New Year's Day

War
New Year's Day
History of the Band
Three
Boy
October
War
Under a Blood Red Sky
The Unforgettable Fire
Wide Awake in America
The Joshua Tree
Rattle and Hum
Achtung Baby!
Zooropa
Melon
Original Soundtrack No. 1
Pop
PopHeart
The Best of 1980 - 1990
Hasta La Vista Baby!
All That You Can't Leave Behind
7
The Best of 1990-2000
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
U2.Communication
U218 Singles

the third album...

It is their first overtly political album and often considered their first truly extraordinary one.

 

The album opens with Sunday Bloody Sunday, an ardent protest song and already a significant departure from the themes of innocence and spirituality displayed on the group's first two albums. The song introduces the album with a startling drum beat by Larry Mullen, Jr., a fuming solo by The Edge, and pointed couplets like: "And today the millions cry / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die."

 

Other songs concern topics such as nuclear proliferation and prostitution. The mood grows progressively more bleak as the album continues—despite some balance provided by songs such as "Two Hearts Beat As One", a simple love song (though often associated with the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland), and "New Year's Day", which works as both a political song and a love song—until climaxing with the coda of "Surrender" and finally "surrendering" to the hushed hymn "40".

 

The sound is much more raw than that of the band's other albums, with the drums mixed prominently and the guitar treated relatively lightly, befitting the forceful lyrical matter of the songs.

 

 

   1. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (4:40)

   2. "Seconds" (3:10)

   3. "New Year's Day" (5:35)

   4. "Like A Song..." (4:46)

   5. "Drowning Man" (4:14)

   6. "The Refugee" (3:40)

   7. "Two Hearts Beat As One" (4:03)

   8. "Red Light" (3:46)

   9. "Surrender" (5:34)

  10. "40" (2:35)

 

"Sunday Bloody Sunday"

I can't believe the news today

I can't close my eyes and make it go away

How long, how long must we sing this song

How long, how long

Tonight we can be as one, tonight

Broken bottles under children's feet

Bodies strewn across a dead end street

But I won't heed the battle call

It puts my back up

Puts my back up against the wall

Sunday bloody Sunday

Sunday bloody Sunday

And the battle's just begun

There's many lost, but tell me who has won

Trenches dug within our hearts

And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart

Sunday bloody Sunday

Sunday bloody Sunday

How long, how long must we sing this song

How long, how long

'Cause tonight we can be as one

Tonight, tonight

Sunday bloody Sunday

Tonight tonight

Sunday bloody Sunday

Tonight tonight

Wipe the tears from your eyes

Wipe your tears away

I wipe your tears away

I wipe your tears away

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Wipe your blood shot eyes

Sunday bloody Sunday

Sunday bloody Sunday

Sunday bloody Sunday

Sunday bloody Sunday

Sunday bloody Sunday

And it's true we are immune

When fact is fiction and T.V. reality

Sunday bloody Sunday

And today the millions cry

Sunday bloody Sunday

We eat and drink while tomorrow they die

Sunday bloody Sunday

The real battle just begun

Sunday bloody Sunday

To claim the victory Jesus won

On a Sunday bloody Sunday

Sunday bloody Sunday

 

 

"Seconds"

It takes a second to say goodbye

Say goodbye

It takes a second to say goodbye

Say goodbye

Say bye bye

Where you going to now

Lightning flashes across the sky

East to west, do or die

Like a thief in the night

See the world by candlelight

Fall, rise and fall, rise and

In an apartment on Times Square

You can assemble them anywhere

Held to ransom, held to pay

A revolution every day

U.S.S.R., D.D.R.

London, New York, Peking

It's the puppets,

It's the puppets pulling the strings

Fall, rise and fall, rise and

Say goodbye, say goodbye

Say goodbye, say goodbye

Say goodbye

I wanna be an Airborne Ranger

I wanna be an Airborne Ranger

I wanna live the life of danger

I wanna live the life of danger

It takes a second to say goodbye

Say goodbye

Push the button and pull the plug

Say goodbye

Fall, rise and fall, rise and

This is the rise and fall

The rise and fall

And they're doing the atomic bomb

Do they know where the dance comes from

Yes, they're doing the atomic bomb

They want you to sing along

Say goodbye, say goodbye

Say goodbye, say goodbye

 

 

"New Year's Day"

All is quiet on New Year's Day

A world in white gets underway

And I want to be with you

Be with you night and day

Nothing changes on New Year's Day

I will be with you again

I will be with you again

Under a blood-red sky

A crowd has gathered in black and white

Arms entwined, the chosen few,

The newspapers say, say, say it's true

And we can break through,

Though torn in two, we can be one

I will begin again, I will begin again

Oh and maybe the time is right

Oh maybe tonight

I will be with you again

I will be with you again

And so we are told this is the golden age

And gold is the reason for the wars we wage

Though I want to be with you

Be with you night and day

Nothing changes on New Year's day

 

 

"Like a Song..."

