The U2 Lyric Reimagining a Conversation Between Biblical Antagonists

U2 grew their reputation as a band that wasn’t afraid to make references to Christianity in their music. Their 1987 album The Joshua Tree featured several songs that weren’t afraid to earnestly address the topic of faith, and the record was a massive success.

But as the ’90s dawned and the tenor of the times changed, the band started to approach the subject with a somewhat more jaundiced eye. This was brought to bear on their game-changing 1991 album Achtung Baby and the song “Until the End of the World.” It’s a song where Bono reimagines the relationship between a famous biblical pair and dares to take the guise of the “bad guy” in the story.

“World” Beaters

One of the reasons why U2 was able to hold such a hallowed place in the rock world for such a long time is they were self-aware enough to realize when they needed to make changes to their sound and approach. Couple that with an innate knack for judging the ever-shifting musical winds, and it’s easy to understand how they consistently delivered the right album at the right moment.

The Joshua Tree boosted them from critical darlings with the occasional pop breakthrough to a band that was beloved by audiences far and wide. But they could sense their image had petrified into a somewhat humorless one. They initially tried to alter it by digging into American roots music on Rattle and Hum, but many viewed them as merely musical tourists in that persona.

Achtung Baby put them on the right foot again by tearing down the preconceptions of the band. Musically, the forward-thinking cacophony they developed still achieved the grandeur of old, but with a much grittier feel attached to it. Lyrically, the songs were dark, cryptic, often ironically humorous, and contained little of the uplifting tones of the Joshua Tree era.

“Until the End of the World” epitomized the sea change in the band. No one would have been surprised by U2 writing a song about the story of how Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. But few would have expected the approach Bono took on the song, which modernizes the language and offers a different perspective on Judas’ inner life than what catechism might have taught.

The Deeper Meaning of “Until the End of the World”

The musical drama conjured by U2 on “Until the End of the World,” featuring Edge’s pummeling guitar attack and Larry Mullen Jr.’s thundercracking drums, requires lyrics that rise to the occasion. Bono obliges. Note that at no point does he ever mention the names “Jesus” or “Judas” in the song.

By choosing that path, he allows listeners to find the themes in the lyrics, unburdened by expectations created by the preconceptions of the story. The hints are there, of course. We ate the food, we drank the wine, Bono sings in the first verse, referencing The Last Supper. The second verse mentions the garden and features the line I kissed your lips and broke your heart. While the third verse is more opaque, it’s meant to evoke Judas’ suicide over the guilt for his actions.

Bono frames all this as if it’s happening right now, while the jargon he uses is decidedly non-biblical. It helps to him to reframe the relationship between these two men. We were as close together as a bride and groom, Judas remembers about The Last Supper. But Judas can’t seem to get on the same wavelength as his friend: Everybody having a good time / Except you/You were talking about the end of the world.

The betrayal is portrayed as an impulsive decision: You miss too much these days if you stop to think. In the final verse, Bono dares us to identify with the anguish of this man who is generally portrayed as one of history’s greatest villains: In my dream I was drowning my sorrows / But my sorrows, they learned to swim.

“Until the End of the World” reaches its emotional peak in the final lines, as the two men seem to come together again: Waves of regret and waves of joy / I reached out for the one I tried to destroy / You, you said you’d wait ’til the end of the world. It’s a complex, conflicted moment, one that brings out all the messy humanity in between the black and white biblical lines.

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