The Crystal Ballroom lyrics by U2

The Crystal Ballroom lyrics by U2

The Crystal Ballroom is a bonus song that comes with the Deluxe Edition of Songs of Innocence.

Lyrics:

Life begins with the first glance
The first kiss at the first dance
All of us are wondering why we’re here
In the crystal ballroom underneath the chandelier

Wet the glass ’til the glasses sing
We punish our hearts ’til the heart bells ring
‘Cause where we come from
We’re not always kind
The human story is what love leaves behind

We’re the ghosts of love
And we haunt this place
We’re the ghosts of love
In every face
In the ballroom of the crystalline
Everyone’s here with me tonight
Everyone but you

Our first chance is their last dance
Our life is shaped by another’s hands
Buttoning, unbuttoning her Coco dress
Stopping and unstopping every cold caress

Born for bliss, born for this
Every human life begins with a kiss
Kissed by every kind of possibility
And everyone is here tonight with me

We’re the ghosts of love
And we haunt this place
We’re the ghosts of love
In every face
In the ballroom of the crystalline
Everyone’s here with me tonight

Everybody’s here with me tonight
Everybody’s here with me but you
Everybody’s here with me tonight
Everybody’s here with me but you
Everybody’s here with me tonight
Everybody’s here with me but you
Everybody’s here with me tonight
Everybody’s here with me but you

Born for bliss, born for this
Every human life begins with a kiss

Lucifer's Hands is also another track from the Special Version of the album.

"Lucifer's Hands" lyrics by U2

"Lucifer's Hands" lyrics by U2

This song was released on the post itunes version of Songs of Innocence.

Along with The Crystal Ballroom this song was one of two songs added to the 'hard copy' version of the album to make it more palatable for U2 fans to buy given they had already kindly been given the first 11 songs for free by Apple.

Lyrics


Punk rock party in a suburban home
Everybody’s famous here but nobody’s known
We got no music ‘cause the speaker’s blown apart

The spirit’s moving through a seaside town
I’m born again to the latest sound
New wave airwaves swirling around my heart

You no longer got a hold on me
I’m out of Lucifer’s hands
You no longer got a hold on me
You’re no longer in control of me
I am

The NME is spitting from an inky page
St. John the Divine is gonna take the stage
Like a talent show where your talent is your rage
I’m in

Prayers of fire on a raindog night
Young men see visions beyond sound or sight
The Velvets beginning to see the light
Amen

You no longer got a hold on me
I’m out of Lucifer’s hands
You no longer got a hold on me
You’re no longer in control of me
I am

Yes, I can change the world
Yes, I can change the world
The poor breaking bread
That’s made out of stone
The rich man won’t eat
He’s eating alone
That’s easy
But I can’t change the world in me

You no longer got a hold on me
I’m out of Lucifer’s hands
You no longer got a hold on me
You’re no longer in control of me
I am

Check out Song for Someone, also from Songs of Innocence.

'Sleep like a baby tonight' lyrics by U2

Sleep like a baby tonight lyrics by U2

From the Songs of Innocence album released September 9 2014. That date is poignant for U2 as that is the date Bono's mother Iris died.

Lyrics

Morning, your toast

Your tea and sugar

Read about the politician’s lover

Go through the day

Like a knife through butter

Why don’t you

You dress in the colours of forgiveness

Your eyes as red as Christmas

Purple robes are folded on the kitchen chair




You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight

In your dreams everything is alright

Tomorrow dawns like someone else’s suicide

You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight




Dreams

It’s a dirty business, dreaming

Where there is silence and not screaming

Where there’s no daylight

There’s no healing, no no




You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight

In your dreams everything is alright

Tomorrow dawns like a suicide

But you’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight




Hope is where the door is

When the church is where the war is

Where no one can feel no one else’s pain


You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight

In your dreams everything is alright

Tomorrow dawns like a suicide

But you’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight

Sleep like a baby tonight

Like a bird, your dreams take flight

Like St. Francis covered in light

You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight

Read the lyrics to The Miracle.

Raised by Wolves lyrics by U2

Raised by Wolves lyrics by U2

A song from the album Songs of Innocence, Raised by Wolves is a recounting of an bombing in Ireland that Bono witnessed. A car bomb killed 33 people.

This is the kind of tale that Bono is using to convey how he see's William Blake's ideology at play in his life.

