Bono shares a new song, “Let Your Love Be Known”

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2020-03-17)

On St. Patrick’s Day 2020, as the world was in the midst of worries about the Corona virus, Bono posted a video to Instagram singing a new song. He introduces the song by saying, “Little postcards from bubblin’ Dublin on St Patrick’s Day, a little tune, made up here about an hour ago. I think it’s called ‘Let Your Love Be Known.’” The text posted with the video says “For the Italians who inspired it… for the Irish…for ANYONE who this St. Patrick’s day is in a tight spot and still singing. For the doctors, nurses, carers on the front line, it’s you we’re singing to. Bono”

The song is a new title, not one we’ve heard before, and Bono’s claim is that it is indeed something new he has come up with on that day. The song can be heard on Instagram here. Our stab at the lyrics are below.

The lyrics he sings are as follows (to our best ability to decipher things, anyway!):

Let Your Love be Known
(Lyrics by Bono)

Yes there was silence
Yes there was no people here
Yes I walk through the streets of Dublin
and no one was near.

Yes I don’t know you
No I didn’t think I didn’t care
You live so very far away from
Just across the square.

And I can’t reach
But I can ring
You can’t touch.
But you can, you can sing.
Across rooftops

Sing down the phone
Sing and promise me you won’t stop
Sing your love be known
Oh let your love be known.

Yes there is isolation
You and me we’re still here
Yes when we open our eyes
We will stare down the fear.

And maybe i said the wrong thing
Yes I made you smile
I guess the longest distance
is always the last mile.

I can’t reach
But I can ring
You can’t touch
but you can, you can sing
Across rooftops.

Sing to me down the phone
Sing and promise me you won’t stop
Sing and you’re never alone
Sing as an act of resistance.

Sing though your heart is overthrown
Sing, when you sing there is no distance
So let your love be known
Oh let your love be known.

Though your heart is overhtrown
Let your love be known.

This is the first new song that U2 has mentioned by name since finishing “The Joshua Tree Tour 2019” in December. During that tour, U2 did release a new single with A.R. Rahman, titled “Ahimsa“ which was the band’s first new music since 2017’s Songs of Experience. We are told that the band are spending the next year working on new material for an as yet unnamed album.

Thanks to our friends at U2360gradi.it we have an Italian translation of the lyrics above:

Sì, c’era silenzio
Sì, qui non c’erano persone
Sì, cammino per le strade di Dublino
E nessuno è nei paraggi

Sì, non ti conosco
No, non pensavo non me ne importasse
Vivete molto più lontano
Che dall’altro lato della piazza

E non posso raggiungervi
Ma posso suonare
Non potete toccarvi
Ma potete, potete cantare
Fra i terrazzi

Cantate attraverso il telefono
Cantate e promettetemi di non smettere
Cantate per far conoscere il vostro amore
Oh fate conoscere il vostro amore

Sì, c’è l’isolamento
Voi ed io siamo ancora qui
Sì, quando apriremo i nostri occhi
Guarderemo dall’alto la paura

E forse ho detto la cosa sbagliata
Sì, vi ho fatto sorridere
Immagino che la distanza più lunga
Sia sempre l’ultimo miglio

Non posso raggiungervi
Ma posso suonare
Non potete toccarvi
Ma potete, potete cantare
Fra i terrazzi

Cantate attraverso il telefono
Cantate e promettetemi di non smettere
Cantate e non sarete mai soli
Cantate come atto di resistenza

Cantate anche se il vostro cuore è sottosopra
Cantate, quando cantate non c’è distanza
Quindi fate conoscere il vostro amore
Oh fate conoscere il vostro amore

Anche se il vostro cuore è sottosopra
Fate conoscere il vostro amore

Many thanks to Gaetano Chirico de Le Migliori Frasi degli U2 for the translation, also found at U2360Gradi.it.

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