The Deeper Meaning Behind U2’s “New Year’s Day”

Though U2’s “New Year’s Day” has become a mainstay in New Year’s celebrations, the meaning behind the lyrics is far more consequential. Bono was latently inspired by the oppressive Polish government in the ’80s. Learn more about this U2 hit, below.

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The Deeper Meaning Behind U2’s “New Year’s Day”

All is quiet on New Year’s Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you, be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year’s Day
On New Year’s Day

I will be with you again
I will be with you again

In the ’80s, the Polish government was being challenged by Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa–a guiding voice in the Solidarity Movement. Martial law in Poland was lifted on New Year’s Day, as a result of Walesa’s efforts. Bono let this story guide his pen while writing “New Year’s Day.”

“We improvise, and the things that came out, I let them come out,” Bono once said of this track. “I must have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when we’d recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be lifted in Poland on New Year’s Day. Incredible.”

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“It would be stupid to start drawing up battle lines, but I think the fact that ‘New Year’s Day’ made the Top Ten indicated a disillusionment among record buyers,” Bono continued. “I don’t think ‘New Year’s Day’ was a pop single, certainly not in the way that Mickie Most might define a pop single as something that lasts three minutes and three weeks in the chart. I don’t think we could have written that kind of song.”

Like any good lyrics, the lines in this song can be interpreted many ways. It has become a universal message of good faith and perseverance. I will be with you again / I will be with you again, Bono sings in this rock hit.

Revisit this track, below.

Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspaper says, says

Say it’s true, it’s true
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Andre Csillag/Shutterstock