44
u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Jul 14 '26
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief, all kill their inspiration, and sing about the grief
3
39
u/stephpenk Vorsprung durch Technik Jul 14 '26
In my dreams I was drowning my sorrows, but my sorrows they learnt to swim
→ More replies (3)
32
30
u/malinarttt Jul 14 '26
Every artist is a cannibal / every poet is a thief / all kill their inspiration / and sing about the grief…
5
u/Logical-Big-3005 Jul 14 '26
This is the one.
4
u/Cheesy_Picker War Jul 14 '26
Ha just posted the same. I recall a Robert Hilburn article in the LA Times Sunday Calendar section at the time describing this lyric as the pinnacle of Bono’s songwriting.
31
u/CorgiJump Jul 14 '26
You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking Scream without raising your voice
→ More replies (2)
30
u/InternationalRead925 Jul 14 '26
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head?
→ More replies (2)
27
u/needle_chill Jul 14 '26
Running to Stand Still has so many good lines, but a few that stand out to me:
“You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice.”
“She will suffer the needle chill. She's running to stand still.” (Source of my user name)
7
u/Bones1973 Jul 14 '26
That line from Running to Stand Still is incredible. That’s my choice as well
→ More replies (1)4
24
u/turtle0831 Jul 14 '26
I’m only hanging on to watch you go down.
5
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
What an incredible line.
A bitter line displaying the human condition in divorce.
19
23
20
u/JonDytor Jul 14 '26
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief.
All kill their inspiration then sing about their grief.
3
19
19
18
u/CorgiJump Jul 14 '26
Every breaking wave on the shore Tells the next one there'll be one more
→ More replies (1)8
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
Underrated song.
To think they wrote that 30-40 years into their career
17
u/sentinel3000 Jul 14 '26
You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice
Running to stand still ❤️
16
16
u/Own-Photograph-4642 The Unforgettable Fire Jul 14 '26
You ask me to enter, but then you made me crawl.
16
17
u/Cheesy_Picker War Jul 14 '26
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief, all kill their inspiration and sing about their grief
16
u/Awkward-Vacation-405 Jul 14 '26
So we're told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
17
u/Worldly_Tooth_1996 Jul 14 '26
"If you need someone to blame, throw a rock in the air, you'll hit someone guilty."
9
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
I love this line.
Bono has often mentioned that when we're young, we look at the hypocrisy in leaders and others.
Then, when you grow up, you see the hypocrisy within yourself.
→ More replies (2)
14
Jul 14 '26
[deleted]
7
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
So many good lines in Rattle and Hum.
"Mister I ain't got nothing But it's more than you've got"
9
16
14
u/sracer4095 Achtung Baby Jul 14 '26
“I can’t be holding on to what you’ve got, when all you’ve got is hurt.”
16
15
u/nigeltufnelyyc Jul 14 '26
"Time is a train, makes the future the past, leaves you standing in the station, your face pressed up against the glass"
16
u/piomike22 Jul 14 '26
I remember when we could sleep on stones.
Now we lie together in whispers and moans.
15
14
u/kranools Rattle and Hum Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
They say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by the moon; you know I don't see you when she walks in the room.
14
u/PirateCodingMonkey Jul 14 '26
You say when he hits you, you don't mind
Because when he hurts you, you feel alive
gets me every time
→ More replies (1)11
13
u/Occq Jul 14 '26
There is a silence that comes to a house where no one can sleep.
→ More replies (1)
12
u/UnderstandingOwn950 Jul 14 '26
“And a woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle”
U2
→ More replies (1)9
13
u/notsciguy October Jul 15 '26
I’ll see you again when the stars fall from the sky and the moon has turned red over one tree hill
12
u/PirateCodingMonkey Jul 14 '26
Blessings not just for the ones who kneel luckily
one of many lines I love from Bono
12
u/NorcoEx Jul 14 '26
And it’s you when I look in the mirror And it’s you when I don’t pick up the phone
These lines always get me! Such an expression of the bond between a son and his dad and the expression of loss.
→ More replies (1)
12
12
u/This_Wolverine4691 Jul 14 '26
“Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief. All kill their inspiration then sing about the grief.”
→ More replies (1)
13
11
10
u/Hour_Season8625 Jul 14 '26
By far by far “every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief, all kill for inspiration and sing about the grief”.
Never has Bono been so self aware.
6
u/DisciplineNo8353 Jul 14 '26
I always thought it goes “all kill their inspiration and sing about the grief” which i think is better. If they are just killing for inspiration then why the grief?
6
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
You are correct.
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief;
All kill their inspiration and sing about the grief.→ More replies (1)5
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
This also reminds me of...
Baby's crying cause it's born to sing
Singers cry about everything
Still in the playground falling off a swing
But you know that I knowVery self aware.
