| U2 – So Cruel Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The song is about a couple who drift apart after trying to enhance their sex life by the introduction of another woman into their lovemaking. At the beginning, the male speaks in the first (and second) person to his female lover. He immediately suggests regrat and his blameing of his female partner for coming up with the idea of enriching their love life with a bi-sexual / threesome experience. "We crossed the line Who pushed who over? It doesn't matter to you It matters to me" She insists it doesn't matter where the idea came from, what's done is done. It does matter to him, suggesting that he was satisfied with their relationship, but she wasn't. "We're cut adrift But still floating I'm only hanging on To watch you go down, My love" They are drifting apart from one another, yet he remains for the sexual experience, as opposed to the emotional one. As well, this is an obvious reference to watching his lover perform oral sex; however, it does not indicate if he is watching her go down on him, or another person. "I disappeared in you You disappeared from me I gave you everything you ever wanted It wasn't what you wanted" This suggests the disconnect they have been feeling during heterosexual intercouse. He disappears in her (sex) and she disappears from him emotionally. The paradoxical statement following that suggests he has tried everything she demanded to fulfill her sexual needs, but it wasn't enough. Hence, a new partner is introduced. "The men who love you, you hate the most They pass through you like a ghost They look for you, but your spirit is in the air Baby, you're nowhere" A suggestion to the emotional distance from men the female partner has always seemed to feel. Perhaps it's not men she desires, yet because of the societal expectation of heterosexuality, she cannot express her bisexuality or homosexuality openly. "Ohhhh You say in love there are no rules Ohhhh Sweetheart, you're so cruel" If there are no rules in love according to her, this is further evidence suggesting she is the one who desires to break the morays of monogamy in order to fulfill her desires, and he calls her cruel for this, obviously hurt by her apparent rejection of him and his inability to satisfy her, despite the love he feels for her. "Desperation is a tender trap It gets you every time You put your lips to her lips To stop the lie" Desperation for sexual fulfillment seems to have captured the female in a trap of desire -- continually wanting those same desires fulfilled. Desperation to make her happy has trapped the male partner into allowing the relationhip to become "open". Once this is done, it is difficult to get back to exclusivity. "You put your lips to her lips to stop the lie" is crucial here -- Everyone here normally assumes a change from the first person into the third; however, if we assume the speaker does NOT change here, then the "you" remains his female partner, which makes the "her" being kissed another woman. The lie being stopped then also changes drastically... the lie she stops is the lie of her heterosexuality and the lie of their male-female relationship. "Her skin is pale like God's only dove Screams like an angel for your love Then she makes you watch her from above And you need her like a drug" If the speaker is still speaking to his female lover, then this again becomes a commentary on the sexual relationship between the two women. "need[ing] her like a drug" then is suggestive of the female's true desires becoming inescapable. She needs to be with a woman to be happy, making the man feel obsolete. "She wears my love Like a see-through dress Her lips say one thing Her movements something else" The fact that he says "my love" again indicates that a shift from the first person never occured and the use of "her" did in fact refer to a second female. This is where the song becomes much sadder, as we see the woman's inability to simply admit her homosexuality; she continues the lie of the relationship with a man in order to live up to the expectations of others. He seems to truly love her, but she "wears" that love like a see-through dress; it's superficial and external only. And he knows it. he can see that she's pretending, but still loves her anyway. Sad. Trampled by both love and lust? Seems that each person in the relationship is suffering. |
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| U2 – Running To Stand Still Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| the song is about the cyclical nature of a heroin addiction and even refers to the girl prostituting herself and stealing in order to support the addiction. "And so she woke up" begins the song; she's waking up from where she was lying still... after the "needle chill" of the end. Her life repeats itself because of the addiction. And bringing the white gold and pearls stolen from a sea suggests pickpocketing and bringing it to a dealer to get drugs... running through the streets with her eyes painted red has multiple meanings (exagerrated makeup of a prostitute, crying, beaten)... | |
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