• "A Day Without Me"
  
  Starting a landslide in my ego
  Look from the outside
  To the world I left behind
  
  I'm dreaming
  You're awake
  If I were sleeping
  What's at stake
  A day without me
  
  Whatever the feelings
  I keep feeling
  What are the feelings
  You left behind
  
  Today's a day without me
  
  I started a landslide in my ego
  Look from the outside
  To the world I left behind
  
  In the world I left behind
  Wipe their eyes, and then let go
  To the world I left behind
  Shed a tear, and then let go...

This is supposed to be a song about Ian Curtis from Joy Division, who did commit suicide. Right?

I didn't know it was about Ian Curtis. According to our own satelitedog01, Bono claimed at some point that this was about his contemplation of his own suicide.

I don't know which story is correct but I think the lyrics are interesting in light of this mortality question.

I'd be curious how other people interpret the lyrics.

To me they don't necessarily imply anyone's death - that's just one take on it.

Why can't bono write lyrics like these anymore?

Simple, flawed, but perfect for what he was trying to convey... I love it

Starting a landslide in my ego
Look from the outside
To the world I left behind

Shed a tear, and then let go...

Personally I don't think Bono had a reason, at the time of writing this song, to consider suicide, but that's just my opinion.

Personally I don't think Bono had a reason, at the time of writing this song, to consider suicide, but that's just my opinion.

Oh - did you know him when he was 18?

I've read a lot about this song being about suicide, but i've never thought it was. I wonder more if it's a couple of lines inspired by thoughts of suicide, rather than the whole song. I can't help but wonder as well if it might be the lack of direction (my opinion only) in some of Bono's lyrical attempts at the time that confuses the song's meaning.

Personally I don't think Bono had a reason, at the time of writing this song, to consider suicide, but that's just my opinion.

Oh - did you know him when he was 18?

About that...

“What's interesting is, in the months leading up to this [the forming of U2], I was probably at the lowest ebb in my life. I was feeling just teenage angst. I didn't know if I wanted to continue living—that kind of despair. I was praying to a God I didn't know was listening.”—Bono, from an interview, Rolling Stone magazine, No. 986, 11/3/05

Obviously, he'd gone through quite a bit by the time he wrote these lyrics—mother's death, rough relationship with his father, etc. IMO, even if he wasn't contemplating suicide when he wrote A Day Without Me, he certainly was writing from a place he'd previously experienced.

Personally I don't think Bono had a reason, at the time of writing this song, to consider suicide, but that's just my opinion.

Oh - did you know him when he was 18?

 

This is supposed to be a song about Ian Curtis from Joy Division, who did commit suicide. Right?

I believe you are correct Starfish.

I was reading the other day about Miss American Pie. Some interviewer kept asking Don Mclean about the meaning of every line, every comparison, and he responded with something to the effect of - it's poetry, it's not always meant to be understood literally.

Now between you and me, I always wondered what Bono had in mind when he wrote:

"In the shadows boy meets man" 

["In the shadows boy meets man"]

I was reading the other day about Miss American Pie. Some interviewer kept asking Don Mclean about the meaning of every line, every comparison, and he responded with something to the effect of - it's poetry, it's not always meant to be understood literally.

Now between you and me, I always wondered what Bono had in mind when he wrote:

"In the shadows boy meets man" 

 

I read somewhere that "Twilight" was a song about a boy being confused with his own sexuality.

Must be, only a man would say "my body grows and grows, it frightens me you know" 

Oh, there is this perfect caption on Interference, a photo of a very young Larry holding a piece of paper and covering his mouth laughing. The caption goes something like this:
L: Dear Diary, my body grows and grows it frightens me you know.
Bono: Larry!!! Are you reading my diary again?!?

I need to look it up. It's priceless! 

I always thought this song was about what the world would look like if I saw it outside the restrictions of my own ego - without me beinig at the center of the action. I think this is backed up by this verse:

• I'm dreaming
  You're awake
  If I were sleeping
  What's at stake
  A day without me
  

Because he focuses on whether his presence can be perceived during sleep/waking time, I think this is not so much about contemplating his death as it is about contemplating the fact that his experience is not the center of the world.

I always thought this song was about what the world would look like if I saw it outside the restrictions of my own ego - without me beinig at the center of the action. I think this is backed up by this verse:

• I'm dreaming
  You're awake
  If I were sleeping
  What's at stake
  A day without me
  

Because he focuses on whether his presence can be perceived during sleep/waking time, I think this is not so much about contemplating his death as it is about contemplating the fact that his experience is not the center of the world.

I totally agree, Pouch. The destruction is to the speaker's ego, not to the speaker himself.