Irish rock band U2 is known for its epic songs. With guitarist The Edge providing the six-strings with effects from Here to the Stars and frontman-singer Bono projecting his Sequoia-like timbre into the ether, the band is the embodiment of anthemic.
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One of the songs that showcases the group’s knack for larger-than-life sounds is their 1987 track, “Where the Streets Have No Name,” from the group’s now-iconic album, The Joshua Tree. But what is this song about, what does the titular metaphor mean, exactly?
Street Signs
Throughout human history, people have segregated themselves. It still happens today with gerrymandering and redlining. But Bono heard about a particular practice in Belfast, Northern Ireland in which a person’s religion and income dictated where they lived and on which street. Ever the humanist, Bono wrote the song, imagining a place where such a thing was not in practice.
In an interview with the Chicago-Sun Times in 1987, Bono said of the song, “The guy in the song recognizes this contrast and thinks about a world where there aren’t such divisions, a place where the streets have no name. To me, that’s the way a great rock ‘n’ roll concert should be: a place where everyone comes together… Maybe that’s the dream of all art: to break down the barriers and the divisions between people and touch upon the things that matter the most to us all.”
The Lyrics
Bono wrote the lyrics to the song on an airsickness bag while taking a trip with his wife to Ethiopia. He said of them, “I was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location, maybe a romantic location. I was trying to sketch a feeling.”
I want to run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside
I wanna reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name
I wanna feel sunlight on my face
I see that dust cloud disappear without a trace
I wanna take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name
Incomplete?
Ever the worrier (indeed, Bono has often criticized his lyrics and even his band’s name), Bono has said the song lyrics are still incomplete. However, his sideman The Edge has noted that Bono can be too hard on himself. In a way, too, the open-ended lyrics allow more room for a listener’s imagination. Sings Bono,
The city’s a flood
And our love turns to rust
We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust
I’ll show you a place
High on the desert plain, yeah
Where the streets have no name, oh, oh
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We’re still building then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there, I go there with you
It’s all I can do
Final Thoughts
What’s great about singers like Bono and Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks is that they can project their thoughts, their inner emotions, as well as a movie screen. What they feel is what others feel, almost instantaneously. And for Bono, one of the world’s biggest rock stars, to promote the idea of a classless society, where the streets don’t indicate your income, is lovely.
Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images
