I Fall Down

I agree that this is definately a song that hides from casual fans. You might hear it once and dismiss it as a simple, catchy party song, but I think there might be something deeper.

Like a lot of U2 songs, this one is upbeat but there is an oddly ominous tone to it. Although fast-paced and edgy, Bono's voice has a certain pained quality as he sings, and the words themselves are pretty ominous if you read them while listening to the song.

"I Fall Down" makes me think of a woman (or girl) who is either very ill, or just very depressed in general. He sings of her "going to get better", and from her point of view, she feels she's getting nowhere and wants to be somewhere soon. To me, it sounds like a woman who knows she's dying and can't find it in her to "wake up" anymore. She hopes that soon it will all be over and she'll finally get somewhere. (Heaven?)

John, clearly someone who loves her deeply, feels her pain and when she's "down", he finds it hard to pick himself up as well.

Overall, this seems like a pained song written from the point of view of John, who is going through a tragic time with Julie, who can't seem to pick herself up. Whether sick or depressed, it's clear that this is John pleading with her to get up and move on and not leave him.

Just one theory. I would love to hear Bono clarify what this song is about. It's very mysterious and sad and it may even be very personal to Bono, considering he used obviously false names and the lyrics sort of read like the pages of a diary.

I think it's about Bono's mother who died when he was 14 i think.

It's a song about struggle. A couple who wants to improve, either become the best they can be, or escape from the bad place they are in. But as they both strive for this, as a couple, they both fall short of their goal, they just can't get there. Either they have something that keeps holding them back (illness, drugs, society, etc.) or they have they their sights unreasonably high and continue to fall short of their expectations.

Anyone like me who don't have a clue what this song is about...? Then I read a comment on the lyrics video on YouTube: "When you fall down, I fall down..." These lyrics could mean a hundred different things to a hundred different people. To me, its being in love and hurting when your other is hurting. Thats what its always meant to me. Simple words but deep in meaning.

Now it makes sense to me...I got the song as a greeting...

Simple song. You say you're going to get up and go somewhere, but there's alway the time when you fall down.

Beautiful song

Several lines in this song hint to Julie being an addict, particularly this verse:

"Julie say something Julie say you're sorry You're gonna get better You better not leave me here anyway"

"John" is professing his willingness to stick with her throughout her "falls" and is pleading with her to stay with him and get better as he hurts when she hurts. He explains that he has also fallen down for whatever reason on multiple occasions, so he understands that neither of them are perfect.

I really like his "I broke myself" line. He's acknowledging that at times he's fallen short, it was his own fault, and he's presumably learned from it.

Bono explained it when I heard them at Boston 1983. It's about getting up after you fall down when trying to get somewhere ..... in their case, trying to get a record deal. Bono and his wife (then girlfriend) went to London a lot off their own back in order to get listened to. So I think they (John and Julie) had to support each other when one or the other falls down.

Very good U2 song that often hides from casual fans.

Oddly enough, this song was written prior to a relationship that seemed to mimic the story rather closely. A cat known as Pod from the Virgin Prunes was working as a roadie for U2 on their American tour in support for October, and he fell in love with a woman named Julie. She had been let on stage to dance with Bono at either the March 17th or 18th show at the Ritz. Anyhow, Bono's not exactly sure who Julie in the song was based on, but that's really odd coincidence.

But here's one even odder.

This song was first played live April 17th, 1981 at the show at Bogart's Club in Cincinnati, Ohio. The following night they played their first show in Detroit, Michigan, my hometown.

The last time they played the song was purportedly April 18th, 1985 at the The Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts.

I've been a fan of U2 since I was four and I first caught the With or Without You video on MTV. I think it was probably that E-Bow The Edge was using, maybe it was the overall harmony, I don't know. They've been my favorite band ever since, and I wear the mark "U2" on my right shoulder in thick, black-inked letters with pride (pun intended).

It wasn't until 10 years later when I got a book for Christmas that had some fairly accurate outlining of U2's tours up until the first few shows of the PopMart tour (which I'd been to a couple months earlier) that I read what really, really blew me away.

The first time they'd ever played my hometown was two years to the day before I was born. The fact that this song's first and last play so closely matches that date two years on both sides kind of creeps me out and gives the song some special meaning for me.

The song was a "coincidence" for that relationship, I really wonder if it's a "coincidence" for me.