the entrance to a new world I can see.
    The ruins to the right of me
    Will soon have lost sight of me.
    Love, rescue me.
    • Love Rescue Me
  • I was there when they crucified my Lord
    I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword.
    I threw the dice when they pierced his side
    But I've seen love conquer the great divide.
  • When love comes to town I'm gonna jump that train
    When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that flame.
    Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
    But I did what I did before love came to town.
    • When Love Comes to Town
  • Don't believe the devil
    I don't believe his book
    But the truth is not the same
    Without the lies he made up.
    Don't believe in excess
    Success is to give
    Don't believe in riches
    But you should see where I live.
    I, I believe in love.
  • You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold
    You say you want your story to remain untold.
    All the promises we make
    From the cradle to the grave
    When all I want is you.
 
We're one but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other...
  • Give me one more chance, and you'll be satisfied.
    Give me two more chances, you won't be denied.
    Well my heart is where it's always been
    My head is somewhere in between
    Give me one more chance, let me be your lover tonight.
  • Did I disappoint you?
    Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
    You act like you never had love
    And you want me to go without.
    Well it's

    Too late
    Tonight
    To drag the past out into the light.
    We're one, but we're not the same.
    We get to
    Carry each other,
    Carry each other.
    One.

  • 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?
    Did I ask too much?
    More than a lot.
    You gave me nothing.
    Now it's all I got.
    We're one,
    But we're not the same.
    Well, we hurt each other,
    Then we do it again.
    • One
  • You say love is a temple, love a higher law
    Love is a temple, love the higher law.
    You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
    And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt.

    One love, one blood
    One life, you got to do what you should
    One life, with each other
    Sisters, brothers
    One life, but we're not the same
    We get to carry each other, carry each other

    • One
  • In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows
    But my sorrows they'd learned to swim
    Surrounding me, going down on me
    Spilling over the brim
    Waves of regret and waves of joy.
    I reached out for the one I tried to destroy.
    You, you said you'd wait till the end of the world.
  • Who's gonna ride your wild horses?
    Who's gonna drown in your blue sea?...
    Took a drive in the dirty rain
    To a place where the wind calls your name
    Under the trees, the river laughing at you and me
    Hallelujah, heaven's white rose
    The doors you open, I just can't close...
    Don't turn around
    Don't turn around again...
    Come on now love
    Don't you look back
  • It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
    She moves in mysterious ways.
  • Johnny, take a dive with your sister in the rain
    Let her talk about the things you can't explain
    To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal
    If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel.
    On your knees, boy.
    • Mysterious Ways
  • And a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
    When you're tryin' to throw your arms around the world.
    • Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
  • You bury your treasure where it can't be found
    But your love is a secret that's been passed around.
    There is a silence that comes to a house
    Where no-one can sleep.
    I guess it's the price of love; I know it's not cheap.

Pop (1997)

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  • It's the blind leading the blond
    It's the cops collecting for the cons.
    So where is the hope and
    Where is the faith and the love?
    What's that you say to me
    Does love light up your Christmas tree?
    The next minute you're blowing a fuse
    And the cartoon network turns into the news.
  • Jesus never let me down
    You know Jesus used to show me the score.
    Then they put Jesus in show business
    Now it's hard to get in the door.

    It's the stuff, it's the stuff of country songs
    But I guess it was something to go on.
    Hey, if God will send his angels
    I sure could use them here right now

    • If God Will Send His Angels
  • She feel the ground is giving way
    But she thinks we're better off that way.
    The more you take, the less you feel
    The less you know the more you believe
    The more you have, the more it takes today.

Staring at the Sun (1997 EP)

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  • There was a badness that had its way
    Love was not lost, love will have its day
    • "North and South of the River"
  • You're on the road,
    But you've got no destination.
    You're in the mud,
    In the maze of her imagination.

    You love this town,
    Even if it doesn't ring true.
    You've been all over
    And it's been all over you.

