U2: Worst Lyricists?
Starpulse reports that a BBC 6 Music poll, set to be voted on tonight, includes U2 in its Top 10.
Only this time, it’s not a compliment.
The radio channel is choosing the “worst lyrics ever” and U2 has made the list for the line:
I’ve got no self control/Been living like a mole
from 2000’s “Elevation.”
And this got me thinking—sure, that line is ridiculous, but haven’t they done worse? I think they have. So I made my own top 5 list of the worst U2 lyrics:
1. You know some places are like your auntie/But there’s no place like Miami (”Miami”)
2. I know that everything is not ok/But you’re like honey on my tongue (”A Man and a Woman”)
3. I didn’t give anyone else a choice/An intellectual tortoise (”All Because of You”)
4. Where I grew up there weren’t many trees/Where there was we’d tear them down/And use them on our enemies (”Peace on Earth”)
5. Your eyes make a circle/I see you when you go in there (”I Will Follow”)
Of course, genius lines such as Midnight is where the day begins, Home/That’s where the hurt is, and I’ll see you again when the stars fall from the sky more than make up for these minor snafus.
Jackson said,
May 4, 2007 @ 5:05 pm
“Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief / All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief” also belongs in the DANG, THOSE ARE GOOD LYRICS folder!
Roman said,
May 5, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
No. 4 is, in my opinion, some of U2’s best lyrics. (Just imagine a worn out battlefield with nothing in sight but stumps).
Shang said,
May 5, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
Link doesn’t work, yo.
Tassoula said,
May 5, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
Thanks for the heads-up, Shang. The link should work now…
Erika said,
May 5, 2007 @ 11:31 pm
It still amazes me that someone who wouldn’t old enought to order a pint in a US pub wrote such awe-inspiring lyrics:
“I started a landslide in my ego/ Look from the outside to the world I left behind/ In the world I left behind/ Wipe their eyes and they let go/ In a world I left behind/ Shed a tear and let love go”
Although, such brilliance is balanced by something like this:
“Stateless/ Weightless/ Stateless”
I can never take this lyric seriously becaus it brings me back to chemistry class where we learned about the different stateless and weightless gases on the periodic table… So this woman is like a gas? Nice compliment. ;p
Aurelius said,
May 6, 2007 @ 5:17 am
How can you criticise a band though who came up with lyrics like “They’ll want their money back if you’re a lying honeybee” (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me)
Shang said,
May 6, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
Ahem. I believe the line is, “They’ll want their money back if you’re alive at 33″, which is indeed a great line.
U2PC said,
May 6, 2007 @ 11:46 pm
Well I must say my all-time worst U2 lyric hails from Some Days Are Better Than Others which is “Some days you can’t stand the sight of a puppy.” Good grief. That was the sole reigning champ in my book for over 12 years, until “intellectual tortoise” came along and tied it — but that one has already been mentioned.
U2rules said,
May 7, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
“I didn’t give anyone else a choice/An intellectual tortoise” is my favorite line from HTDAAB!
Marc said,
May 7, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
I don’t understand all the hatred for “intelectual tortoise,” I like that lyric!
Holy Joe has some stiker lines — despite the garage mix sounding pretty good. Playboy Mansion stands out in my mind as having some God-awful lyrics as well. I am sure I hate some from New York as well but can’t remember them specifically.
And what about “The air is heavy, heavy as a truck?”
lost poet said,
May 7, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
the tortoise makes sense if you listen to what comes after it imho
The line about there weren’t many trees is one of my favourites, because you shouldn’t be able to rhyme enemies with trees but Bono makes it work. imho! also I figure there are a lot of places like that in the world.
A Man and A Woman seems to be one of the ones that guys love to hate. I’m a chick, I love it!
Tassoula said,
May 7, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Ooh - you all are bringing up some great ones.
Hot as a hair dryer in your face/hot as a handbag and a can of mace from “New York” definitely ranks on the low end.
Re: the tortoise line…
Yes—I understand it (the nod to the Aesop fable of the Tortoise and the Hare), but the fact that Bono rhymed ‘choice’ with ‘tortoise’ to me makes it sound ridiculous.
Re: the Electrical Storm line…are there words to this song? All I remember is Larry climbing around wet in a bathtub on a beach in the video.
Re: A Man and a Woman…
I’m a girl too, and I think this is the worst song they’e ever written.
Miranda said,
May 8, 2007 @ 1:16 am
Everyone seems to bag out the lyrics to ‘New York’…but I was in the Big Apple this time last year and I’m telling you, I couldn’t get the song out of my head! I was walking around singing ‘Hot as a hair dryer in your face/hot as a handbag and a can of mace’ for about two weeks!
