'Sleep like a baby tonight' song lyrics by U2

In "Sleep Like a Baby Tonight," U2 confronts one of the darkest and most harrowing subjects imaginable—the predatory behavior of a pedophile priest. 

Bono’s lyrics are stark and unsettling, painting a portrait of a man cloaked in the trappings of sanctity but hiding monstrous guilt beneath. The priest's casual morning routine, with toast, tea, and sugar, contrasts grotesquely with the horror of his crimes, making his nonchalance more chilling. 

The line, “Tomorrow dawns like someone else’s suicide,” is the emotional gut-punch, hinting at the devastating aftermath for his victims. As they crumble under the weight of their abuse, the priest’s lack of accountability is reinforced by his unsettling ability to “sleep like a baby,” insulated in his dreams from the destruction he has caused. 

The song takes on added gravity when seen through the lens of the scandals that shook the Catholic Church, particularly in Ireland, where Bono's childhood memories were likely shaped by the church’s overwhelming presence in daily life.

Bono’s falsetto in this track—strained and almost childlike—mirrors the voice of the victim, a fragile echo of innocence that stands in painful contrast to the predator's comfortable, dream-filled sleep. The layering of the falsetto with the unsettling themes gives the song an eerie vulnerability.

 It speaks to how the pain of the abused goes unheard, while the abuser continues to move unscathed through life. Lyrics like, “Where the church is where the war is,” and “no one can feel no one else’s pain” indict a larger system of complicity, where the spiritual institution that should provide solace and hope instead becomes a battleground of hidden trauma. 

There’s no ambiguity here—this is U2 at their most confrontational, peeling back layers of silence to expose a truth too long buried. Bono’s words, combined with The Edge’s haunting composition, create a song that is both a personal and institutional indictment, one that remains profoundly resonant today

'Sleep like a baby tonight' song lyrics by U2

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

-

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.

Read the lyrics to The Miracle.

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