{"id":722806,"date":"2026-08-01T13:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T13:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/722806\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T13:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T13:20:11","slug":"the-1992-u2-song-bono-thinks-is-sorely-misunderstood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/722806\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1992 U2 song Bono thinks is sorely misunderstood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bono<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n

Sat 1 August 2026 11:29, UK <\/p>\n

As U2<\/a> struggled to create their 1991 album Achtung Baby, creative differences and personal issues threatened to sink the band\u2019s ship before any music was completed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bono and The Edge were insistent on moving the group in a new direction, while Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr struggled to get a grip on the industrial and alternative styles that the other members were pushing. Even differing views on Jesus Christ<\/a> were causing a chasm. It was a slow process, one that almost led to the band\u2019s breakup during recording sessions.<\/p>\n

At the band\u2019s lowest point, The Edge began to mix up a chord progression that he had been working on. This innovation might have been borne from frustration, but it proved inspired. A simple ballad came to the fore, one that excited the other band members. <\/p>\n

As a demo recording quickly took shape, Bono tapped into the divisiveness that U2 felt, forcing themselves to unite as a solitary unit. He sought inspiration from wider-world harmony, turning his focus to the reunification of Germany. The trilby-sporting frontman\u2019s aim was to bring the band and their listeners back together. That notion was the basis for the lyrics that eventually became \u2018One\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re overhearing conversations, and you draw your own conclusion,\u201d Bono wrote about the band\u2019s relations in his memoir Surrender. \u201cAll the intimacies from different rooms entwine into one story about how people are more the same than they are different. But still, they remain different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of \u201cone, but not the same\u201d soon found its roots in several different topics. From the tumbling of the Berlin Wall to a rejection of hippie ideals to the struggles of HIV-positive people, \u2018One\u2019 was embraced as one of U2\u2019s most universal tracks. <\/p>\n

But Bono was irked at some of the simplified interpretations of his lyrics. When the Dalai Lama invited Bono to a celebration of \u201cOneness\u201d, Bono rejected the notion, citing the lyrics to \u2018One\u2019 in his response. It\u2019s a very Bono move to thumb your nose at a religious leader because he clearly hadn\u2019t been listening closely enough to your lyrics.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018One\u2019 is not about oneness; it\u2019s about difference,\u201d Bono explained in the book U2 by U2. \u201cIt is not the old hippie idea of \u2018Let\u2019s all live together.\u2019 It is a much more punk rock concept.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cIt\u2019s anti-romantic: \u2018We are one, but we\u2019re not the same. We get to carry each other.\u2019 It\u2019s a reminder that we have no choice.\u201d Specifically, Bono couldn\u2019t understand why couples were using the song at their weddings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still disappointed when people hear the chorus line as \u2018we\u2019ve got to\u2019 rather than \u2018we get to carry each other.\u2019 Because it is resigned, really,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s not: \u2018Come on everybody, let\u2019s vault over the wall.\u2019 Like it or not, the only way out of here is if I give you a leg up the wall and you pull me after you.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s still hard to see how that doesn\u2019t represent vaulting the wall all the same, but he continued, \u201cThere\u2019s something very unromantic about that. The song is a bit twisted, which is why I could never figure out why people want it at their weddings.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI have certainly met a hundred people who\u2019ve had it at their weddings. I tell them, \u2018Are you mad? It\u2019s about splitting up,’\u201d he concludes, despite moments ago telling people it is about helping each other over a wall in a more practical manner than people might first interpret.<\/p>\n

The Edge had a similar take on the lyrics but was more focused on the positive aspects of the song. \u201cThe lyric was the first in a new, more intimate style,\u201d he claimed in U2 by U2. \u201cIt\u2019s two ideas, essentially.\u201d <\/p>\n

The guitarist added, \u201cOn one level it\u2019s a bitter, twisted, vitriolic conversation between two people who\u2019ve been through some nasty, heavy stuff: \u2018We hurt each other, then we do it again.\u2019 But on another level, there\u2019s the idea that \u2018we get to carry each other.\u2019 \u2018Get to\u2019 is the key. \u2018Got to\u2019 would be too obvious and platitudinous.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the Edge\u2019s view, choosing your burden is almost an indulgence in itself. As he concludes. \u201c\u2019Get to\u2019 suggests it is our privilege to carry one another. It puts everything in perspective and introduces the idea of grace. Still, I wouldn\u2019t have played it at any wedding of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bono\u2019s knack for looking at songs differently<\/p>\n

Interestingly, it\u2019s a recurring trait for Bono to interpret <\/a>songs in a manner just a little different to the proletariat; he\u2019s cool like that. By chance, he was in the same studio when Joy Division were recording \u2018Love Will Tear Us Apart\u2019, and that provided him with the chance to offer a different narrative to the norm surrounding the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalking to Ian Curtis is \u2026 or was a strange experience because he\u2019s very warm \u2026 he talked \u2013 it was like two people inside of him \u2013 he talked very light, and he talked very well-mannered, and very polite,\u201d the U2 singer recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when he got behind the microphone he really surged forth; there was another energy,\u201d Bono explained. \u201cIt seemed like he was just two people and, you know, \u2018Love Will Tear Us Apart\u2019, it was like [when] that record was released \u2026 it was like, as if, there were the personalities, separate; there they were, torn apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the tearing relates to the dichotomy of Curtis\u2019 own persona and the impact that was having on his life as opposed to the singer forecasting the befouling that comes with a tragic break-up in its inevitable final throes. Or maybe Bono just sees the world a little differently, perhaps because he\u2019s always wearing sunglasses.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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