"A heart that hurts is a heart that beats"
"Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," one of the eleven tunes on the really great new U2 album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, is bound to wind up as the year's best song, and here's why. Like "With Or Without You" and "One," it's a huge, crescendoeing acoustic ballad, but instead of being about a lover, this song's about Bono's father...who passed away recently. The lyrics are heart-wrenching as hell, The Edge's guitar soars to impossible heights of musical grandeur, and Bono belts out this eulogy with a blend of heartbreak, regret, and pride that is just staggering.
Maybe it's a father-son thing, but this gorgeous tearjerker hits me like an emotional sledgehammer; it's oddly comforting to hear that the lead singer of the world's biggest band has the same problems as the rest of us.
Tough, you think you're smart enough
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough
You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
We fight all the time
You and I, that's alright
We're the same soul
I don't need to hear you say
That if we weren't so alike
You'd like me a whole lot more
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can you hear me when I sing?
You're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me
Where are we now?
I've got to let you know
A house still doesn't make a home
Don't leave me here alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Sometimes you can't make it
The best you can do is fake it
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Do yourself a favor and buy the new album. You'll like me for it.
Maybe it's a father-son thing, but this gorgeous tearjerker hits me like an emotional sledgehammer; it's oddly comforting to hear that the lead singer of the world's biggest band has the same problems as the rest of us.
Tough, you think you're smart enough
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough
You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
We fight all the time
You and I, that's alright
We're the same soul
I don't need to hear you say
That if we weren't so alike
You'd like me a whole lot more
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can you hear me when I sing?
You're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me
Where are we now?
I've got to let you know
A house still doesn't make a home
Don't leave me here alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Sometimes you can't make it
The best you can do is fake it
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Do yourself a favor and buy the new album. You'll like me for it.