Bono’s Bible
@BonosBible • 17,142 subscribers
BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS in @U2 SONGS, plus BIG LYRICS, BIG IDEAS and INSPIRATIONAL MOMENTS
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Is this the funniest U2 TV appearance ever? The Graham Norton Show in 2014. Graham drags out early U2 promo shots... “during the great conditioner shortage in 1980”... Bono asserts “I am not just a sex object”... and is mercilessly mocked for his sunglasses obsession.
Bono’s Bible238,159 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
When we die, we are born. That was Bono’s answer to Stephen Colbert’s “What happens when we die?” question — and it left some scratching their heads. But this wasn’t New Age or Eastern mysticism. Bono reframed earthly life as labor pains. The struggles, losses, and incompleteness of this world are like contractions. Death, then, isn’t the end — it’s the moment of birth into real, full, eternal life with God. Bono expanded that “these are labor pains,” alluding to Romans 8: “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves… groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Jesus used birth language (John 3) when He told Nicodemus we must be “born again” — not physically, but of the Spirit — to see the Kingdom of God. Bono takes it further: our first birth gets us into this temporary “womb” world. Our second birth (through Christ) prepares us. And physical death becomes the doorway to our true birth into resurrection life. Bono has lost people close to him (most painfully his mother at 14). In Surrender, Bono keeps returning to the idea that this life is not our final home. We’re being prepared for something far greater. 📽️Bono on Stephen Colbert followed by “Lights of Home”
Bono’s Bible40,667 Aufrufe • vor 13 Tagen
This is brilliant! Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant star in this 2007 sketch, featuring Jamie Oliver, Bob Geldof, and a surprise appearance by Bono. Produced for the UK for Africa appeal, it satirizes celebrity charity videos filmed in developing countries.
Bono’s Bible110,288 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
40 YEARS ON from Live Aid U2’s “Bad” was a 12-minute mistake, yet somehow redeemed them. Bono’s spontaneous leap off the stage delayed the setlist, kept them from playing “Pride,” drew ire from the band, yet sparked the defining and unforgettable moment of the entire event.
Bono’s Bible797,322 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
THE TRUE STORY OF BOB GELDOF BULLYING BONO TO SING THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL LYRIC IN CHARITY ROCK HISTORY November 25, 1984. Sarm West Studios, London. Midge Ure & Bob Geldof have written “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in a single night. The original lyric in the big finale was the gentle, saccharine: “Tonight we’re reaching out and touching you.” Geldof decides it’s too soft. At the absolute last minute — while artists are already arriving — he scribbles a new line: “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.” Bono (24 years old) walks into the vocal booth, sees the lyric sheet, and immediately refuses. According to everyone in the room (Midge Ure, Paula Yates, the engineers, Bono himself in later interviews), he said something like: “I’m not singing that. It’s crass, it’s smug, it’s revolting. It sounds like the rich West saying ‘thank God the starving people are African and not us.’” Geldof storms into the booth and unleashes one of his legendary tirades (compiled from multiple witnesses + Bono’s own retellings): “It’s not supposed to make you feel warm and fuzzy, you little Irish prick! It’s supposed to be a slap in the f*cking face! It’s supposed to make the listener in their nice warm house feel uncomfortable — that’s the entire bloody point! Now stop being a precious little art-school wanker, get back in that booth and sing the f*cking line like you mean it!” After several minutes of shouting, Bono finally relents — but only if he can deliver it with total disgust and venom, turning the line into an accusation instead of a celebration. He does exactly that. You can hear the disgust in his voice — it’s the moment that made the song unforgettable. For decades Bono still hated the line. He called it “the most cringe thing I’ve ever sung.” When the song was re-recorded in 2014, Bono insisted they change it back to the original soft version: “Tonight we’re reaching out and touching you.” Which version do you prefer? 🎥 1984, 2014 and 2024 versions of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
Bono’s Bible299,722 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
IT’S LIKE GOD ENTERS THE BUILDING Bono: “We can be in the middle of the worst gig in our lives, but when we go into that song, everything changes. The audience is on its feet, singing along with every word. It’s like God suddenly walks through the room.” 📽️ “Where The Streets Have No Name” from The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 (opening night, Vancouver, Canada)
Bono’s Bible38,470 Aufrufe • vor 27 Tagen
On this day, May 10, Bono (born 1960) and his eldest daughter Jordan Joy Hewson (born 1989) celebrate their shared birthday — exactly 29 years apart. Today Bono turns 66 and Jordan turns 37. They affectionately refer to each other as “cosmic twins,” a bond that feels written in the stars. Bono has often described Jordan’s arrival on his own birthday as the greatest gift he could ever receive. When Ali went into labor with Jordan, she drove herself to the recording studio to collect Bono, then drove them both to the hospital. As Bono later recalled, Ali wasn’t about to trust anyone else—especially him—behind the wheel that day. In his memoir Surrender, Bono explained that Jordan was named after the River Jordan, “the river of the gospel song, where the sweet chariot swings low, and a band of angels are coming for to carry me home.”
