This album explores the phenomenon of a child (or
boy) turning into a man. It was their first album and did produce a few classics.
(I will follow, Out of control). The original album cover designed for Boy featured
the picture of a young boy. U2 feared people would link it to support of pedophilia,
so they changed it to the more well know version of the four band members. The
young boy (Peter Rowan) was later used on the War album cover.
This song is Bono's way of declaring his intentions in life, and to God. It tells
of how he felt before, during, and after his salvation.
Bono felt like he was on the "outside" when God called him. ("I was on the
outside, when You said, You said you needed me.") Bono would take an inner
look, but he didn't realize his sinful nature, and how much he needed God. This
is found in the verse - "I was looking at myself, I was blind, I could not
see." Bono has been called by God, he knows he was "on the outside", and he
knows that he has been "blind" to the fact that he needs God.
The next verse goes in a different direction: "A boy tries hard to be a man,
His mother takes him by his hand, If he stops to think he starts to cry."
The boy wants to be a man, and his mother helps him in this area (holds his hand),
but when the boy (Bono) thinks about it, he cries. Is this because he is lamenting
over the death of his mother? Does he look back and see what his mother did for
him, then feel sorrow about her loss?
Now we come to the chorus. In the Bible, Jesus approached many people and simply
told them to "Follow Him." This is how Jesus brought the 12 disciples together.
It took a lot of faith for a person to drop everything they were doing and follow
somebody they didn't even know. Christ came to some men fishing, He told them
"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men". They followed Him and became
His disciples. There were also times when Christ approached a person, and they
rejected Christ. (The rich young ruler is an example). I believe that Jesus has
asked Bono to follow Him. (Seen in the first verse). The chorus is Bono saying,
"Jesus, if You walk away, I will follow You" - "If you walkaway, walkaway,
walkaway, walkaway - I will follow."
Now the third verse, which is saying the same thing as the first verse, only in
a different way. Now Bono says "I was on the inside when You pulled the four
walls down. I was looking through the window. I was lost, I am found." Now,
instead of being lost and being on the outside, he describes it as being lost
and being on the inside. The feeling Bono felt during his salvation was as though
he had been set free from a room. A room with no door - only a window. Bono could
look through the window and see the outside. God pulled the four walls down that
held him inside. Bono states that though he was lost, now he is found.
Bono was lost, just like everybody is lost, until they turn to God. Bono heard
God calling and he listened. He made the statement "I will follow". Much like
the hymn "Wherever He Leads Me, I'll Go", The song "I Will Follow" reveals Bono's
commitment and Faith in Christ.
I don't have a definitive view of this song. It appears to be about (as the majority
of Boy is) a boy as he grows into a man. It may be talking about boys losing their
innocence as they become men. They loose their childish nature and mature. It
could be how the world is viewed different as a child and the view of the world
changes once one becomes and adult.
"I look into his eyes, there are closed, But I see something." Whose eyes
is Bono looking into. His fathers perhaps? His father is sleeping. Bono can't
see his eyes, but he does see his face, the lines of his face. He probably notices
his dad in a different way. He notices how time has aged his father.
Now we see how children react different to situations than adults - "A teacher
told me why, I laugh When old men cry." The next verse is about the physical
changes a boys body goes through during the change into an adult - "My body
grows and grows, It frightens me you know." The next line tells us that Bono
confided to his dad about the changes and fear in his life. ("The old man tried
to walk me home. I thought he should have known.")
The chorus helps to define what the song may be about. Bono is stating that the
transition from boyhood to manhood is a dark thing. It happens in "Twilight".
It is confusing ("lost my way"). The boy meets man in darkness ("in the shadow")
This is a song about a black cat. Bono has referred to this song as "The black
cat" on bootlegs that I have. Also, "An Cat Dubh" means "the black cat" in Gaelic.
This is a song about a cats life and its nature.
It's time to go to bed, but the cat hasn't gone to sleep yet. It is waiting for
the owner to go to bed. ("Say goodnight, she waits for me to put out the light.").
The next line - "Lay there still, She waits to break my will. The cat lays
on the floor, trying to get the owner to rub her, or scratch her. The chorus "Yes,
I know the truth, about you" tells us that the owner realizes what the cat
is doing.
Now it is daytime ("And in the daylight") and the cat sees a bird, and
wants that bird ("A blackbird makes a fire inside.") Once the cat has toyed
with its prey, and killed it, now she takes a nap with the prize. ("And when
she is done, She sleeps beside the one.")
This song is about the nature of a cat. It is one of U2's earlier songs, so it
may lack the substance of their more "mature" works. It is still a good song.
I think this song is talking about how pure a child's heart is, and about how
Bono feels comfortable with the heart of a child, how it makes him feel good.
He is once again making note of how Adults and Children are different. They have
different agendas and see things differently.
Into the heart of a child.
I stay awhile, I can go back.
Into the heart of a child.
I can smile.
I can go there.