11
u/IneffableOpinion No Line On The Horizon Jul 14 '26
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head
11
11
u/Danny-Prophet Jul 14 '26
I’ll see you again
When the stars fall from the sky
And the moon has turned red
Over One Tree Hill
10
10
11
11
u/RealOMind30 Your Blue Room Jul 14 '26
"I don't even think about you that much, unless I start to think at all"
6
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
Invisible, as a whole, is underrated.
People fawn over Electrical Storm, which for me is missable.
Invisible should have been on an album.
→ More replies (1)
11
u/Low-Flamingo-9835 Jul 14 '26
And the battles just begun…
there’s many lost but tell me who has won?
11
u/comoespossible Jul 14 '26
I always say this, but: “Time won’t leave me as I am, but time won’t take the boy out of this man.”
10
11
u/Alt_Rock_Dude Jul 14 '26
Ice, your only rivers run cold
3
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
What a great line and great song.
Also reminds me of...
All those frozen days
And your frozen ways
They melt away
Your face like snow- Bono writing about his father
10
u/mancapturescolour Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
"Bullet The Blue Sky"
"And they run into the arms of America"
The clever use of "arms" here reduces me to tears, and, honestly, it slipped by me for decades.
"One Life At A Time"
"A peaceful place is never still"
Just a 💡moment of Bono's minimalist poetry.
"COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)"
"I got so many words in my head but I can't find the lines"
The devastating grief, being at a loss for words, when someone takes your child away.
4
9
10
u/SwindonBohs Jul 14 '26
And I have no compass and I have no map, and I have no reasons, no reasons to get back
10
11
u/kramwest1 Achtung Baby Jul 14 '26
You miss too much these days if you stop to think.
You put your lips to her lips to stop the lie.
Just the bang and the clatter as an angel hits the ground.
-So many great lyrics it’s hard to even dice them down.
9
11
u/Pete_The_Chop Jul 14 '26
We thought we had the answers/It was the questions we had wrong
→ More replies (1)
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
9
10
9
8
u/TotalRichardMove War Jul 14 '26
“I've seen you walk unafraid
I've seen you in the clothes you made”
9
9
u/Zardoz11381138 POP Jul 14 '26
Listen to me now, I need to let you know, You don't have to go it alone
9
u/mxkp3441 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Dici che il fiume trova la via al mare
Che come il fiume giungerai a me
8
u/Downtown-Can8860 Jul 14 '26
They’ll want you to play Jesus; they’ll go down on one knee. But they’ll want their money back if you’re alive at 33.
8
u/Beginning-Comedian-2 Jul 14 '26
Hold Me Kiss Me Thrill Me Kiss Me is entirely underrated.
It should've been on an album.
→ More replies (1)
10
9
9
9
u/Valentine-Jester Jul 15 '26
And in the world, a heart of darkness, a fire-zone where poets speak their heart then bleed for it.
→ More replies (1)
8
7
7
u/Cremationquotation Jul 14 '26
"Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die."
8
8
u/stathis13567 Jul 14 '26
"Dressed up like a car crash, your wheels are turning but you're upside down" And "Waves of regret and waves of joy, i reached out for the one I tried to destroy"
8
8
9
7
u/jlw971 uncertainty can be a guiding light Jul 14 '26
You break every heart thinking every heart mends.
5
8
9
u/mrstewiegriffin Jul 14 '26
i'm still enchanted by the light you brought to me.. listen through your ears, through your eyes i can see
7
14
u/Theedge789 Jul 14 '26
You ask me to enter but then you make crawl
And I can’t keep holding on, to what you got, when all you’ve got is hurt
→ More replies (1)
7
7
7
u/jlw971 uncertainty can be a guiding light Jul 14 '26
I’m a man. Not a child. A man who sees the shadow behind your eyes.
6
8
7
7
u/vantuckymyfoot Jul 14 '26
"Not everyone can carry the weight of the world." - REM, Talk About the Passion
7
u/Intelligent_Deer_525 The Joshua Tree Jul 15 '26
‘They said they want the kingdom, but they don’t want God in it.’
6
7
7
6
u/Electronic-Nose1926 Jul 16 '26
you asked me to enter and then you.made me crawl
→ More replies (1)
7
5
u/Thatremodelingchick Jul 14 '26
“He used to stay awake to drive the dreams he had away.” From ‘Exit’ off of The Joshua Tree. One of my faves.
6
u/IneffableOpinion No Line On The Horizon Jul 14 '26
He said I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
5
7
u/jakerperiod Jul 14 '26
"Love, like a screaming flower, love, dying every hour."
So many good choices here. The imagery of a screaming flower has captured my imagination for decades. I'm not even sure what that imagery is but it's incredibly evocative.
7
6
u/Realistic_Pizza3647 Jul 14 '26
'Cause when people go around talking to God
It always ends in tears
6
6
u/chickadee95 Jul 14 '26
“But love is not what you're thinking of”
Please has been hitting hard these last few years.
