I remember the days when I would run to the local music store for the latest release. I would pick up that new (vinyl) album, hoping the lyrics were printed on the album’s sleeve. I would sit and play the record from beginning to end, singing the lyrics over and over and over again. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time but when “Ordinary Love” was released, I found myself inserting my ear buds with that old, excited, passionate feeling about U2’s music. In classic fanatical form, I set the disc to repeat and listened a few times in succession, singing the lyrics until I knew it by heart. It was mostly a repetitive, memory response; not until recently (last 5-10 years) was it about the lyrics.
We can't fall any further
If we can't feel ordinary love
And we cannot reach any higher
If we can't deal with ordinary love
Then it struck me: talk about relevancy! Isn’t this the modern day struggle? Isn’t this one of the fundamental problems humanity faces; that we are so far away from Love we can’t get any lower and we can’t reach for any more if we have no love for ourselves or others.
We can find something relevant in every U2 song.
Hello, hello,
I’m at a place called Vertigo
Lights go down and all I know
That you give me something…
I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how to kneel, kneel
For me, it’s about that thing or that person of whom you can’t get enough. You’re brought to your knees; it’s dizzying, it makes you crazy. This is your addiction; this is your religion.
We interpret meaning based on our own situations and experiences; therein lies the relevancy of this band. Lyrics and music have the power to change lives and thus, change the world. As long as U2 continues to write songs that touch the human condition, will they remain relevant. All the talk about the irrelevancy of this band can and should be buried.
What U2 lyrics have impacted/shaped your life? Share them here...
