Hey there PMonkey -
good to see a comment on this song - it's also one of my favorites from Pop (right after Velvet Dress - my wife likes to get it on to that song.)
Anyway, I like your interpretation of Please - some of the early lyrics are pretty cryptic, but I think the song is referencing the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. They wrote the song around the time the cease-fire was falling apart -
your catholic blues
your convent shoes
your stick-on tattoos
now they're making the news
your holy war (the IRA's war against the Brits)
your northern star (Northern Ireland)
your sermon on the mount
from the boot of your car (this is a reference to car bombs - "boot" meaning "trunk" in the UK -- the "sermon" being the act of setting off the bomb itself.)
September... streets capsizing... spilling over, down the drain
... shards of glass splinters like rain but you could only feel your own pain...
october... talking getting nowhere... november... decemeber... remember...
are we just starting again... ?
Reference to the collapse of the cease fire in Sept., "glass splinters like rain" - the glass shards from the explosions; "october, talk getting nowhere" - reference to the fact that attempts to start up cease-fire talks weren't getting anywhere; "are we just starting again" - once the IRA started up their bombing campaign again, everything went back to square one.
in any case, there's a lot of pain in this song, and you can hear it in Bono's voice. The Troubles obviously weigh heavy on his mind.
Hey there PMonkey - good to see a comment on this song - it's also one of my favorites from Pop (right after Velvet Dress - my wife likes to get it on to that song.) Anyway, I like your interpretation of Please - some of the early lyrics are pretty cryptic, but I think the song is referencing the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. They wrote the song around the time the cease-fire was falling apart - your catholic blues your convent shoes your stick-on tattoos now they're making the news your holy war (the IRA's war against the Brits) your northern star (Northern Ireland) your sermon on the mount from the boot of your car (this is a reference to car bombs - "boot" meaning "trunk" in the UK -- the "sermon" being the act of setting off the bomb itself.)
September... streets capsizing... spilling over, down the drain ... shards of glass splinters like rain but you could only feel your own pain... october... talking getting nowhere... november... decemeber... remember... are we just starting again... ?
Reference to the collapse of the cease fire in Sept., "glass splinters like rain" - the glass shards from the explosions; "october, talk getting nowhere" - reference to the fact that attempts to start up cease-fire talks weren't getting anywhere; "are we just starting again" - once the IRA started up their bombing campaign again, everything went back to square one.
in any case, there's a lot of pain in this song, and you can hear it in Bono's voice. The Troubles obviously weigh heavy on his mind.