Might be about a murder as it happens, playing on the Dostoevskyian theme of "Crime and Punishment" where the guilt consumes, also echoed in Cornell's "You Know My Name" with the line, "If you take a life do you know what you will give, odds are you won't like what it is". Bono's outspoken feelings on the troubles are a common theme for him. I suspect this is related. The phrase "longest sleep" has no ambiguity in it whatsoever, that means death.
Guilty of the crime that's now in hand
Throw your life away
Cold these eyes,
Cold, this heart is slow
Heart is slow
Call me
Such a cold heart
Such a cold man
Watch you tear your self apart
So lay me down
My soul to give
So lay me down
The longest sleep
Oh, the longest sleep
Might be about a murder as it happens, playing on the Dostoevskyian theme of "Crime and Punishment" where the guilt consumes, also echoed in Cornell's "You Know My Name" with the line, "If you take a life do you know what you will give, odds are you won't like what it is". Bono's outspoken feelings on the troubles are a common theme for him. I suspect this is related. The phrase "longest sleep" has no ambiguity in it whatsoever, that means death.
Guilty of the crime that's now in hand Throw your life away
Cold these eyes, Cold, this heart is slow Heart is slow
Call me Such a cold heart Such a cold man Watch you tear your self apart
So lay me down My soul to give So lay me down The longest sleep Oh, the longest sleep
[Edit: Second typo]