No Line On The Horizon

The way I feel about this song is a bit hard to explain, but I'll try anyway. I think it's a song about being in love with someone, and the feeling is so powerful that you are in a constant state of amazement. She is so many things to him ("like a sea..."), she dreams big and wants to love the entire world ("Infinity is a great place to start..."), all of his other thoughts don't matter when he's with her ("time is irrelevant..."), he's amazed by the scope of her mind and how incredible she is("the songs in your head..."), etc. etc. No line on the horizon, there's no end in sight and it's overwhelming. Great song.

"No Line On the Horizon" is an expression which indicates that a journey is far from completion. Which journey? THE journey. The journey of LIFE, both individually and collectively. The "sea" is our collective consciousness. The surface waves are conscious thoughts, the underlying depths are the collective subconsciousness. Bono is a Catholic, and therefore he sees this consciousness as a woman, namely MARY. It's MARY that allows him to see the entire universe in proper perspective ("Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is WITH THEE..."). Acting with this world view, Bono has allowed his persona to be used as a social "traffic cop", constantly applying religion to politics. Hatching "plots and schemes" to address the rulers and leaders of the world, and to bring them to social justice. But the world's so messed up... he often feels that HE is the one who wants to run away from it all...

This song is obviously about a girl he cares about so much that he doesn't know how to express it.. no line on the horizon means there's no end to the amazement he feels.. Unreal lyrics...As a life-long U2 fan, simply fantastic song

I absolutely love this song. It is definitely my favorite of the whole album and is up there with my top U2 songs of all time... Such a unique sound and a great change for the band

Bono does profess an exact religion! He has been very clear about this for a long time (see Rolling Stones interviews, etc. all the way back to the time after the death of his Mother in the early 1980s--when Edge had already cleared stepped in that direction).

Bono is a well-professed Christian believer who chose to follow the reformed Christian faith of his mother (a Presbyterian) and not of the variety of his father (a Roman Catholic--see their song "One") which have different emphases (both are the Christian religion--but different denominations. Both are "catholic," that is, an ancient word meaning "universal--all genuine believers in all ages." Presbyterian would, however, put more authority upon the "Word/Bible" while the Roman Catholic vests more authority in "the RC Church". He attends a Presbyterian church in S. California when stateside. (BTW: JK Rolling is also Presbyterian--and is simply reintrpreting meideval Christianity for a modern audience!).

At first I thought this song might be a song about his wife. Then I thought it may be a personification of wisdom--given a feminine name "Sophia" in the Bible. It also sounds like a longing for heaven--a common theme in many of their songs. This world points us to the true and living creator God and to the true-er and more real world--but it also pulls down those seeking to do what's right (temptation, relentless seeking to do humanitarian deeds, etc.) and in the menatime, there is no line on the horizon. This is called the "already but not yet." I'm not sure though. Recently Bono gave a disclaimer that reminded me of CS Lewis in the introduction to Screwtape Letters: "we sing about God and women and we sometimes get the two mixed up!"

YAY 1st post! This is more mellow as compared to NLOTH2, has a different verse, isn't bad at all. I love it. I'm clueless on the meaning though.

I agree with RayMan the most, except for as as scammaj12 says that Bono has not professed to any religion except Christianity as a whole.

I am intrigued by RayMan's explanation though and as a Pagan, I can offer some insight from some other cultures' thoughts on the imagery in this song :

I do believe that Bono is literally referring to his awe of a Goddess..though maybe not necessarily Mary in particular. The Christian Mary shares many attributes to goddesses all over the world. Her name has a few different interpretations (according to how open-minded the interpreter is!), though they always seem to come back to some derivation of "mar" or "maris" which means "the sea".

Something I'm more familiar with are the African Goddesses, particularly Yemaya, who is an ocean goddess and mother goddess who rules the upper level of the ocean...where the light hits the horizon...and is also known for her ability to remain constant though ever changing. (Your momma will always be your momma though sometimes she's firm, and sometimes she's tender.)

