U2 Unplugged: An Introduction

The U2 Unplugged series of blog posts were chapters originally intended to be published as a book back in 2005. However, due to legal complications with reprinting the lyrics (thanks Universal!), the publisher I was working with at the time decided not to go forward with the project. The chapters sat on my computer for two years while I was trying to figure out what to do with them. In the end, I thought that the best solution was simply to make it readily available on my blog.

As you read through the U2 Unplugged series, I encourage you to dive into the meaning behind each song’s lyrics, discover their biblical foundation, and get practical about how you can apply these truths to your life. To help you out, I’ve included two things at the end of each chapter: an Action Steps box providing specific challenges to get you started living out the truth seen in the song, and a Diving Deeper box giving you Bible verses, books, and films that you can turn to for further exploration of the song’s theme.

Finally, keep in mind as you read U2 Unplugged that music is an art, not a science. U2 lyrics, in particular, are famed for their ability to be interpreted in many ways. While I attempt to tap into the meaning Bono and the others had in mind when they wrote the song, I am certain that I will take their lyrics into directions much different than U2 ever intended. So as you read through this book, keep in mind that I am offering an interpretation of the lyrics but not the official interpretation.

However, that’s one of the best qualities of music. We can experience the music for ourselves on our own terms and allow God to use it to transform our lives, even in ways that U2 never dreamed of.

Table of Contents

Preface: An Unmistakable Gospel Trail

Part One: Love’s Victory

1. The Club Vertigo Letters, “Vertigo”
2. Dancing the Perfect Storm, “Drowning Man”
3. Crashing into a World of Karma, “Grace”
4. Love for a Cross-Eyed Culture, “God Part II”

Part Two: God & Me

5. The Courting of an Untamed God, “Wild Honey”
6. Thirsty Worship, “Gloria”

Part Three: A Complete Faith in an Incomplete World

7. A Gritty Faith, “40”

8. The Overturned Sardine Can, “All Because of You”
9. Glimpses of a Far Off Country, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

Part Four: A Disciple’s Life

10. Mysteriously Ever After, “A Man and a Woman”
11. Sleeping Giants, “Crumbs from Your Table”
12. A God of Positive Promise, “Yahweh”

Note: The “chapter order” above is actually quite different than the date order in which they were posted onto the blog.

An Unmistakable Gospel Trail

U2 occupies a unique position – not only in the music world, but popular culture in general. Time’s “Man of the Year”. Designer iPods. Super Bowl halftime shows. The (RED) initiative. And meetings with heads of state and the church about the AIDS crisis in Africa. The influence of the Irish band, particularly its front man Bono, seems to be everywhere.

When asked to describe U2, Bono recently reflected, “The band always feels like it’s coming, never that it’s arrived.” Not only does Bono’s description reflect the ever-freshness of their music and their ability to reinvent themselves, but also the spiritual journey of the band members themselves: Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullin. Since the band released their initial album Boy in 1980, each of the foursome have experienced the best and worst the world has to offer. To borrow from one of their most popular tunes, each has both “climbed the highest mountains” and “held hands with the devil”.

Yet, regardless of the highs and lows of their personal walks of faith, the Christian truth expressed in a large body of their work is unmistakable. Whispers of Christ’s teaching show up in some spots, and direct quotes from scripture are found in others. And, when you look at their discography as a whole, you can see a clear “Gospel trail” – signs that much of their music is written from a perspective that assumes, even requires, biblical Christianity.

I discovered that “Gospel trail” for myself growing up in the 1980s when I listened to my first U2 album, War. In fact, I was recently reminded of the spiritual influence that their songs had on me during that time period. During the process of writing the U2 Unplugged series, I serendipitously stumbled upon an old, worn-out Bible that I’ve kept stored away since my high school days. A photocopy of the lyrics to “Drowning Man” was taped inside the front cover of the Bible. Perhaps foreshadowing this series, several lyrics were circled with notes scribbled in the margin. Even back then, I was eager to unplug the Christian truth found inside their songs.

