Bono really does something quite brilliant in the lyrics of this song; in fact, this is one of my favourite U2 songs lyrically. Pop as a whole centers around the conflict between faith and a wayward consumerist culture, and how Bono's position as a Christian rock star places him squarely in an intersection of the two. Within the larger context of Pop, I believe this song is about the fundamental wrongness of consumerism: that it transforms the acquisition of wealth and possessions into a spiritual quest, making people mistake the profane for the sacred. In the first stanza, Bono sets the scene:
If Coke is a mystery
Michael Jackson, history
If beauty is truth
And surgery, the fountain of youth
What am I to do
Have I got the gifts to get me through
The gates of that mansion
Here Bono is equating the icons of modern consumerist culture (soft drinks, pop stars, "beauty", plastic surgery) with the timeless (mystery, history, truth, the fountain of youth). This sets the tone for the rest of the song: from the singer's perspective, the culture and all the baggage it carries reign supreme. Everything else he says is through the lense of this notion. At the end of the stanza, the tension is introduced: the singer is wondering what he can do to attain the "mansion". This struggle is obviously supposed to parallel the notion of trying to attain "heaven"; however, the mansion is the consumerist version of heaven: wealth, prestige, etc. We continue onto the second stanza:
If OJ is more than a drink
And a Big Mac, bigger than you think
If perfume is an obsession
And talk shows, confession
What have we got to lose
Another push and we'll be through
The gates of that mansion
This stanza continues in the same mode as the first, underscoring the theme of modern consumerist culture having spiritual authority. The religious imagery of "confession" juxtaposed against the cultural reference of "talk shows" in particular affirms this. The singer still desires to gain access to the mansion. This time, however, he is a little more desperate, asking himself, "What have we got to lose?" implying reckless action.
I never bought a lotto ticket
I never parked in anyone's space
These lines are a consumerist version of the commonly used rationale, "I never did anything wrong, so therefore I deserve heaven."
The banks they're like cathedrals
I guess casinos took their place
One more equation of wealth to the sacred, and then Bono sets the next scene: a casino.
Love come on down
Let her wake up, she'll come around
Chance is a kind of religion
Where you're damned for plain hard luck
I never did see that movie
I never did read that book
Love come on down
And let my numbers come around
The singer is at the roulette wheel. As in "Lady with the Spinning Head", the wheel here is personified as a woman. With nothing left to lose, the singer is taking his shot at winning big and hence securing his place in the mansion. The line "Love come on down" is a religious invocation - but here it's placed in the context of consumerist pseudospirituality, where spiritual fulfillment is money and possessions. This is essentially the singer's prayer - to "let [his] numbers come around."
Don't know if I can hold on
Don't know if I'm that strong
Don't know if I can wait that long
'Til the colors come flashing
And the lights go on
In this critical moment, the singer once again wonders if he has what it takes to make it into the mansion. Can he last through the hard luck until at last his number comes up? He envisions the moment of fulfillment as being like the start of a show: the "colors come flashing/And the lights go on."
Then will there be no time for sorrow
Then will there be no time for shame
And though I can't say why
I know I've got to believe
Here the song reaches his climax, as Bono reaches into his gospelish falsetto. The imagery clearly evokes the Kingdom of Heaven, yet in the context of the song, it's a false Heaven, one set up in the popular mind by the media. (During the Popmart tour, Bono made the brilliant move of snippeting the first two lines of this stanza at the end of "Where the Streets Have No Name", a song about the actual Kingdom of Heaven.) The word order is "will there be" rather than the more obvious "there will be", adding a dimension of uncertainty to the singer's exclamation. He has some doubts about whether the culture can actually bring spiritual fulfillment, and in the last two lines he even admits that his faith in consumerism is unquestioned.
We'll go driving in the pool
It's who you know that gets you through
The gates of the Playboy Mansion
It's here that Bono at last tips his hand and shows that he doesn't agree with the perspective articulated in the song. "Driving in the pool" is a reference to Keith Moon driving his car into a swimming pool, one of the ultimate acts of rock star excess. This is the sort of thing that happens once you attain the mansion. He also informs the audience of the real criteria to do this: "It's who you know that gets you through". This is a reference to the popular axiom "It's not what you know, but who you know" that determines your success. In his experience, this has apparently proven to be true. And in the last line of the song (not counting the chorus repetition), he reveals that the mansion isn't heaven, but the Playboy Mansion, an icon of modern culture's excesses. With this Bono completes his portrait of how for many consumerism has become a spiritual pursuit.