Like a song I have to sing

I sing it for you

Like the words I have to bring

I bring them for you

And in leather, lace and chains

We stake our claim

Revolution once again

No I won't, I won't wear it on my sleeve

I can see through this expression

And you know I don't believe

I'm too wrong to be told 'exactly who are you'

Tonight, tomorrow's too late

And we love to wear a badge, a uniform

And we love to fly a flag

But I won't let others live in hell

As we divide against each other

And we fight amongst ourselves

Too set in our ways to try to rearrange

Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song

Let the bells ring out

Let the bells wring out

Is there nothing left

Is there, is there nothing left

Is honesty what you want

A generation without name

Ripped and torn

Nothing to lose, nothing to gain

Nothing at all

And if you can't help yourself

Well, take a look around you

When others need your time

You say it's time to go

It's your time

Angry words won't stop the fight

Two wrongs won't make it right

A new heart is what I need

Oh God, make it bleed

Is there nothing left

 

 

"Drowning Man"

Take my hand

You know I'll be there

If you can I'll cross

The sky for your love

For I have promised, oh

To be with you tonight

And for the time that will come

Take my hand

You know I'll be there

If you can I'll cross

The sky for your love

And I understand

These winds and tides

This change of times

Won't drag you away

Hold on, hold on tightly

Hold on and don't let go

Of my love

The storms will pass

It won't be long now

The storms will pass

But my love lasts forever

And take my hand

You know I'll be there

If you can I'll cross the sky

For your love

Give you what I hold dear

Hold on, hold on tightly

Hold on, hold on tightly

Rise up, rise up

With wings like eagles

You'll run, you'll run

You'll run and not grow weary

Take my hand, take my hand

Hold on tightly

Hold on tightly

This love will last forever

This love will last forever

Take my hand

Take my hand

 

 

"The Refugee"

War, war

She's the refugee

I see your face

I see you staring back at me

War, war

She's the refugee

Her mama say one day she's gonna live in America

In the morning, she is waiting

Waiting for the ship to sail, sail away

War, war

Her papa go to war

He gonna fight

But he just don't know what for

War, war

Her papa go to war

Her mama say one day he's gonna come back from far away

Help me

How can you help me

In the evening she is waiting

Waiting for her man to come

And take her by her hand

And take her to this promised land

War, war

She's a pretty face

Born at the wrong time in the wrong place

War, war

She's a pretty face

Her mama say one days she's gonna live in America

Yeah, America

War, war

She's a refugee

She's coming man, she's come to keep you company

War, war

She's a refugee

Her mama say one day she's gonna live in America

 

 

"Two Hearts Beat As One"

I don't know

I don't know which side I'm on

I don't know my right from left

Or my right from wrong

They say I'm a fool

They say I'm nothing

But if I'm a fool for you

Oh, that's something

Two hearts beat as one

Two hearts beat as one

Two hearts

I can't stop to dance

Honey, this is my last chance

I said, can't stop to dance

Maybe this is my last chance

Two hearts beat as one

Two hearts beat as one

Two hearts

Beat on black, beat on white

Beat on anything, don't get it right

Beat on you, beat on me, beat on love

I don't know how to say

What's got to be said

I don't know if it's black or white

There's others see it red

I don't get the answers right

I'll leave that to you

Is this love out of fashion

Or is it the time of year

Are these words distraction

To the words you wanna hear

Two hearts beat as one

Two hearts beat as one

Two hearts

I try to spit it out

Try to explain the way I wanna feel, oh, yeah

Two hearts

Well I can't stop the dance

Maybe this is my last chance

I said I can't stop the dance

Maybe this is my last chance

I said don't stop the dance

Maybe this is my last chance

I said I can't stop the dance

Maybe this is our last chance

I said don't stop the dance

Maybe this is our last chance

 

 

"Red Light"

I talk to you, you walk away

You're still on the down beat

You say you don't want my help

But you can't escape

If you're running from yourself

I give you my love

I give you my love

Give you my love

Still you walk away

It's your own late show

As you jump to the street below

But where can you go

To leave yourself behind

Alone in the spotlight

Of this, your own tragedy

I give you my love, love, love

Love, love, love, love, love, love

In the heart, in the heart

In the heart of the city

Heart, in the heart

In the heart of the city

Oh, love

I pour my love out for you

And I'll bring you through

See you night and day

I give you my love, give you my love

Give you my love, give you my love

Give you my love, give you my love

Give you my love, give you my love

Give you my love, love, love

Love, love, love, love, love

 

 

"Surrender"

The city's alight with lovers and lies

Bright blue eyes

The city is bright

It's brighter than day tonight

Surrender, surrender

Surrender, surrender

Sadie said she couldn't work out

What it was all about and so she let go

Now Sadie's on the street

And the people she meets, you know

She tried to be a good girl and a good wife

Raise a good family, lead a good life

It's not good enough

She got herself up on the 48th floor

Got to find out, find out what she's living for

Surrender, surrender

Surrender, surrender

Tonight

The city's a fire, a passionate flame

That knows me by name

The city's desire to take me for more and more

It's in the street getting under my feet

It's in the air, it's everywhere I look for you

It's in the things I do and say

If I want to live

I've got to die to myself someday

Papa sing my sing my sing my song

Papa sing my sing my sing my song

Papa sing my sing my sing my song

Papa sing my sing my sing my song

Surrender, surrender

Surrender, surrender

 

 

"40"

I waited patiently for the Lord

He inclined and heard my cry

He brought me up out of the pit

Out of the miry clay

I will sing, sing a new song

I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song

How long to sing this song

How long, how long, how long

How long to sing this song

He set my feet upon a rock

And made my footsteps firm

Many will see

Many will see and hear

I will sing, sing a new song

I will sing, sing a new song

I will sing, sing a new song

I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song

How long to sing this song

How long, how long, how long

How long to sing this song

 

+++++ my U2 fansite +++++