"Stranger in a Strange Land" by U2, featured on their 1981 album October, takes its title from Robert Heinlein's 1961 novel about a Martian-raised boy navigating Earth’s complexities. The song reflects themes of alienation and disconnection, inspired by the band's experience crossing from East to West Berlin during their Boy tour. At a checkpoint, their van was inspected by young East German guards. Bono was struck by the guards’ youth and began imagining their lives, using the encounter as the seed for the song’s lyrics.
The Berlin Wall, dividing East and West Germany, symbolizes the physical and ideological barriers of the time, lending the song a historical and political weight. This real-life backdrop meshes with the band's personal feelings of disorientation. Bono later described the band as "fish out of water" during this period, grappling with their role as a rising rock band while living a lifestyle at odds with the stereotypical rock star image. This tension is central to the song’s themes of being an outsider and seeking connection.
The title also evokes the biblical phrase from Exodus 2:22, where Moses names his son Gershom to reflect his own feeling of being a foreigner in Midian. This allusion underscores the song's exploration of estrangement, both literal and existential. Bono would continue to make biblical references thought U2's career.
"Stranger In A Strange Land" Song Lyrics by Bono / U2
Stranger, stranger in a strange landHe looked at me like I was the one who should run
We asked him to smile for a photograph
Waited a while to see if we could make him laugh
The soldier asked for a cigarette
His smiling face I can't forget
He looked at me across the street
But that's a long way here
Oh, and I wish you were here
Oh, and I wish you were here
Stranger, stranger in a strange land
He looked at me like I was the one who should run
I watched as he watched us get back on the bus
I watched the way it was
The way it was when he was with us
And I really don't mind sleeping on the floor
But I couldn't sleep after what I saw
I wrote this letter to tell you the way I feel
Oh I wish you were here
Oh I wish you were here
To see what I could see
To hear
And I wish you were here
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The concept of being a stranger also taps into the existential theme of life’s transient nature, emphasizing Bono’s preoccupation with faith and purpose throughout the October album. "Stranger in a Strange Land" becomes more than just a song about physical displacement; it evolves into a meditation on the human experience of feeling disconnected while searching for meaning, connection, and home.