Nathan E. Lewis

By design Bono and The Edge of U2 write lyrics that hint to their faith in Christ rather than producing songs that blatantly blast a Christian message. It is no secret that Bono and The Edge believe the gospel of the Bible and view themselves to be united to Jesus Christ. Rather than extrapulating a gospel theme from one song, I have decided to look at the entire, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.”
In the first song, “Vertigo,” Bono and The Edge write, “The jungle is your head/ Can’t rule your heart.” These lines present the prevailing human experience and desperate need. The second song, “Miracle Drug,” is an honest love song, but it presents the common search for a solution to the human problem - a miracle drug - or a relationship, or human ingenuity. “Of science and the human heart/ There is no limit/…Love and logic keep us clear/ Reason is on our side, love…. Humanity does have resources and means by which to improve and solve a good many problems, but there is still the deeper, nagging human problem.
The third song, “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own,” gives a person permission to look for help outside himself. “You don’t have to put up a fight/ You don’t have to always be right/ Let me take some of the punches/ For you tonight…Sometimes you can’t make it/ The best you can do is to fake it.” This is presented again under the guise of a love relationship, which most listeners would assume is a friendship.
The fourth song, “Love and Peace or Else,” is about surrender. It is about giving up so that love and peace might be experienced. The prayer is for “a brand new heart,” and Bono, with The Edge, go as far as singing, “Lay down/ Lay down your guns/ All your daughters of Zion/ All your Abraham sons.” If they are making a political statement rooted in the 21st century, they make their point using biblicaly prophetic titles for the children of God, the people of faith. Just in case you start to go hog wild on the biblical analysis of the song, Bono and The Edge disguise it once again as a love song, referring to a human relationship.
So far, the progression on the CD follows a clear presentation of the gospel. The human condition is seriously flawed but there is hope through letting go.
The fifth song is, yes, a love, song. I would suggest that it is a love song tracing the awakening of a lover who is beginning to see the image of God in his beloved. “Can you see the beauty inside of me?” This song echoes the wisdom literature of the Bible, presenting the ancient principle of knowledge: the more you know, the more you realize how little you know. This is coupled with another wisdom proverb: Sin has marred the image of God in me and so I am amazed when someone else can still detect it. But in the person I love, I see the beauty, and I see it now.
Under the guise of human love, the gospel is present point by point. “All Because of You” is latent with gospel theme: God, apart from us, loves us and accepts us. “I was born a child of grace…” begins the song with the refrain, “All because of you,” repeated again and again. It is a song of rebirth. It is a song about new identity and personal essence renewed by a Person distinct from the singer. “All because of you/ I am.”
The seventh song, “A Man and a Woman,” is truly a love song and it is a fine love song with a depth that corrects all of the shallow love songs we have heard on the radio since childhood. Love is more than romance. Love is “the mysterious distance between a man and a woman.” This song reflects a Christian world view of the unity and distinction between the genders, and even moreso in its presentation of genuine love.
The eighth song, “Crumbs from Your Table,” is built on the Gospel narrative of Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophecian woman, who begged Jesus to heal her demon possessed daughter. Jesus tested her faith and while his disciples flunked the test, she aced it. She agreed with Jesus’ suggestion that she was a messed up person. Then she begged for even the smallest blessing to fall to her from God’s hand. Jesus says, “Woman, you have great faith!” It appears as if Bono uses this song to make the point that a glamorous, sensational show from God is not necessary for him to embrace God. He, like the woman who met Jesus, merely needs a few crumbs from the table. She would be satisfied with the smallest of gifts from the hand of her Creator. Once again, Bono presents this message in the context of a human, love relationship. At this point in the CD’s progression, we have been moved from a confession of desperate need to a confession of faith and this entire progression has been disguised in the expression of one human lover to another.
The ninth song, written by Bono, “One Step Closer to Knowing,” presents the pilgrimage of the Christian faith. At this point the singer knows that truth/reality exist around the corner. He is making his way toward it. The pilgrimage has not been free of pain and suffering, but it appears to be worth it, to simply get one step closer to knowing as we are known.
The tenth song “Original of the Species,” is a song of self-revelation. This person has confidence in who she is and her hope is contagious. She is the new man and Bono’s fear is that she would lose her childlikeness. Nonetheless, this new person is the envy of the singer. He wants to be like her, strong in her new self, in her confidence.
The eleventh and final song’s title is the great, mysterious name of God, in the Hebrew Bible: “Yawheh.” It is a prayer of offering oneself to God and reminds any western Christian who has participated in Church over the past forty years of the hymn, “Take my life and let it be consecreated Lord to Thee…Take my hands…Take my feet…Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee.” This song could easily take its place in a Christian hymnal as a prayer of dedication. Bono takes the song beyond personal piety by singing, “Take this city/ A city should be shining on a hill.” He sings the Puritan hope founded upon Jesus’ preaching, likening the church to “a city set on a hill, whose light cannot be hidden.” Bono’s suggestion that a city becomes influential, enlightening, and good for the world through broken hearts is gospel saturated.
Bono and The Edge may be the first to insist that I have forced this gospel progression in their song writing and ordering of the songs on their CD. They may insist that they did not intentionally set the meaning in progression. They may claim the order to be coicendental. No worries. Perhaps this is the truth. Nonetheless, it is there. You can see it and hear it for yourself.
Listen to the past forty years of love songs whether it be rock ‘n roll, soft jazz, pop rock, country. The triteness and emptiness our western society has served us through popular music can not be found in U2. None of the love songs on this CD are nice, little ditties, that make us feel warm and happy inside. Instead, we find ourselves searching for true love. We discover the end of ourselves, searching for the meaning and the joy of the gospel. Life is significant, dignified, and anchored in a greater reality beyond the Self glorified in our pop culture.

Nathan Lewis
June 2005