Lyrics

Face down on a broken street
There’s a man in the corner
In a pool of misery
I’m in white van
As a red sea covers the ground

Metal crash
I can’t tell what it is
But I take a look
And now I’m sorry I did
5:30 on a Friday night
33 good people cut down

I don’t believe anymore
I don’t believe anymore

Face down on a pillow of shame
There are some girls with a needle
Tryin’ to spell my name
My body’s not a canvas
My body’s now a toilet wall

I don’t believe anymore
I don’t believe anymore

Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
Raised by wolves
We were raised by wolves
Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
If I open my eyes
You disappear

Running wild
Running wild

Running wild
Boy sees his father
Crushed under the weight
Of a cross in a passion
Where the passion is hate
Running wild
Blue mink Ford
I’m gonna detonate in your den
Running wild
Blood in the house
Blood in the street
The worst things in the world
Are justified by belief
Running wild
Registration 1385-WZ

Running wild
I don’t believe anymore
Running wild
I don’t believe anymore

Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
Raised by wolves
We were raised by wolves
Raised by wolves
Stronger than fear
If I open my eyes
You disappear

Running wild
Running wild
Running wild
Running wild
Running wild

Check out the lyrics to Song for Someone, also from U2's Songs of Innocence album.

Cedarwood Road lyrics by U2

U2 getting old...

Cedarwood Road lyrics by U2

The lyrics found on Songs of Innocence from where this song hails are full of personal moments from writer Bono. Iris, is about his mother and Cedarwood Road is about the street where Bono grew up at number 10. His friends Guggi Rowan and Gavin Friday grew up with them - Gavin Friday went on to become semi famous with his own music - Bono dedicated Cedarwood Road to Guggi.

Lyrics

I was running down the road
The fear was all I knew
I was looking for a soul that’s real
Then I ran into you
And that cherry blossom tree
Was a gateway to the sun
And friendship, once it’s won
It’s won, it’s one
Northside
Just across the river to the Southside
That’s a long way here
All the green and all the gold
The hurt you hide
The joy you hold
The foolish pride
That gets you out the door
Up on Cedarwood Road
On Cedarwood Road
Sleepwalking down the road
Not waking from these dreams
‘Cause it’s never dead
It’s still my dead
It was a warzone in my teens
I’m still standing on that street
Still need an enemy
The worst ones I can’t see
You can, you can
Northside
Just across the river to the Southside
That’s a long way here
All the green and all the gold
The hurt you hide
And the joy you hold
The foolish pride
That sends you back for more
Up on Cedarwood Road
On Cedarwood Road
If the door is open it isn’t theft
You can’t return to where you’ve never left
Blossoms falling from a tree
They cover you and cover me
Symbols clashing, bibles smashing
Paint the world you need to see
Sometimes fear is the only place
That we can call our home
Cedarwood Road
And a heart that is broken
Is a heart that is open
Open, open

Check out the lyrics to U2's Volcano which can also be found ripping it up on Songs of Innocence.

Volcano lyrics by U2

Volcano lyrics by U2

The world is spinning fast tonight
You can hurt yourself tryin’ to hold on
To what you used to be
I’m so glad the past is gone

Been out in the wild
Been out in the night
Been out of your mind
Do you live here or is this a vacation

Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
Volcano
Something in you wants to blow
Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know

Your eyes were like landing lights
They used to be the clearest blue
Now you don’t see so well
The future’s gonna land on you

Been out in the wild
Been out in the night
Been out of your mind
Do you live here or is this a vacation

Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
Volcano
Something in you wants to blow
Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
You’re on a piece of ground above a volcano

You were alone
And now you’re not alone
You were alone
But you are rock n’ roll
You and I are rock n’ roll
But you are rock n’ roll
You and I are rock n’ roll

Oh, volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
Volcano
Something in you wants to blow
Volcano
You don’t wanna, you don’t wanna know
You’re on a piece of ground above a volcano

U2's Songs of Innocence lyrics

U2's Songs of Innocence album lyrics

U2 had apparently recorded several albums worth of musical material since No Line of the Horizon and they felt it was time to let some of those songs free into the wild for their rabid fans to enjoy the sonic goodness. 

U2, have also followed up with Songs of Experience. This album thematically complements Songs of Innocence and is inspired by the works of William Blake.

Bono said on the album's release date of 9 September 2014: 

"Remember us? Pleased to announce myself, Edge, Adam and Larry have finally given birth to our new baby… Songs of Innocence. It’s been a while. We wanted to get it right for you/us."

Of note is that Every Breaking Wave made it on the to album - it was played live on tour a few years back.

Here's the track listing: 

• The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
• Every Breaking Wave
• California (There Is No End To Love)
• Song For Someone
• Iris (Hold Me Close)
• Volcano
• Raised By Wolves
• Cedarwood Road
• Sleep Like A Baby Tonight
• This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now
• The Troubles

Also, the deluxe version of the album features two additional songs, Lucifer's Hands and The Crystal Ballroom.

Iris (Hold Me Close) lyrics by U2

Iris (Hold Me Close) lyrics by U2

Iris should not be confused with the popular 1990's song 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls. You could be forgiven for this though as that song also appeared on the City of Angels soundtrack with U2's If God Will Send his Angels.