What immediately made me remember her (well I oouldn't remember her name!) was that it is said that she is the goddess that gave us the gift of seashells...from which ocean goddesses could hear the sounds of the universe (and the hum that you hear is supposed to be that..the sound of the All, not the ocean as we tell little kids)

The lyrics could definitely be interpreted in an even bigger concept which is all of life and spirituality. ---- In the Tarot, the Lovers card depicts a man and a woman. The woman is looking Heaven-ward and the man is looking to the woman. She is guide to all that is ruled by the moon..mentality and spirituality..and she is the life giver.

RayMan, I think you've got it spot on with the "traffic cop" explanation. I absolutely agree. It must be very frustrating sometimes doing the work Bono does.

Speaking of feminine and religious connotations... I noticed Bono shouted "Aaliyah" in the middle of U2's performance of this song at the Rose Bowl show. An ancient feminine name, used all over the world including Africa, with a spiritual meaning... ascending, going up, exalted... not to mention being the name of the late singer Aaliyah Dana Haughton. Not sure what the name specifically means to Bono or why he used it in this performance. Would like to hear anyone's ideas on this. By the way, it was interesting that they played "Elevation" directly after "No Line on the Horizon" at this show and Bono said "Going Up!"...

I was on a cruise during Thanksgiving weekend 2009, listening to this song on my ipod and looking out at the ocean. Then, it struck me that this somg is about the majesty of oceans and what they mean to mankind. Spcifically, mankind's dependency on the world's oceans and seas for our very lives (at least our flesh).

"I watch her changing every day for me" seems to says that he relizes that we cannot survive without the positive impact these great bodies of water have on this planet and how they change and effect our weather, which directly impacts how we live, where we live and what we eat. "One day she's still, the next she swells, You can hear the universe in her sea shells" he is definately referring to the majesty of the world's oceans here, no doubt about it.....

"No, no line on the horizon, no line," The ocean is very difficult to get a bead on and she is very unpredictable. She is NOT land which HAS lines on it's horizon's.

"I know a girl with a hole in her heart, She said infinity is a great place to start,Time is irrelevant, it's not linear" he seems to be saying that the oceans are as close to an unchanged landscape as we're going to get and that when we look at the ocean's horizon it's the same horizon that has been seen by mankind for all mankind's time here on Earth, the oceans swallow up time like infinity as far as mankind is concerned.

"Then she put her tongue in my ear" this is a playful comment about how personal the ocean can be when we play in her waters; it's what happens when your playing in the surf (surfing or whatever) and you get pounded by a wave and get a whole lot of water in your ear.

"The songs in your head are now on my mind," This is the enjoyment she (the ocean) brings. "You put me on pause," meaning ee all like to stop and listen to the ocean surf crashing. "I'm trying to rewind and replay, Oh lord, Everyday" means even when we're not near the oceans we think of them and are comforted that they are there..

"Every night I have the same dream, I'm hatching some plot, scheming some scheme" this seems to be the alter ego of mankind in other men who have dreamt of conquering the world's oceans for thousands of years. Many men do conquer the world's oceans by poluting them which leads to a need for activism to care for the oceans and police their use.

"I'm a traffic cop, rue de Marais, The sirens are wailing but it's me that wants to get away" I think this is evidence of the innate desire to care for the world's oceans and feeling trapped in having to use celebrity to do so even though one might not want to take it on....

He's singing about the most important woman to all of us, the ocean.

This song is about entering into deep Oneness with the universe.

“No Line on the Horizon” refers to no differentiation between Heaven and Earth. They are not two different places but merely different states of consciousness. This means the kingdom of heaven is here and now.

“Time is irrelevant, it's not linear” Our idea of a linear “arrow of time” is an illusion. Our daily experience belongs to the linear concept and that is why we experience the past before the present and the future arriving after the present. Becoming aware that time exists only in the mind allows us to have a “timeless experience” of the world and ourselves. Timeless experience is far deeper than common scientific experience. It offers knowledge about the nature of the universe and of our existence. Awakening of consciousness is needed to search beyond the linear concept of time. In timeless experience we discover that the inner space in which thoughts float and the outer space in which stars float are the same physical space. We enter into deep Oneness with the whole universe. This Oneness is the source for the greatest discoveries and most amazing pieces of art.