The other couple of lines that kept circulating in my jet-lagged brain were “Irish, Italians, Jews and Hispanics, relgious nuts, political fanatics in the stew, living happily not like me and you’ and ‘Tell yourself you will stay in, but it’s down to Alphaville’. Despite persistant nagging, my Aussie friends who now live in NY could not tell me where Alphaville was…is he talking about Alphabet City?
But surely the winner for cringe-worthy lyrics goes to ‘Grace’ from ATYCLB - ‘Grace…it’s a name for a girl’ - beautiful song, but kind of stating the obvious there.
And what about this gem from ‘Wild Honey’: “In the days, when we were swinging from the trees, I was a monkey, stealing honey from a swarm of bees”.
I was a monkey? A monkey that steals honey? What the?
ian said,
May 8, 2007 @ 11:26 am
welp. it’s a good thing bono’s charismatic, because i don’t lyric writing is his strong suit.
One Love said,
May 9, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
Aww such haters! I thonk Bono is probably one of the best poets that ever lived! Look at Twilight, Like A Song, A Sort Of Homecoming: “The wind will crack in winter time//This bomb blast lightning waltz//No spoken words, just a scream”!?, much of Joshua Tree, especially One Tree Hill, Hawkmoon 269, Heartland, lots of Achtung, Stay,…and so on. Playboy Mansion is amazing, as is Please, Wake Up Dead Man, lots ATYCLB–New York has such a rhythm to it! “In the stillness of the evening, when the sun has had its day, I hear your voice whispering, come away now child…”
One thing everyone overlooks lyrically are the songs Do You Feel Loved and Mofo from Pop. Personally I think this is some of the best stuff he’s ever written. Yes lines like “holy dunc, space junk comin’ in for the splash” ranks with tortoise (which I personally like ever since I saw Kelly’s, @tU2’s main cartoonist, adorable segment about the birth of that line), but lines, like what the blog is named for…and: “Still looking for the face I had before the world was made”
It’s art at its best. I just think lots of Bono’s lyrics require a new perspective of thinking since he definitely thinks differently from the majority of us. But that’s what makes it fun!
Moi said,
May 12, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
I don’t agree with you in 3 and 4 but anyway, it’s OK, they’ve made much better lyrics.
mschaus said,
May 15, 2007 @ 12:26 pm
The one I just never understood was “The last of the rock stars, when hip hop drove the big cars, in the time when new media was the big idea”. That line contributes absolutely nothing to the song (aside from that line, I like “Kite” a lot).
However, “I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside” is enough reason to forgive them for Kite.
Simon said,
May 18, 2007 @ 8:34 am
I am a fan of number 4 - I think it conjures up just the right image for the feel of the song.
Besides, how are we forgetting the worst lyric of the lot?
“Freedom has a scent, likethe top of a new born baby’s head”
Yes, Bono, whatever you say
Shang said,
May 19, 2007 @ 6:10 pm
Backtracking a little bit, it kind of makes sense that he rhymed “tortoise” with “choice” on “Because of You”. I mean, the words themselves are unfortunate, but if you listen the the rhytm, he had to put emphasis on the second syllable of tortoise, or it would have sounded weak. and tor-TISE would have just sounded dumb.* Hence, tor-TOYSE.
Unless he found a way to rhyme it with “kiss”. that would have been cool.
paddyattitude said,
June 5, 2007 @ 3:55 am
well about the ‘honey on my tongue’ thing could not help checking my dictionary of symbols, and i found out that this line could be taken from a biblical text. indeed, there is a similar one in an ancient text called the Song of the King of Solomon. besides, Honey is symbol of wealth, well being, wisdom, knowledge, sweetness and seduction. in celtic tradition honey is the beverage of immortality, as well. well i could go on and on. but, now, knowing that and the context of the song, doesn’t it make the lyrics a bit better. plus, i’m pretty sure, knowing the kind of books bono is into, he is pretty much aware of this symbolism. so, maybe, before making any quick conclusion about the lyrics we should think about our own ignorance, and i include myself in this statement.
Sammybunny said,
March 31, 2008 @ 3:57 am
I’m pretty much in love with anything U2 has put out and call me a complete fanatic but I don’t think any of their lyrics are bad and I really enjoy the poetry because it is fresh and honest. I think that Bono and the boys are incredible lyricists.
Brian said,
March 31, 2008 @ 9:43 am
RE “Kite”…. I’m sure someone will correct me on this if I’m wrong, but I remember reading an interview where Bono explained that he wrote the song for his children (although it ended up a tribute to his own father on tour), and that lyrical coda was like a timestamp describing when he wrote it.