1) It is really about an actual experience that Bono had while visiting El Salvador. There he saw Madres, women whose children had been imprisoned or murdered by the military regime there. He was inspired by it and immediately wrote the lyrics for the song. It is a song about a struggle.
2) On the Elevation DVD (live from Boston), this is played while images of guns and killings by guns are shown on a screen behind the band. I believe this song can also have something to do with the negative points of guns and how badly they hurt the United States. U2 may be using it to show something they dislike about our country.
This song to me has 2 meanings:
1) It is really about an actual experience that Bono had while visiting El Salvador. There he saw Madres, women whose children had been imprisoned or murdered by the military regime there. He was inspired by it and immediately wrote the lyrics for the song. It is a song about a struggle.
2) On the Elevation DVD (live from Boston), this is played while images of guns and killings by guns are shown on a screen behind the band. I believe this song can also have something to do with the negative points of guns and how badly they hurt the United States. U2 may be using it to show something they dislike about our country.