Originally posted by miryclay:I would imagine emotionally connecting to a wayward person. Possible terrorist, Someone on the brink
This song is dedicated to Joe Strummer, singer of The Clash. The song "celebrates The Clash spirit of passion and purposefulness", according to Neil McCormick. As with many U2 songs, the lyrics are ambiguous. One interpretation is that U2 was "enlisted" to The Clash army after seeing them live, surrendering to the band (they've "come to colonize your night and steal your poetry") and knowing that "the world would never be the same" and now we can reach those Irish boys there, in The Clash camp. Alex (ahn1991) offers another interpretation, a political one. "This song is about the soldiers", as for them, "surrendering their will" is the only weapon they know.
Bono on his view of the song: "Seeing The Clash for the first time on their first tour in Trinity College Dublin was a coordinates changing experience for me, Edge, Adam and Larry. We went home that night exhausted from the riot of noise and ideas. We couldn't sleep because we knew we were sleeping in the wrong beds. We had migrated -mentally, spiritually... Joe Strummer was some soldier... his guitar a weapon, his mouth almighty. We weren't sure exactly what they were fighting for/against but this was a public service announcement with guitars on behalf of the soul and we signed up."
Musically, U2start users bartajax, RattleandHum1988 and Yogi found a sample of Slug and even One Minute Warning from Passengers at the beginning of the song. RUMMY and Andrew_C found some similarities in the guitar intro with "Gimme Shelter".
Originally posted by iver54:[..]
How does it relate with the Innocence theme and Bono himself?
Originally posted by miryclay:[..]
A common theme in Bono's writing is loss of innocence, people crossing personal lines, etc. RBW deals with the Talbot Street bombing of 74. I would imagine that this song deals with the same issues. But I'm not certain.