| MS MR – Bones Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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@[wardances:9553] I agree with gonlaz. There's a key element missing in your explanation. I hear this song and think of the murder of a depressed girl who, in her efforts to escape the reality of her troubled life, was engaged in "high-risk" behavior. While investigating the murder (dig up her bones), she is being dragged through the mud. People are passing judgment on her as if she deserved to die. |
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| U2 – The Hands That Built America Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Then again, the "face in the watercolored sky" could be the immigrant's home country, or a loved one they left behind. | |
| U2 – The Hands That Built America Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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As everyone has pointed out, the first verses are about emigration to the United States–specifically from Ireland, but the meaning shouldn't be taken as simply referring to Irish immigrants; the "hands that built America" come from all over the world, as Bono quietly sings in the background ("Russian, Sioux, Dutch, Hindu", etc.) but his Irish background means he's best suited to tell that particular story. "From digging in our pockets / For a reason not to say goodbye" The immigrants, despite their hard life, were looking for every reason to stay in the only home they've ever known. Leaving behind everything you love and know is a terrifying idea. "I saw your face, etc." I'm not sure, but he might be referring to the face of the Statue of Liberty that greeted immigrants to New York City. "You gotta live in your dreams, don't make them so hard" Self-explanatory. Don't find excuses not to reach for want you really want in life. "Of all of the promises, is this one we can keep? Of all of the dreams, is this one still out of reach?" The American Dream. Can it really happen? Is it an empty promise, or can it really be achieved? Maybe the American Dream IS an illusion, but the ideal itself is something that can be worked for. The lines doubt that the American Dream is something real, but the tone is hopeful that it can be MADE real. "Its early fall There's a cloud on the New York skyline Innocence dragged across a yellow line" September 11, pretty clearly. The country and the city lost a lot that day, and it would be a terrible thing if the song ended on that note. Instead, there's the final refrain: "these are the hands that built America". The people who strive to make life better for themselves and for others will always trump the ones who want to make things worse. |
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