"Dirty Day" Lyrics by U2

"Dirty Day" Lyrics by U2 from the Zooropa album.

The song 's lyrics reflect a character who leaves his family and returns years later to meet the son he abandoned. In that sense the song is the reverse of The First Time. Many of the lyrics are taken from phrases that Bono's father would use, including "I don't know you and you don't know the half of it", "No blood is thicker than ink", "Nothing's as simple as you think", and "It won't last kissing time." The title was inspired by another phrase Bono's father would often use, "it's a dirty day".

This is not the first time Bono had used his parents as lyrical inspiration, I Will Follow from Boy was a notable early reference to his mother and several albums later, Bono would write for his father on Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own which featured on How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

Zooropa's liner notes dedicate this song to the drunken American novelist, Charles Bukowski.

Dirty Day Lyrics

I don't know you and
You don't know the half of it
I had a staring role
I was the bad guy who walked out
They say be careful where you aim
Because where you aim you just might hit
You can hold onto something so tight
You've already lost it

Dragging me down
That's not the way it used to be
You can't even remember what I'm trying to forget
It was a dirty day
A dirty day

You want explainations
I don't even understand
If you need someone to blame
Throw a rock in the air
You're bound to hit someone guilty

From father to son
In one life has begun
A work that's never done
Father to son

And love, it won't last kissin' time
And love, it won't last kissin' time
And love, it won't last kissin' time

Get it right
There's no blood thicker than ink
Hear what I say
Nothing's a simple as you think
Wake up
Somethings you can't get around
I'm in you
Moreso when they put me in the ground

Hank says
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill
The days, days, days
Run away like horses over the hill

Check out the lyrics to Numb from Zooropa.