U2 Lyrics

U2 lyrics are the meat of their music. Edge’s guitar picks are the bones. I have so many cherished U2 lyrics cataloged in my mind that it’s hard to know where to begin. Could it be the magnificent fusion Where the Streets Have No Name? I’ll always remember Bono singing on an LA rooftop, while the police and the crowds provided a dramatic backdrop. Or Bono, spinning in the Nevada streets, the light from the open-fronted casinos bathing his face, as he beckoned the listener into his vision. That was the video to Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, another of my very favorite U2 tracks. Bono’s lyrics – or should I say U2 lyrics – really hit their peak in the American desert. The sense of openness and freedom perfectly summed up the legendary west. U2 described The Joshua Tree as a dismantling of the American mythology and these lyrics are beautiful.

U2’s Achtung Baby period remains my second favorite after The Joshua Tree. I have chosen as my next U2 lyrics set a song that always gets the crowd going at U2 concerts. This is called “Zoo Station” and it perfectly frames the strangeness and zest inherent in early 90s Europe. The Berlin Wall and Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, among other things, breathed optimism beyond the continent to Africa, to Russia and to the world.
Where the Streets Have No Name

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 want to feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear
Without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name

Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We’re still building
Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you
It’s all I can do

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
Where the streets have no name
We’re still building
Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you
It’s all I can do
Our love turns to rust
We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, and I see love
See our love turn to rust
We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, when I go there
I go there with you
It’s all I can do

 Zoo Station

I’m ready
I’m ready for the laughing gas
I’m ready
I’m ready for what’s next
I’m ready to duck
I’m ready to dive
I’m ready to say
I’m glad to be alive
I’m ready
I’m ready for the push

The cool of the night
The warmth of the breeze
I’ll be crawling ’round
On my hands and knees

Just down the line…Zoo Station
Gotta make it on time…Zoo Station

I’m ready
I’m ready for the gridlock
I’m ready…to take it to the street
I’m ready for the shuffle
Ready for the deal
Ready to let go of the steering wheel
I’m ready
Ready for the crush

(She’s just down the line)…Zoo Station
(Got to make it on time)…Zoo Station

Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright
It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright, It’s alright
Hey baby, hey baby, hey baby, hey baby
It’s alright, it’s alright

(Alright, you can turn it up)

Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass

I’m just down the line from your love…(Zoo Station)
You know I’m under the sign…(Zoo Station)
I’ve gotta make it on time
Make it on time…(Zoo Station)
That’s alright…(Zoo Station)
Just two stops down the line…(Zoo Station)
Just a stop down the line…
I will leave you with one small extract from a more recent U2 lyric. This one hit me at a troubled time in my life and it pulled me back together again. It sums up the way we live and die and it has a timeless wisdom about it. I really do owe my peace of mind to U2 lyrics! The song is Stuck in a Moment and it is a beauty.

It saved my life. What more can I say?
Stuck in a Moment (extract)

You’ve got to get yourself together
You’ve got stuck in a moment and 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

And if the night runs over
And if the day won’t last
And if our way should falter
Along the stony pass

And if the night runs over
And if the day won’t last
And if your way should falter
Along the stony pass
It’s just a moment
This time will pass