    • Beautiful Day
  • What you don't have you don't need it now,
    What you don't know you can feel it somehow.
    • Beautiful Day
  • I'm not afraid of anything in this world
    There's nothing you can throw at me that I haven't already heard
    I'm just trying to find a decent melody
    A song that I can sing in my own company
  • You've got to get yourself together
    You've got stuck in a moment and now you can't get out of it.
    Don't say that later will be better now,
    You're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it.
    • Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
  • High, higher than the sun
    You shoot me from a gun
    I need you to elevate me here,
    At the corner of your lips
    As the orbit of your hips
    Eclipse, you elevate my soul.
  • And love is not the easy thing...
    The only baggage you can bring
    Is all that you can't leave behind.
  • Walk on, walk on
    What you got they can't steal it
    No they can't even feel it
    Walk on, walk on...
    Stay safe tonight.
    • Walk On
  • Leave it behind
    You've got to leave it behind:
    All that you fashion
    All that you make
    All that you build
    All that you break
    All that you measure
    All that you steal
    All this you can leave behind
    All that you reason
    All that you sense
    All that you speak
    All you dress up
    All that you scheme.
    • Walk On
  • Lights go down, it's dark
    The jungle is your head
    Can't rule your heart
    A feeling is so much stronger than
    A thought
    Your eyes are wide
    And though your soul
    It can't be bought
    Your mind can wander.

    Hello hello
    I'm at a place called Vertigo
    It's everything I wish I didn't know
    Except you give me something I can feel, feel.

  • The songs are in your eyes
    I see them when you smile
    I've had enough I'm not giving up
    On a miracle drug.

    Of science and the human heart
    There is no limit
    There is no failure here sweetheart
    Just when you quit.

  • Tough, you think you've got the stuff
    You're telling me and anyone
    You're hard enough.

    You don't have to put up a fight
    You don't have to always be right
    Let me take some of the punches
    For you tonight.

  • Sometimes you can't make it on your own
    Sometimes you can't make it
    The best you can do is to fake it
    Sometimes you can't make it on your own.
    • Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own
 
City of Blinding Lights
  • The more you see the less you know
    The less you find out as you go
    I knew much more then than I do now

    Neon heart dayglo eyes
    A city lit by fireflies
    They're advertising in the skies
    For people like us.

  • I like the sound of my own voice
    I didn't give anyone else a choice
    An intellectual tortoise
    Racing with your bullet train.

    Some people get squashed crossing the tracks
    Some people got high rises on their backs
    I'm not broke, but you can see the cracks
    You can make me perfect again.

  • True love never can be rent
    But only true love can keep beauty innocent.
    • A Man and a Woman
  • I could never take a chance
    Of losing love to find romance
    In the mysterious distance
    Between a man and a woman.
    • A Man and a Woman
  • You speak of signs and wonders
    But I need something other
    I would believe if I was able
    But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table.
    • Crumbs from Your Table
  • Where you live should not decide
    Whether you live or whether you die.
    • Crumbs from Your Table
  • Take these shoes
    Click clacking down some dead end street
    Take these shoes
    And make them fit.
  • Take these hands
    Teach them what to carry.
    Take these hands
    Don't make a fist.
    Take this mouth
    So quick to criticize
    Take this mouth
    Give it a kiss.
    • Yahweh
  • Love makes strange enemies
    Makes love where love may please
    The soul and its striptease
    Hate brought to its knees
    The sky over our head
    We can reach it from our bed
    You let me in your heart
    And out of my head, head.

    Oh can't you see what love has done?
    Oh can't you see what love has done?
    Oh can't you see what love has done?
    What it's done to me?

  • I was born
    I was born to sing for you
    
I didn't have a choice but to lift you up
    And sing whatever song you wanted me to.
    I give you back my voice
    From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise.
  • I tied myself with wire
    To let the horses roam free
    Playing with the fire
    Until the fire played with me.
  • This shitty world sometimes produces a rose
    The scent of it lingers and then it just goes
    • Cedars Of Lebanon
  • Choose your enemies carefully ‘cos they will define you
    Make them interesting ‘cos in some ways they will mind you
    They’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends
    Gonna last with you longer than your friend
    • Cedars Of Lebanon
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