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A Gritty Faith: Unplugging U2’s “40″

Part 12 of 12 in the U2 Unplugged Series

I am convinced there is a “Now gene” swimming inside every human body. A two-year child reaching out for a toy at the counter never sees next week as an option. A couple madly in love yearns to be together tonight, not tomorrow. Much of our postmodern economy, in fact, is built on the importance of Now: credit cards, downloadable music, video-on-demand, lottery tickets, to name but a few examples. Pundits call us the “instant society” for obvious reasons.

If we have a “Now gene” that influences us towards instant gratification, I can easily guess its source of origin – our humanness. On the one hand, you can make a case that this desire for the immediate isn’t altogether bad; perhaps it is the natural response that any person, bound by time and space, will inevitably have. On the other hand, Satan recognizes “Get It Now” as one of his most effective weapons, because it allows us to receive what we most desire without requiring any inward change on our part to get it. The net effect of an undisciplined “Now gene” is that we become spoiled, unappreciative, and self-absorbed creatures.

But, as you explore the scriptures, you will see that God has a much different sort of genetics in mind: he wants to infuse our spiritual blood streams with a “Waiting gene.” When we need his help, God promises to be there for us. But, before he takes action, God often wants us to hold out, just a while longer, and then he will engineer circumstances in our lives and rescue us according to his timetable.

On the War album, U2 features two songs, both heavily influenced by the Book of Psalms, that show two different types of rescues that God makes in our lives. In “Drowning Man”, they sing of God’s instantaneous rescues, particularly when eternity is at stake. The final song on the album, “40” [lyrics] [iTunes], explores a much different sort of saving act: a deliverance from earthly pain and hardship that takes a far longer time to realize. Echoing the words of David in Psalm 40, “40” initially sounds like a simple song of worship. But, as you look closer, a remarkable real-world texture begins to surface. The juxtaposition of gratitude, hope, and desperation in the song reflects the ups and downs every believer has living in this world.

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Glimpses of a Far Off Country: Unplugging U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

Part 11 in the U2 Unplugged Series

“I Found It”. This slogan was used by an evangelistic organization back in the mid-1970s as a creative way to spread the gospel through mass marketing techniques. As a child growing up during that era, I remember yellow “I Found It” bumper stickers, t-shirts, billboards, and advertisements appearing everywhere around our home town. But as I look back at that campaign, I wonder how effective the slogan really was. There’s some truth in the message, but “I Found It” seems too simplistic and perhaps even misleading to describe the Christian faith. After all, believers aren’t immune to problems: we still struggle with addictions, experience tragedy, and make lousy decisions. We get a taste of Jesus Christ and his fantastic plans for us in the future, but never experience them fully as long as we are living in this sinful world.

In one of their best known songs from their entire discography, U2 sings about an incomplete journey of faith in “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” [Lyrics] [iTunes]. On the surface, the title may sound like a confession of unbelief. But, in reality, the song is an honest look at the struggle that all believers face as we seek a fulfilled life.

Flickers

A longing. It’s the pang in your stomach when you’re in love. You can sense it as you gaze over the glorious snow-capped peaks of the Colorado Rockies. You can feel it in your soul during a great worship or prayer time. C.S. Lewis observed that this intense desire, which he refers to as “joy”, is for something that nothing on earth ever truly quenches. You can catch a glimpse of it, but this longing is fleeting. In his poem Dymer, Lewis reflects on joy’s unattainable nature: “Joy flickers on the razor-edge of the present and is gone.” Lewis believed that was exactly how God intended it, that joy is meant to be a clue or a pointer to the fact we are made for another place, for his “far off country.”
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The Overturned Sardine Can: Unplugging U2’s “All Because of You”

Part 10 in the U2 Unplugged Series

More ugliness. That’s what I expected to see as I rode in the back of a pick-up truck into La Saline, the poorest slum of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Since traveling to the Caribbean nation on a missions trip, I’d seen, smelled, and tasted ugliness all week long; the early morning truck ride offered up more of the same: poverty; disease; and malnutrition.

My destination was a church located in the heart of La Saline. The truck soon pulled up to the makeshift shelter: scraps of sheet metal bound together, resembling an overturned sardine can for the church’s 200 worshippers. As I made my way into the building and took a seat, I was not in a spirit of worship; I was just looking forward to the ride back to a more palatable part of the city. But as the morning service got underway, and I began to look around and see what was happening around me, something radical happened. The ugliness of the slum faded away. God offered me a window into what real beauty is. The worshippers had a beauty that went far beyond anything else the world has to offer – be it a sunset in Fiji, a fashion model, or a Michelangelo masterpiece. In their worn, weathered faces, I saw how “knock-out gorgeous” a full life with Christ can be. The joyful eyes and deep smiles in that church were far more infectious than the disease found in the open sewer outside the church building. Beauty, I came to realize, is not skin deep at all; it springs from the fullness of a soul transformed by Christ.

In “All Because of You” [Lyrics] [iTunes], U2 looks at this kind of inner beauty. The song contrasts the ugliness of the world with the completeness of a life transformed by Christ.

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Mysteriously Ever After: Unplugging U2’s “A Man and a Woman”

Part 9 in the U2 Unplugged Series

The Greek language may have four words that express different types of love, but Hollywood portrays love as having one meaning: romance. Any “feel good” romantic comedy – such as You’ve Got Mail, Sabrina, Only You, or Notting Hill – focuses on the saga of two unlikely people falling in love with each other. But, these films always end the moment the couple finally gets together, marries, and lives happily ever after.

In contrast, a lively, dynamic marriage is never explored in film; perhaps the underlying assumption is that now that the couple is together, the excitement is over. In fact, marriage tends to be depicted on screen only when the relationship is failing or when it serves as a back story to something more important.

The problem comes when we start to believe what we watch in the movies and hear in Top 40 love songs – that “falling in love” is what fulfills us. Then, when we don’t feel the magic or experience the romance in our everyday life, we can become disillusioned and give up on our marriage, thinking there’s something wrong with it or the person we are committed to.
Within this romance–crazed culture, U2’s “A Man and a Woman” [Lyrics] [iTunes] offers a much different take. Instead of writing Yet Another Love Song for his wife Ali, Bono writes a far deeper, more probing, and ultimately redemptive tune. The result is a musical peek into what true married love is all about.

The Engine of Marriage

“I Want to Know What Love Is” was the piercing question that the rock band Foreigner asked in their hit tune of the same name back in the mid-1980s. Their song seems to serve as an unspoken theme for a postmodern society confused about love and the expectations we should have. If the Foreigner song poses the question, U2 answers it with an exclamation point on their How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb album. For, in “A Man and a Woman”, U2 tells what true love is. The song echoes the words of C.S. Lewis contrasting romance and love:

“Being in love” is a good thing, but it is not the best thing…Love as distinct from “being in love” is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for one another even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be “in love” with someone else…It is only on this love that the engine of marriage is run; being in love was the explosion that started it.

The type of love that Bono sings and Lewis writes about has a special quality to it I call “texture”. Much like a cloth is assembled by interweaving a multitude of individual strings, textured love is bound together by a collection of strands: romance, friendship, common interests, mutual goals, physical intimacy, children, and shared ministries. In a marriage between believers, all of these strands are held together with the grace of Jesus Christ.
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Thirsty Worship: Unplugging U2’s “Gloria”

Part 8 in the the U2 Unplugged series

God thirsts to be thirsted after.
— St. Augustine

The phrase “yada yada” is part of our cultural lingo. It comes from a classic Seinfeld episode in which members of the TV sitcom begin substituting the words “yada, yada, yada” to shorten up stories they didn’t want to discuss. Yet, it also seems to reflect a bad habit that we can fall into when we worship on Sunday morning. We start out singing praise music or hymns with the best of intentions, but our minds race and the words slowly morph from words of praise into phrases we mouth but don’t really consider. At that point, the choruses mean as much to us as if we were singing “yada, yada, yada”.

When we have a difficult time making the most of our worship, U2’s “Gloria” [Lyrics] [iTunes] helps us get perspective. The early U2 song, from their October album, offers us a glimpse into the nature of the God, showing us why God is due our praise as well as how we can respond to him.

Casualizing God

Have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Flick the channel to a Christian television show or listen in the pews of most churches today, you’ll undoubtedly hear those words. The idea behind this statement is that Christianity offers more than just following the rules of a distant deity. Instead, in a very real way, you can enter into a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. The song “Wild Honey”, for example, reinforces this idea of a intimate relationship with the God of the universe.

Such a message is an incredible fact of the Christian faith. However, the downside to stressing the personal nature of our relationship with God is our tendency to casualize our relationship with God and treat him like we would a mere mortal. We can find ourselves glazing over the reality that we are speaking of the all-powerful, all-holy God and creator of the universe.
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A God of Positive Promise: Unplugging U2’s “Yahweh”

Part 7 in the U2 Unplugged Series

“Don’t let the bastards grind it out of you.” This motto, popularized by a general in the U.S. Army during World War II, symbolized the harsh reality of a soldier in the midst of a bitter war. Be tough. Be persistent. Or the enemy is going to outlast and defeat you. This teeth-clenching, us-against-the-world attitude is reflected in U2’s “Acrobat” on the 1991 Achtung Baby album. Bono sings “Don’t let the bastards grind it out of you” in the song’s chorus. In doing so, he expresses the mindset of defiance and self preservation that we can find ourselves falling into during hard times and when the world, even God, seems to be against us. Gut instinct says this attitude is exactly what you need to survive in this hostile world.

Thirteen years after the release of “Acrobat”, U2 sings a much different tune with “Yahweh” [Lyrics] [iTunes], the final track on their How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb release. If “Acrobat” is all about self-protection, “Yahweh” is nothing less than a step-by-step guide to abandoning yourself. Where “Acrobat” raises a fist at pain, “Yahweh” actually embraces it. This spiritual journey – from a self-absorbed “acrobat” to someone willing to give everything to God – mirrors the path that all people must take once they decide to live for Jesus Christ. We all start out preoccupied with ourselves, but God brings us to the point where we are asked to give it all up for Him.

In “Yahweh”, U2 sums up the heart of what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about. The song is a broad, open-ended invitation for God to take over every part of your life, even when pain and suffering floods in around you. According to U2, you can make this offering with hope and confidence because of one reason: God is who He says He is; He is Yahweh.

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The Courting of an Untamed God: Unplugging U2’s “Wild Honey”

Part 6 in the U2 Unplugged Series

O Love ever burning and never extinguished caritas, my God, set me on fire.

– St. Augustine

Romantic tension is an essential plot device found in most any film, whether it is a romantic comedy, thriller, or action adventure. Consider Indy and Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca. You’ve Got Mail’s Joe and Kathleen. Or James Bond and his fling-of-the-moment in the latest 007 adventure.

Romance is an integral part of the films we watch because moviemakers know it sells tickets. We want romance portrayed on the silver screen, just like we want it in real life. It’s part of how we are wired. We long to pursue someone we admire or crave to have an admirer woo us. We yearn to go beyond ourselves and share something special with someone we are attracted to.

The concept of romance is usually reserved to describe a passionate relationship between a man and a woman. In the song “Wild Honey” [Lyrics] [iTunes], however, U2 spins convention upside down. Using romantic imagery, U2 explores the nature of God’s untamed relationship that he’d like to have with you and I. Not only does “Wild Honey” cause you to revisit your understanding of what romance is, but also the very nature of God’s love.

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The Club Vertigo Letters: Unplugging U2’s “Vertigo”

Part 5 in the U2 Unplugged Series

Temptation has an ultimate source: the Bible calls him Satan or the devil. In the postmodern world, however, we usually downplay or dismiss the role of Satan in our lives. After all, in a world of rugged individualists, we rather like the idea that we are masters of our own fate.

We may be free creatures, but we fool ourselves if we believe Satan has no influence in our lives. The Apostle Paul speaks in Romans of a spiritual battle taking place all around us. He stressed that our fights with temptation aren’t against what is going on in front of our eyes, but against spiritual forces that we cannot see or touch.

There are two dangers when you think about Satan, observed author C.S. Lewis. One is not taking him seriously enough and the other is taking him too seriously. With that in mind, Lewis penned his classic book The Screwtape Letters, a fictional account of a senior devil named Screwtape giving advice to the junior devil named Wormwood on the art of temptation. The age-old popularity of The Screwtape Letters stems from the fact that the book reads much like a sneak peek inside the playbook of the opposing team, a rare window into a nasty world in which Satan is called “Our Father”, people are “patients”, and God is considered “the Enemy”. Lewis believed that when you better understand the tricks of the opposition, you can better equip yourself as you head into spiritual battle on a day-in, day-out basis.

The song “Vertigo” [Lyrics] [iTunes] speaks about the kind of influence that Satan has over us and how temptation creeps into our lives when we don’t run from it. However, the song also offers insight into how we can overcome temptation – looking for the love of God in the midst of our sin and surrendering our wills to Jesus Christ.

With a nod of the cap to C.S. Lewis, consider a look at the major ideas expressed in “Vertigo” in the spirit of The Screwtape Letters. (Before reading below, you may wish to glance over the lyrics briefly to better understand the overall flow of the discussion.)

Dear Uncle Screwtape,

I was quite surprised to hear of your recent demotion and reassignment as an entry-level tempter within my department. How the mighty have fallen! Maybe now you will realize that senile, old timers like you must make way for the up-&-comers from my generation. It’s all in the name of progress, my dearest uncle. Progress.

Temptation has come a long way since you were responsible for your own patient on the front lines. I wanted to write you some words of advice to help on your first assignment. Consider it “payment-in-kind” for the series of letters you penned early in my career.

Your first order of business when you begin to tempt your patient is to lead him into darkness and confusion. Turn his head into a jungle, so to speak. The human mind is “ground zero” for waging attacks on the soul. I know a research report was recently circulated in other departments that claimed our efforts should target a patient’s emotions and feelings. I won’t argue with two points of the paper: Humans can’t rule their heart, and their feelings are much stronger than their thoughts. But the rest of the research is total nonsense. The so-called experts fail to realize that if you are going to win any battle for emotions, you must first initiate your attack on the patient’s mind.

Many fashionable theories being floated around Hell these days recommend staying away from the mind altogether, claiming that the Enemy has an unfair advantage on that front. After all, he can read human thoughts, while we are left guessing what the patient really thinks. My belief, however, is that the Enemy’s advantage is overrated. As best we can tell, he never seems to exploit these mind-reading abilities like he could. Instead of using this inside information to coerce and manipulate, the Enemy continues to give the human scum the freedom to make their own decisions.

Yet, here lies our opportunity, my uncle, since most humans live a life of no restraints, doing what they want to do when they want to do it. Granted, a few profess allegiance to the Enemy and give token opposition to our attacks. But, when you turn up the pressure, you can get the majority of religious patients to compromise their faith well before they will let go of their self-interest.

Christians, for example, love to talk about grace and forgiveness – that is until they are the ones called upon to forgive someone who has hurt them. Once they are confronted with this cold dose of reality, they inevitably realize that Our Father Below was right all along – that the world really is a zero-sum game made up of winners and losers. I recall your words to me from long ago: “‘To be’ means ‘to be in competition.’” The Enemy’s flawed idea of grace makes it clear that he has no grip on how the universe actually works.

The human mind is our battlefield, Uncle Screwtape. Bombard your patient’s head with temptations. Many of your arrows will not stick. But if you can get just get a couple to take root, then you’ve accomplished your goal. With a firm foothold in a patient’s mind, you can launch a full force invasion on his emotions. He’ll never know what hit him.

Your endearing teacher and nephew,

Wormwood

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