In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Say goodnight
She waits for me to
Put out the lights
When I'm still
She waits to break my will (oh oh oh oh)
Yes, and I know the truth about you, she cat
And in the daylight
A blackbird makes a violent sight
And when she is done
She sleeps beside the one (oh oh oh oh)
Yes, and I know the truth about you, she cat
Yes, and I know the truth about you, she cat
She waits for me to
Put out the lights
When I'm still
She waits to break my will (oh oh oh oh)
Yes, and I know the truth about you, she cat
And in the daylight
A blackbird makes a violent sight
And when she is done
She sleeps beside the one (oh oh oh oh)
Yes, and I know the truth about you, she cat
Yes, and I know the truth about you, she cat
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira
An Cat Dubh Lyrics as written by David Evans Adam Clayton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Bono wrote this song after he had a falling out with his then-girlfriend(now-wife),Ali.
The title of this song(which is Gaelic)translates into "The Black Cat".The joke about it is that all students in Ireland are required to take Gaelic and Bono failed this in school.
Great song too,probably my favorite.
Yeah this song is great example of the musical stlye of their early albums with a dark and moody begining and verse which subsequently resolves into a great major key chorus. This song has great atmosphere.
This song is about sex. A fling to be exact, during a short breakup with Ali while still in school. Its about being used to an extent...the girl is a cat who is hungry and all that he is to her is a bird.
Maybe. Bono is not God. Just ask him.
This is one of my favorite U2 songs if not my favorite. I spent a great deal of my teenage years relating to "An Cat Dubh" in a strange way. The lyrics can easily take on many meanings but this is what I gather from what I've read and what I assume.
I've heard that Bono had had a brief fling with a woman during a short-lived split from Ali in high school. This song is supposedly about that woman. From what Bono has said, she was mysterious and clearly from the dark undertones of the song, it was her arcane mystery that fascinated him.
From the lyric, I imagine this woman being some kind of Priestess. Bono is insanely attracted to her but he doesn't understand her, nor does he fully understand why he feels so drawn to her and helpless against her. I always imagine this woman being older than Bono or at least quite a bit more mature; like a Patricia Kennealy to his Jim Morrison. She uses him as her pet, yes, but she also teaches him a great deal in the process. By the end of the song, you feel as if the singer/lyricist has learned a great lesson and has achieved a sense of real manhood. You can almost feel the transition from boyhood to manhood throughout this song. As if this dark and mysterious woman has turned the boy into a man.
great song, and why is no one commenting on it?
Looks like we are now!<br />
maybe its just an experience he had with an older or more mature women..like everyone else has said,she used as a pet a play thing.
Yes its about sex. Yes it about a fling with a girl during a short breakup with Ali! Bono in his own words told he is the cat! He changed the meaning of the song and everybody thinks the cat is the girl, but he is the cat!!! The cat catches its objetc of desire, maybe a bird and plays with it untill its dead, and then, when he is satisfied... sleeps beside the body!
I forgot to metion where I did read it: "U2 Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every Song", Niall Stokes
I love this song! the way it flows to Into the heart is brilliantly done.
A brilliant evocation of childhood. The household pet plays a large part in a young person's imagination. Bono is remembering such an animal; the title suggests a black cat. It sleeps, it chases a bird, it sits around; classic feline behaviours. And the mystery of the cat's mind, the impossibility of reading that expressionless whiskered face, is brilliantly evoked by the wordless chorus: "oh oh oh oooh, oooh oh oh ooooh".