U2: Three Chords and the Truth

Lyrics to the U2 album Zooropa

Zooropa

[What do you want? what do you want?]

Zooropa - Vorsprung durch Technik
Zooropa - be all that you can be
Be a winner - eat to get slimmer

Zooropa - a bluer kind of white
Zooropa - it could be yours tonight
We're mild and green and squeaky clean

[What do you want? what do you want?]

Zooropa - better by design
Zooropa - fly the friendly skies
Through appliance of science
We've got that ring of confidence

And I have no compass
And I have no map
And I have no reasons
No reasons to get back

And I have no religion
And I don't know what's what
And I don't know the limit
The limit of what we got

Don't worry, baby - it'll be alright
You've got the right shoes
To get you through the night
It's cold outside, but brightly lit
Skip the subway - let's go to the overground
Get your head out of the mud, baby
Put flowers in the mud, baby
Overground

No particular place names
No particular songs
I've been hiding
What am I hiding from?

Don't worry, baby - it's gonna be alright
Uncertainty can be a guiding light
I hear voices, ridiculous voices
I'm in the slipstream
Let's go, let's go overground
Take your head out of the mud, baby

She's gonna dream up the world she wants to live in
She's gonna dream out loud
She's gonna dream out loud - dream out loud

Babyface

Watching your bright blue eyes in the freeze frame
I've seen them so many times
I feel like I must be your best friend
You're looking fine, so fine - oh my
Dressed up like a lovely day

Babyface, babyface
Slow down, child - let me untie your lace
Babyface, babyface
Cover girl with natural grace
How could beauty be so kind to an ordinary guy?

Coming home late at night to turn you on, love
Checking out every frame
I've got slow motion on my side
Turning around and around
With the sound and colour under my control
Round and around - going down
Dressed up like a lovely day

Babyface, babyface
Tin foil hair all tied up in lace
Babyface, babyface
Bitter sweet girl, won't you give me a taste?
How could beauty be so kind to an ordinary guy?

Babyface, babyface
Slow down, child - let me untie your lace
Babyface, babyface
Open the door - let me unpack my case
Babyface, babyface
You're everywhere, child - you're all over the place
Babyface, babyface
You're coming to me from outer space
How could beauty be so kind to an ordinary guy?

Numb

Don't move - don't talk out of time
Don't think - don't worry - everything's just fine
Just fine

Don't grab - don't clutch
Don't hope for too much
Don't breathe - don't achieve
Don't grieve without leave

Don't check - just balance on the fence
Don't answer - don't ask
Don't try and make sense

Don't whisper - don't talk
Don't run if you can walk
Don't cheat - compete
Don't miss the one beat

Don't travel by train
Don't eat - don't spill
Don't piss in the drain
Don't make a will

Don't fill out any forms
Don't compensate
Don't cower - don't crawl
Don't come around late
Don't hover at the gate

Don't take it on board
Don't fall on your sword
Just play another chord
If you feel you're getting bored

[I feel numb - I feel numb]
[Too much is not enough]
Don't change your brand
Don't listen to the band
[Gimme what I don't get]
Don't gape - don't ape
Don't change your shape
[Gimme some more]
Have another grape
[Too much is not enough]

[Gimme some more - a piece of me, baby]

[I feel numb]
Don't plead - don't bridle
Don't shackle - don't grind
[Gimme some more]
Don't curve - don't swerve
[I feel numb]
Lie, die, serve

[I feel numb]
Don't theorise, realise, polarise
[Gimme what you got]
Chance, dance, dismiss, apologise
[I need more]
[Too much is not enough]

[I feel numb]
Don't spy - don't lie
Don't try - imply
Detain - explain - start again
[I feel numb]

[I feel numb]
Don't triumph - don't coax
Don't cling - don't hoax
Don't freak - peak
Don't leak - don't speak
[I feel numb]

[I feel numb]
Don't project - don't connect - protect
Don't expect - suggest
[I feel numb]
Don't project - don't connect - protect
Don't expect - suggest

[I feel numb]
Don't struggle - don't jerk
Don't collar - don't work
Don't wish - don't fish
Don't teach - don't reach
[Too much is not enough]

Don't borrow - don't break
Don't fence - don't steal
Don't pass - don't press
Don't try - don't feel

[I feel numb]
Don't touch - don't dive
Don't suffer - don't rhyme
Don't fantasise
Don't rise - don't fly

[I feel numb]
Don't project - don't connect - protect
Don't expect - suggest
[I feel numb]
Don't project - don't connect - protect
Don't expect - suggest
[I feel numb]

Lemon

Lemon - see through in the sunlight
She wore lemon - never in the daylight
She's gonna make you cry
She's gonna make you whisper and moan
But when you're dry
She draws her water from a stone

I feel like I'm slowly, slowly, slowly slipping under
I feel like I'm holding onto nothing

She wore lemon to colour in the cold grey night
She had heaven and she held on so tight

A man makes a picture - a moving picture
Through light projected he can see himself up close
A man captures colour - a man likes to stare
He turns his money into light to look for her

And I feel like I'm drifting, drifting, drifting from the shore
And I feel like I'm swimming out to her

Midnight is where the day begins --

Lemon - see through in the sunlight

A man builds a city with banks and cathedrals
A man melts the sand so he can see the world outside
[You're gonna meet her there - she's your destination]
A man makes a car and builds a road to run them on
[You've gotta get to her - she's imagination]
A man dreams of leaving but he always stays behind

And these are the days when our work has come asunder
And these are the days when we look for something other

Midnight is where the day begins --

Midnight is where the day begins --

A man makes a picture - a moving picture
Through light projected he can see himself up close
[Gotta meet her there - she's your destination]
A man captures colour - a man likes to stare
[There's no sleeping there - she's imagination]
He turns his money into light to look for her
[Lemon] She is the dreamer - she's imagination
[She thanked heaven]
Through light projected he can see himself up close

Stay (Faraway, So Close)

Green light - Seven Eleven
You stop in for a pack of cigarettes
You don't smoke - don't even want to
Hey now - check your change
Dressed up like a car crash
The wheels are turning but you're upside down
You say when he hits you, you don't mind
Because when he hurts you, you feel alive
Is that what it is?

