Today marks the 30th anniversary of one of U2's finest albums and arguably their greatest achievement Achtung Baby. So in honor of the day I wanted to put together a lyrical homage to the record. Below is a track-by-track listing with my favorite verses from each song. The album is the band at the height of their powers, and there's an endless supply of lyrical genius. From the painfully deep and existential "One", to the tongue-in-cheek self-referential "The Fly", the sexy and funky "Mysterious Ways", and the depressingly serious conclusion "Love Is Blindness". It's a masterpiece of the highest caliber and my favorite album of all time, and I always find reading out lyrics to be a cathartic experience. I hope whoever's reading enjoys taking in this gem in a different way - you can listen (links to each song are over their respective titles), or just read the verses. Totally up to you. Anyways, all aboard the Zoo Train!
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| Achtung Baby (1991) |
Track #1: Zoo Station
Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass
Track #2: Even Better Than the Real Thing
Give me one last chance
And I'm gonna make you sing
Give me half a chance
To ride on the waves that you bring
You're a honey child
To a swarm of bees
Gonna blow right through ya
Like a breeze
Give me one last dance
We'll slide to the surface of things
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| The cover to the single "One" |
Track # 3: One
Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head?
Did I ask too much?
More than a lot?
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I've got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well, we hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you've got
When all you've got is hurt
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sister
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One
One
Track #4: Until the End of the World
In my dream
I was drowning my sorrows
But my sorrows they learned to swim
Surrounding me
Going down on me
Spilling over the brim
Waves of regret
And waves of joy
I reached out for the one
I tried to destroy
You
You said you'd wait
Until the end of the world
Track #5: Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
The deeper I spin
The hunter will sin
For your ivory skin
Took a drive in the dirty rain
To a place where the wind calls your name
Under the trees
The river laughing at you and me
Hallelujah
Heaven's white rose
The doors you open
I just can't close
Don't turn around
Don't turn around again
Don't turn around
Your gypsy heart
Don't turn around
Don't turn around again
Don't turn around
And don't look back
Come on now love
Don't you look back!
Track #6: So Cruel
She wears my love
Like a see-through dress
Her lips say one thing
Her movements something else
Oh, love
Like a screaming flower
Love
Dying every hour, ah
You don't know if it's fear or desire
Danger the drug that takes you higher
Head of heaven
Fingers in the mire
Her heart is racing
You can't keep up
The night is bleeding
Like a cut
Between the horses of love and lust
We're trampled underfoot
Track #7: The Fly
It's no secret that a conscience
Can sometimes be a pest
It's no secret ambition
Bites the nails of success
Every artist is a cannibal
Every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration
And sing about the grief
A man will rise
A man will fall
From the sheer face of love
Like a fly from a wall
It's no secret at all
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| A still shot from the "Mysterious Ways" music video |
Track #8: Mysterious Ways
Johnny take a dive
With your sister in the rain
Let her talk about the things
You can't explain
To touch is to heal
To hurt is to steal
If you want to kiss the sky
Better learn how to kneel
On your knees, boy!
Track #9: Tryin' to Throw Your Arm's Around the World
Yeah I dreamed that I saw Dali
With a supermarket trolley
He was tryin' to throw his arms
Around a girl
He took an open top beetle
Through the eye of a needle
He was tryin' to throw his arms
Around the world
Track #10: Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
I remember
When we could sleep on stones
Now we lie together
In whispers and moans
When I was all messed up
And I heard opera in my head
Your love was like a lightbulb
Hanging over my bed
Track #11: Acrobat
Don't believe what you hear
Don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
When I first met you, girl
You had fire in your soul
What happened t'your face
Of melting snow
Now it looks like this!
And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And don't let the bastards
Grind you down
Track #12: Love Is Blindness
Love is blindness
I don't wanna see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me?
Oh, my heart
Love is blindness
In a parked car
In a crowded street
You see your love
Made complete
Thread is ripping
The knot is slipping
Love is blindness
Love is clockwork
And cold steel
Fingers
Too numb to feel
Squeeze the handle
Blow out the candle
Love is blindness
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| The back cover of the album |
God Bless.
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