anyone got the new "Mercy" lyrics figured out?

[Bundang Dave]

Update:

The WAIE version has some new lyrics to it, including, I think, changing:

Nowhere else to go, and there's no one left to trust

to:

Like a diamond on a bed of rust, like the rhyme of love and lust


Anyone else pick up on other changes?

[The Unknown Caller]

The WAIE version is going to be the one to watch, because as you note, they actually change that line- the new one has been dubbed over the live version. (Bono did not sing the new lyrics in Brussels)

The line "Nowhere else to go, and there's no-one left to trust" changed in each chorus- in the first and third  it's "Like a diamond on a bed of rust, like the rhyme of love and lust" as you said, in the second, it's "Neither can you resist. And neither can you trust."

[MarsGirl~Descends to Hell for a bottle of milk]

The Mercy lyrics have been all over the place since the beginning. Although, I really do like the song. AND, I've been a fan for over 20 years too. Except that I was about 10 when I started liking them so maybe my opinion counts less.

I did not like the recorded/unreleased version of this song because it seemed to wander to me with nowhere to go. When I first heard Mercy live, I felt lukewarm to it, loving the other new songs much better (EBW, North Star, Glastonbury). Now, like a lot of the NLOTH songs, Mercy has really grown on me and I like it a lot. I personally dont think it's mediocre.... I cant wait to hear a studio version with the new lyrics/chorus.

[sherri]

I'll take a shot at it.

I was drinking some wine and it turned to blood.
What's the use of religion if you're only good.

False religion/religious hypocrisy - people going to church but it not changing them very much just making them 'respectable'?

I know I'm weedkiller honey and you're sugar.
If you were the prosecution, I'd get away with murder.

Christians letting him get away with murder (or the hypothetical subject of the song) because he/they are famous. So again, hypocrisy.

You're gravity searching for the ground.

The truth is right in front of you but the hypocrisy blinds you to it.

You're silence searching for a sound.

 again, because they won't face the truth they end up continuing to search for it.

My heart is aching.
Your heart is my home.
It's fascinating.
I know I'll never be alone.

faith thing?

Chorus
You wanna kill me, and I wanna die.
We were meant for each other, you and I.
Nowhere else to go, and there's no one left to trust.

as above

I'm not sorry. You're not gonna cry.
You put the blue back in my eye.
It's just us.
Because because because we can, we must.

No idea

If you're hungry, baby let me feed it.
If your heart is full, baby let me bleed it.

Bono being bono.

And happiness is for those who don't really need it.

Christian maturity can leave you not really needing a lot of things the average person does to the same extent???

(You) love me too much.

Have no idea.





Ok, don't shoot me. I'm a christian and know he has a faith, so just trying to explain what I think it could be.

Also sometimes lyrics can have more then one level or meaning.

[fresno dave]

WAIE version of the lyrics added to @u2:
http://www.atu2.com/lyrics/songinfo.src?SID=1088

[briscoetheque]

If I didn't know any different, I'd think there are God references in this song...

[JamietheEdgefan]

Anyone got any idea what Bono means when he says "You wanna kill me and I wanna die"?
I'm guessing he isn't talking literally... 
I don't understand it's relation to religion, but i assume it's linked, because Sherri's analysis seems spot on.

[MarsGirl~Descends to Hell for a bottle of milk]

Anyone got any idea what Bono means when he says "You wanna kill me and I wanna die"?
I'm guessing he isn't talking literally... 
I don't understand it's relation to religion, but i assume it's linked, because Sherri's analysis seems spot on.

I just figured it's a figure of speech you have with someone... Like when you say, "I'm gonna kill you if you keep pestering me about that!" Like not a literal threat. Cant you imagine Ali saying that she wants to kill Bono? I mean, you know, when he's being a pain in the butt? Who hasn't said that to their lover? LOL! (I'm serious! )

[MarsGirl~Descends to Hell for a bottle of milk]

Ha! My theory is proven correct. A coworker just said to a coworker, "I have to get going. If I'm late, my wife is really going to kill me."

[JamietheEdgefan]

Ha! My theory is proven correct. A coworker just said to a coworker, "I have to get going. If I'm late, my wife is really going to kill me."

Hahahaha 
That theory certainly makes sense... aww, i suppose the lyrics are more endearing than i first thought!

[MarsGirl~Descends to Hell for a bottle of milk]

Ha! My theory is proven correct. A coworker just said to a coworker, "I have to get going. If I'm late, my wife is really going to kill me."

Hahahaha 
That theory certainly makes sense... aww, i suppose the lyrics are more endearing than i first thought!

I dont know if it's true, but the song seems to me to be about the ups and downs of marriage... or love.. of maintaining a relationship. But also of the good parts that work -- each person's strengths contributing to the whole. (You're gravity, looking for ground; I'm silence, looking for sound.).

I dont know. I think this song is as simple as a Bono/Ali love song....

[JamietheEdgefan]

Ha! My theory is proven correct. A coworker just said to a coworker, "I have to get going. If I'm late, my wife is really going to kill me."

Hahahaha 
That theory certainly makes sense... aww, i suppose the lyrics are more endearing than i first thought!

I dont know if it's true, but the song seems to me to be about the ups and downs of marriage... or love.. of maintaining a relationship. But also of the good parts that work -- each person's strengths contributing to the whole. (You're gravity, looking for ground; I'm silence, looking for sound.).

I dont know. I think this song is as simple as a Bono/Ali love song....

Wow, this had made me see Mercy in a whole new light! It's got a different mood to me now... certainly more happy!
My alternative theories (pertaining particularly to the chorus) were that it was something to do with war or fighting, OR that Bono was in character (like in a lot of NLOTH) as the personification of mercy, or his own relationship, and he was talking with a lover about breaking up. Similar to Every Breaking Wave, the mercy being 'euthanising' a relationship.

[MarsGirl~Descends to Hell for a bottle of milk]

Hmmm.... that could be. But to me it's more hopeful than that. But now you make me think about going back to listening to the original version and see what I get in there. I think the song is bittersweet... But, I dont know, I relate it to my own experiences in love...