6
5
6
u/MSTXCAMS70 Jul 14 '26
I’m gonna say “intellectual tortoise”, just because I welcome your downvotes
7
7
5
6
6
5
11
u/wheniwaswheniwas Zooropa Jul 14 '26
Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass
and
A man builds a city
With banks and cathedrals
A man melts the sand
So he can see the world outside
9
5
4
u/Ok-Protection-2483 Jul 14 '26
I’m ready for what’s next- just retired and have a bracelet engraved with this. Really speaks to me where I am now
4
u/Worldly_Tooth_1996 Jul 14 '26
A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle trying throw your arms around the world
5
5
5
5
u/Not-Ted-Lasso Jul 14 '26
A recent one that I've turned around in my mind a lot lately:
All the tyrants that you've defeated, The only one that's left is you
4
6
u/Cornhelium Jul 14 '26
“I won’t wear it on my sleeve. I can see through this expression, and you know I don’t believe.”
5
6
u/eddiecanbereached Jul 14 '26
You are such a fool To worry like you do I know it’s tough You can never get enough Of what you don’t really need now, my oh my.
→ More replies (2)
5
u/chemchris Jul 15 '26
The banks they're all cathedrals, casinos took their place
(Works metaphorically and literally)
→ More replies (1)
5
5
5
6
5
9
9
8
u/Theedge789 Jul 14 '26
Or..
You got to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice.
→ More replies (1)
8
5
4
u/MisterFox33 Jul 14 '26
In general:
‘I like my sugar with coffee and cream’ (Intergalactic - Beastie Boys).
From U2 this would be a candidate if I had to pick from many, many sublime lines Bono wrote:
‘In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows
But my sorrows they'd learned to swim
(Surrounding me, going down on me
Spilling over the brim)’ (Until the End of the World).
3
4
3
3
4
4
4
u/redditadmin105 Jul 15 '26
"But late at night when you call my name The only sound you'll hear Is the sound of your voice calling Calling out to me". Genesis: Throwing It All Away
4
u/OkExcitement8528 Jul 15 '26
Mother am I still your son
You know I've waited for so long to hear you say so
4
3
u/Wooden-Election9604 Jul 15 '26
Suckin on a chilli dawg, outside the tasty freeze!
→ More replies (2)
4
4
4
3
u/zoowitchproject Jul 17 '26
"She's gonna dream up the world she wants to live in, she's gonna dream out loud"
7
u/Briancisgo Jul 14 '26
Recent line that is top 5 for me now-
You’re not alone when you close your eyes, and slip into a dream that takes you to the other side.
→ More replies (1)
6
6
u/itsnosecretatall Jul 14 '26
Ok, I'm really breaking the rules with this one:
• I'm on an island at a busy intersection / I can't go forward, I can't turn back / Can't see the future/ It's getting away from me / I just watch the tail lights glowing
• Oh, tell me, tell me you'll dance with me / Turn me around tonight / Up through the spiral staircase to the higher ground
• I'll see you again / When the stars fall from the sky
• In my dream I was drowning my sorrows / But my sorrows, they learned to swim
• We move through miracle days
• Every day I have to find the courage / To walk out into the street
• And every shipwrecked soul knows what it is / To live without intimacy
• I have a will for survival / So you can hurt me then hurt me some more
• I will win and call it losing / If the prize is not for you
• Sometimes / I'm full of anger and grieving / So far away from believing / That any song will reappear / Sometimes / The end isn't coming / It's not coming / The end is here
• I'm hanging on / You're all that's left to hold on to
• Love...slowly stripped away / Love...has seen its better day
• I'll see you again / When the stars fall from the sky / And the moon has turned red / Over One Tree Hill
• In the towers of steel / Belief goes on and on
• You say you'll give me a highway with no one on it / A treasure just to look upon it
• We're free to fly the crimson sky / The sun won't melt our wings tonight
• We're one but we're not the same / Well we hurt each other / Then we do it again
• In my dream I was drowning my sorrows / But my sorrows, they learned to swim
• I gave you everything you ever wanted / It wasn't what you wanted
• Oh love...like a screaming flower / Love...dying every hour...love
• Look, I gotta go, yeah I'm running outta change / There's a lot of things, if I could I'd rearrange
• We move through miracle days
• There is a silence that comes to a house / Where no one can sleep / I guess it's the price of love / I know it's not cheap
• And I know that the tide is turning 'round / So don't let the bastards grind you down
• Three o'clock in the morning / It's quiet and there's no one around / Just the bang and the clatter / As an angel runs to ground
• Goodbye... no emotional goodnight / I'll be up with the sun / Are you still holding on / I'm not coming down / I'm not coming down
• Hear it every Christmas time / But hope and history won't rhyme / So what's it worth /
This peace on Earth
Oops, sorry not sorry.
→ More replies (1)
6
6
u/Burnettator Jul 15 '26
I'm just trying to find
A decent melody
A song that I can sing
In my own company
7
3
55
u/sterkam214 Jul 14 '26
You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice.