Digital Biblical Studies
Lyrics: U2 > Discography > Lyrics > Walk On Dedicated to Burmese academic turned politician Aung San Suu Kyi, “Walk On” reflects on steadfastness and sacrifice, urging listeners toward a life of spiritual integrity. The song’s repeated refrain, “Walk on, walk on,” calls to perseverance and faith, echoing biblical exhortations such as Joshua 1:9, “Be …
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Lyrics: U2 > Discography > Lyrics > Staring At The Sun “Staring at the Sun” is filled with biblical themes of truth, hypocrisy, and existential search for meaning. Stokes describes the song’s creation as almost accidental, revealing the complexity of its genesis and the layered meanings within. According to Stokes, “It was a completely different …
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Lyrics: U2 > Discography > Lyrics > Wake Up Dead Man “Wake Up Dead Man” illustrates the human struggle with belief in the presence of adversity. The song’s direct appeals to Jesus, “Jesus, Jesus help me,” echo biblical pleas for divine intervention, reflecting the Psalms’ raw emotionality where the psalmist often expresses feelings of abandonment …
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“Window in the Skies” is a song about spiritual freedom and divine love, saturated with biblical allusions. The liberation conveyed by “The shackles are undone” reflects the biblical theme of being freed from sin’s grip, as expressed for example in Romans 6:22: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become …
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Bono’s own words about “Heartland” reveal a connection with the American landscape, both in its beauty and complexity. “America both fascinates and frightens me,” Bono said. “I can’t get it out of my system. Wim Wenders has said that America has colonised our unconscious. He’s right. You don’t have to go there – it comes …
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The lyrics of “When Love Comes to Town” by U2 are a mosaic of biblical references. The Edge recalls the song’s genesis: “Bono came up with ‘When Love Comes To Town’. Bono thought the song was too traditional for us” (McCormick, 247). Yet the song’s traditional blues structure became the perfect vessel for B.B. King’s …
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The song “October” presents contrasting images of impermanence and eternity. The lyrics, “October and the trees are stripped bare / Of all they wear. What do I care?” reflect the biblical notion of life’s fleeting nature, as seen in Ecclesiastes, which posits “a time for everything under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 3) and the “ungraspable” (Hebrew …
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“The Wanderer,” sung by Johnny Cash on U2’s Zooropa album (1993), explores a journey steeped in biblical allusions and existential questioning. According to Bono, the lyrics were inspired by the themes explored in Ecclesiastes: I wrote the lyric based on the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, which in some translation is called The …
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“Beautiful Day” by U2 is permeated with biblical allusions, spiritual and existential themes. The lyric “The heart is a bloom, shoots up through stony ground” alludes to the Parable of the Sower, conveying growth amidst adversity (Mark 4:5-6). This imagery is deepened by the allusion to scarcity in “there’s no room,” reminiscent of the Nativity …
“Tomorrow” by Bono in the anguish of his mother’s untimely demise, incorporates biblical imagery with his personal narrative of loss and longing for divine reassurance. It’s a plea for the presence and return of a loved one, against the backdrop of biblical promises of hope and restoration. The tearing of the temple curtain, as described …
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