Into the heart of a child.
Into the heart of a child.
I can go back.
I can stay awhile.
Into the heart.
This is a song that is about two things - being born and dying. Bono has said
that one day he woke up and realized that these are two things we have no control
over. Bono's mother's death made him who he is, and it probably brought Bono to
the concept of "Out of Control".
The first verse states - "Monday morning, eighteen years of dawning. I say
how long, you say how long." Bono woke up at eighteen, with a realization.
Bono's mother died when Bono was sixteen. She died very unexpectedly, and it was
very traumatic for Bono and for the family. His life changed in an instant. Later
he reveals - "It was one dull morning, Woke the world with falling. I was so
sad, so sad. It was so bad." He woke on a plain ordinary morning, and it felt
like his world was crashing. He woke up sad. He woke up with the realization that
being born and dying were "out of control", thus the chorus:"I had a feeling
it was out of control. I had a feeling it was out of control."
In the next verse we see how Bono's mother's death affected his childhood - "Boys
and girls go to school, and those remain children, but not this one." Bono
says that most children go to school and are "children" but that he is not a child
because his childhood has been taken with his mother's dying.
On one of the bootlegs I have, at this point in the song Bono says "I keep waiting,
I'm not here that long, you keep me waiting, but I won't give up, cause I love
you - Father, I love you, I love you, It's under control..." In this Bono makes
a strong statement - I keep waiting for you Lord, but it's really not that long,
I won't give up though, because I love you Lord, and with You living and dying
is under control.
Now we see how Bono's faith plays a part in this song - "I have full faith, it
was burning." He knows dying is out of his control. He knows it is in God's hands.
We see this in the line "And one day I'll die. And the choice will not be mine.
Will it be too late? You can't fight it."
Bono struggled with his mother's death for a long time. He tried to rationalize
the situation. One day he woke up do the realization that dying is something that
we as humans can't control. He knew that it was "out of control". The last two
lines of the song sum up how Bono feels on the topic of death - "I had a feeling
it was out of control. I had the opinion it was out of control."
This is a song that uses nature to show the power of God and how Bono felt about
his role as a Christian.
Bono sees himself in a picture, a dark picture, and it is just Bono and the sea.
("A picture in grey, Dorian Gray, Just me by the sea.") The sea is a metaphor
for God. It is massive and powerful, as God is.
As a Christian, or follower of Christ, Bono thinks he can "save" the world (sinners).
If only they would listen to what he said. This is found in the verse "And
I felt like a star, I thought that the world could go far, If they listened to
what I said."
The Ocean, or God, is who saves people. Without God none can be saved. Bono states
- "The Ocean, the Ocean, Washes my feet. Splashes the soul of my shoes."
Jesus washed the disciples feet to show them submission and servanthood. He humbled
himself to them. This parallels how the Ocean (God) washes Bono's feet. Also,
the word "soul" is spelled cleverly in the way that reflects a person's spirit,
and not "s-o-l-e" like the sole of a shoe.
Bono has now focused on the Ocean, and not on the things of the world. This is
shown in the lyric - "When I looked around, The world couldn't be found, Just
me by the sea."
In my life, I find it hard to live some days because the world is full of sin.
I lose my focus on God, and start to think about the state of the world. The last
line in this song shows how Bono took a look around, but because God is so powerful
and big, the world couldn't be seen, it was just God and Bono.
This is a song that Bono wrote after the suicide death of the lead singer from
the group "Joy Division" - the members of the group later became New Order.
Who is singing? Is it the dead guy? I think it is. Bono was saddened by the choice
the guy made. The song starts - "Starting a landslide in my ego. Look from
the outside to the world I left behind." The singer is talking about how he
has lost all his pride. He is now looking from death to the world he has left,
the world of the living.
The singer states "I'm dreaming, you're awake. If I were sleeping, what's at
stake, A day without me." Is he talking to Bono? He feels like he is dreaming
(dead) and that Bono is awake (alive), and he is saying if he is sleeping (dead)
what does it matter, it's just a day without him.
Now it seems like Bono is singing - "Whatever the feelings I've been feeling,
Whatever the feelings you left behind". The feelings that Bono has been feeling
is sadness. The feelings the lead singer felt caused him to kill himself.
The singer repeats "I started a landslide in my ego. Look from the outside
to the world I left behind, To the world I left behind." The singer then tells
Bono to "Wipe the eyes and then let go, shed a tear and then let go". The
singer is saying don't cry over his death, don't dwell on it. He says all it means
is that it is "a day without me". He doesn't want Bono, or the world to grieve
over his death.
This is a strange song because it deals with a weird topic, in a weird way. I
guess this is what Bono thinks the dead guy would say if he could, or that this
song represents how the dead guy probably feels.
I have heard that this song is in reference to the practice of "shock therapy"
for mentally ill patients. It is a very hard song to interpret. The song protest
using shock therapy to treat mentally ill patients.