Red light - grey morning
You stumble out of a hole in the ground
A vampire or a victim
It depends on who's around
You used to stay in to watch the adverts
You could lip synch to the talk shows
And if you look, you look through me
And when you talk, you talk at me
And when I touch you, you don't feel a thing

If I could stay, then the night would give you up
Stay, and the day would keep its trust
Stay, and the night would be enough

Far away, so close
Up with the static and the radio
With satellite television you can go anywhere
Miami, New Orleans, London, Belfast and Berlin
And if you listen I can't call
And if you jump, you just might fall
And if you shout I'll only hear you

If I could stay, then the night would give you up
Stay, then the day would keep its trust
Stay with the demons you drowned
Stay with the spirit I found
Stay, and the night would be enough

Three o'clock in the morning
It's quiet and there's no one around
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel runs to ground
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel hits the ground

Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car

You're a precious stone - you're out on your own
You know everyone in the world, but you feel alone
Daddy won't let you weep - daddy won't let you ache
Daddy gives you as much as you can take
A-ha, sha-la - A-ha, sha-la
Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car

A little uptight - you're a baby's fist
Butterfly kisses up and down your wrist
When you see daddy coming you're licking your lip
Nails bitten down to the quick
A-ha, sha-la - A-ha, sha-la
Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car
Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car

You've got a head full of traffic - you're a siren's song
You cry for mama - daddy's right along
He gives you the keys to a flaming car
Daddy's with you wherever you are
Daddy's a comfort - daddy's your best friend
Daddy'll hold your hand right up to the end
A-ha, sha-la - A-ha, sha-la
Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car
Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday's alright --

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Some days are dry - some days are leaky
Some days come clean - other days are sneaky
Some days take less, but most days take more
Some slip through your fingers and onto the floor

Some days you're quick, but most days you're speedy
Some days you use more force than is necessary
Some days just drop in on us
Some days are better than others

Some days - it all adds up
And what you got is enough
Some days are better than others

Some days are slippy - other days sloppy
Some days you can't stand the sight of a puppy
Your skin is white but you think you're a brother
Some days are better than others

Some days you wake up with her complaining
Some sunny days you wish it was raining
Some days are sulky - some days have a grin
And some days have bouncers and won't let you in

Some days you hear a voice
Taking you to another place
Some days are better than others

Some days are honest - some days are not
Some days you're thankful for what you've got
Some days you wake up in the army
And some days it's the enemy

Some days you work - most days you're lazy
Some days you feel like a bit of a baby
Looking for Jesus and his mother
Some days are better than others

Some days you feel ahead
You're making sense of what she said
Some days are better than others

Some days you hear a voice
Taking you to another place
Some days are better than others

The First Time

I have a lover
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing
Shows me colours when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time, I feel love

I have a brother
When I'm a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me
When I feel myself going down
I just call and he comes around
But for the first time, I feel love

My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold
He said: I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key --

For the first time
For the first time
For the first time, I feel love

Dirty Day

I don't know you - and you don't know the half of it
I had a starring role - I was the bad guy who walked out
They said be careful where you aim
Because where you aim you just might hit
You can hold onto something so tight
You've already lost it

Dragging me down - that's not the way it used to be
You can't even remember what I'm trying to forget

It was a dirty day - a dirty day

You're looking for explanations - I don't even understand
If you need someone to blame, throw a rock in the air
You'll hit someone guilty

From father to son
In one life has begun
A work that's never done
Father to son

Get it right - there's no blood thicker than ink
Hear what I say - nothing's as simple as you think
Wake up - some things you can't get around
I'm in you - more so when they put me in the ground

These days, days, days run away like horses over the hill --

The Wanderer

I went out walking through streets paved with gold
Lifted some stones - saw the skin and bones
Of a city without a soul
I went out walking under an atomic sky
Where the ground won't turn and the rain it burns
Like the tears when I said goodbye

Yeah, I went with nothing
Nothing but the thought of you
I went wandering

I went drifting through the capitals of tin
Where men can't walk or freely talk
And sons turn their fathers in
I stopped outside a church house
Where the citizens like to sit
They say they want the kingdom
But they don't want God in it

I went out riding down that old eight-lane
I passed by a thousand signs
Looking for my own name

I went with nothing
But the thought you'd be there too
Looking for you

I went out there in search of experience
To taste and to touch and to feel as much
As a man can before he repents

I went out searching, looking for one good man
A spirit who would not bend or break
Who would sit at his father's right hand
I went out walking with a bible and a gun
The word of God lay heavy on my heart
I was sure I was the one
Now Jesus, don't you wait up
Jesus, I'll be home soon
Yeah, I went out for the papers
Told her I'd be back by noon

Yeah, I left with nothing
But the thought you'd be there too
Looking for you

Yeah, I left with nothing
Nothing but the thought of you
I went wandering

Lyric transcription by Chris Warren

Random U2 lyric:

"I threw the dice when they pierced his side but I've seen love conquer the great divide" - When Love Comes to Town

My U2 ramblings:

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