Iris is directly inspired by Bono's mother, Iris Hewson. Bono has previously referenced Iris in Tommorrow from the October album.

The song contains contains a cute reference to Kraftwerk. Bono said 'My mother [died] just as I was discovering girls. One of the girls I was discovering was Ali... she arrived at Mount Temple in the same month. The first lover’s gift I gave Ali was a Kraftwerk album called The Man Machine. So I referred to that.' with the line "It was you made me your man/Machine.’

Songs of Innocence was released, through sheer coincidence, 40 years to the day that Iris died.

Bono also noted to Rolling Stone Magazine that he was later inspired to rewrite part of the song after being deeply moved by the late ISIS hostage James Foley's letter to his family. "I realized," Bono says, "that we will all be remembered, and we remember our loved ones, by the least profound moments. The simplest moments. In the letter he says to his brother, 'I remember playing werewolf in the dark with you.'

Iris lyrics by U2

The star that gives us light
Has been gone a while
But it’s not an illusion
The ache in my heart
Is so much a part of who I am

Something in your eyes
Took a thousand years to get here
Something in your eyes
Took a thousand years, a thousand years

Hold me close
Hold me close and don’t let me go
Hold me close
Like I’m someone that you might know
Hold me close
The darkness just lets us see
Who we are
I’ve got your life inside of me

Iris, Iris

Once we are born
We begin to forget
The very reason we came
But you I’m sure I’ve met
Long before the night
The start went out
We’re meeting up again

Hold me close
Hold me close and don’t let me go
Hold me close
Like I’m someone that you might know
Hold me close
The darkness just lets us see
Who we are
I’ve got your life inside of me

Iris, Iris

The start are bright
But do they know
The universe is beautiful but cold
You took me by the hand
I thought that I was leading you
But it was you made me your man
Machine, I dream where you are
Iris standing in the hall
She tells me I can do it all
Iris wakes to my nightmare
Don’t fear the world
It isn’t there

Iris playing on the strand
She buries the boy beneath the sand
Iris says that I will be the death of her
It was not me

Iris, Iris
She said free yourself to be yourself
If only you could see yourself
Free yourself to be yourself
If only you could see

U2 have written a of songs which make references to parents. A notable effort was Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own from the  All That You Can't Leave Behind album.

California (There Is No End To Love) lyrics by U2

California (There Is No End To Love) lyrics by U2

Produced by: Declan Gaffney, Paul Epworth and Danger Mouse and taken from the Songs of Innocence album.

Lyrics

Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara

California
Then we fell into the shining sea
Well, that’s what took me
Where I need to be
Which is here, out on Zuma
Watching you cry like a baby
California, at the dawn
You thought would never come
But it did like it always does

All I know
And all I need to know
Is there is no end to love

I didn’t call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone’s a star in our town
It’s just your light gets dimmer
If you have to stay
In your bedroom, in a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby
California, blood orange sunset
Brings you to your knees
I’ve seen for myself
There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know

That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no
Yeah, there is no end to love
All I know and all I need to know
Is there is no
Yeah, there is no end to love

Barbara, Barbara
There is no end to love

All I know and all I need to know
Is there is no
Yeah, there is no end to love
We come and go
But stolen days you don’t give back
Stolen days are just enough

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) lyrics by U2

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) lyrics by U2

The Miracle is the first song from U2's album Songs of Innocence.

It's an ode to U2's love of the Ramones, a band they consider very influential on the themselves. U2 have previously covered Beat on the Brat by the Ramones and the song, In a Little While from All That You Can't Leave Behind was also dedicated to Joey Ramone following his death.

Marky Ramone, a longtime Ramones Drummer said of the track 'I’m very grateful U2 wrote a song about my former friend and bandmate Joey Ramone. Joey would have been honored. It is well-deserved.'
The song was produced by three players Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder.

Lyrics:

Joey Ramone

I was chasing down the days of fear
Chasing down a dream before it disappeared
I was aching to be somewhere new
Your voice was all I heard
I was shaking from a storm in me
Haunted by the spectors that we had to see
Yeah, I wanted to be the melody
Above the noise, above the herd

I was young, not dumb
Just wishing to be blinded
By you, brand new
And we were pilgrims on our way

I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred
Heard a song that made some sense out of the world
Everything I ever lost now has been returned
The most beautiful sound I ever heard

We've got language so we can communicate
Religion so I can love and hate
Music so I can exaggerate my pain
And give it a name

We can hear, we can hear
We can hear, ooh

I woke up at the moment when the miracle had come
I get so many things I don't deserve
All the stolen voices may some day be returned
The most beautiful sound I ever heard

And your voices will be heard
And your voices will be heard

Check out the lyrics to The Troubles, also from Songs of Innocence.