While Bono himself described “Elevation” as “about sexuality and transcendence, a playful piece about wanting to get off, or, in this case, to literally get off the ground,” the song’s religious undertones emerge through its vertical imagery and salvation metaphors. The recurring theme of elevation echoes the Psalms’ descriptions of divine transcendence (“above all nations” and “above the heavens” – Psalm 113:4-6), while the imagery of being lifted from darkness (represented by the “mole living in a hole”) mirrors biblical narratives of spiritual rescue found in Psalm 40:2 (“lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire”). The “I and I in the sky” lyrics, Rastafarian terminology for unity with God, parallel biblical concepts of divine unity expressed in John 17:21-23 (“that they may all be one”). The lines “Won’t you tell me something true / I believe in you” represent a pivotal moment in the song where the lyrics shift from sensual metaphors to a more direct spiritual plea. This echoes biblical patterns of intimate dialogue with the divine, particularly reminiscent of Thomas’s declaration “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28) and the desperate father’s cry to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). The quest for truth (“tell me something true”) parallels John 14:6 where Jesus declares “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” while the personal affirmation “I believe in you” transforms the song’s earlier sexual elevation into a moment of spiritual conviction. This transition is particularly significant given what Stokes describes as the song’s “murky terrain inhabited by a writer struggling with the attempt to make art of his or her experience.” The juxtaposition of this sincere profession of faith within a song that The Edge calls “almost light relief in a very heavy sequence of songs” demonstrates U2’s characteristic ability to embed profound spiritual moments within seemingly straightforward rock anthems.
The song’s spiritual-sexual duality follows a tradition of religious poetry that uses physical desire as a metaphor for divine longing, reminiscent of the Song of Solomon. However, as both Bono’s admission that “It was all over in minutes” and The Edge’s characterization of the song as emerging from “a really cool guitar sound” suggest, these biblical influences serve more as subtext to a song that emerged spontaneously from musical experimentation, rather than as deliberate theological statement. As Stokes noted, the song captures “a combination of primordial lasciviousness, ecstatic spirituality and soulful need.” The line “the goal is elevation” reflects what Bono himself emphasized: “it is fun and frolics but the goal is soul,” suggesting a spiritual aspiration underlying the song’s physical surface.