Bono’s Bible35,126 Aufrufe • vor 26 Tagen
U2 fans have long pondered the haunting final lyrics in “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)”: “Just the bang and the clatter as an angel hits the ground” Is it a literal angel falling — as the official video suggests? Or the female protagonist’s suicide, plunging to her death? The ambiguity resounds, and a biblical allusion adds even more depth. In 1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV), the Apostle Paul writes: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” The song’s “clatter” echoes Paul’s “clanging cymbal,” just as the “bang” echoes the “gong” — the empty noise of a person or angel without love. And the last sound of the song? Only a clanging cymbal.
Bono’s Bible19,713 Aufrufe • vor 20 Tagen
On this day — April 15, 2001 Twenty-five years ago today, Joey Ramone passed away at age 49 after a seven-year battle with lymphoma. Born Jeffrey Ross Hyman to a Jewish family in Queens, he was the unmistakable voice of The Ramones. In his final days, Bono called him. Though Joey was very weak, he perked up hearing from his friend. Bono later reflected on Joey’s indomitable spirit in a heartfelt eulogy. On April 15 at New York Presbyterian Hospital, as family gathered, Joey’s brother Mickey played U2’s “In a Little While” from All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Joey slipped into unconsciousness while listening to the song — and it became the last music he ever heard. Bono has often shared how Joey transformed what began as a song about a hangover into something almost spiritual. U2 paid tribute onstage that night, and later honored him with “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone).” Joey wasn’t a Christian — he came from a Jewish background and wasn’t religious, though he believed in God. Yet somehow a bridge was formed, connecting punk rock rebellion and the kind of grace / homecoming found in a U2 song. 🎥 Biblical Allusions in U2’s “In A Little While”
Bono’s Bible40,139 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
The mystery of U2’s “Bad” The official lyrics on still read: “To let it go and so to find away.” Yet in live performances, Bono sings “and so to fade away” / “so not to fade away” / “not fade away” — powerful lines that capture the song’s theme of heroin addiction: the terror of fading into oblivion, and a desperate cry for hope. Was this change influenced by Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” (made famous by The Rolling Stones)? Or by Scripture? In 1 Peter 1:3-4 NKJV, the Bible offers this promise: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who.. has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away….” Rock ‘n’ roll reference, biblical allusion, or both? What do you think?
Bono’s Bible15,457 Aufrufe • vor 16 Tagen
Bono on Joe Rogan: How U2 operates as a true democracy, shares finances equally, has a band ego bigger than his, and pursues greatness. Bono: “There is a chasm between what is very good and great.” Meanwhile, U2 fans are eagerly awaiting the next U2 album to be GREATNESS!
Bono’s Bible53,834 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
On this day in 1977 (January 17): Gary Gilmore became the first person executed in the U.S. after the death penalty's reinstatement, dying by firing squad in Utah at age 36. Convicted of two murders, he waived appeals and demanded his sentence be carried out—his last words: “Let's do it.” U2’s “Exit” from The Joshua Tree (1987) was inspired by Gilmore’s story. Bono drew from Norman Mailer’s novel The Executioner's Song (and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood) to delve into a killer’s psyche twisted by religious fanaticism and violence. The song’s original working title: “Executioner's Song.” Bono aimed to explore the mind of a killer gripped by religious fanaticism, psychosis, and twisted faith—portraying a man who believes in “healing hands of love” yet descends into violence. The intense, dark track remains one of U2’s most haunting. It later drew controversy when cited in the 1989 murder trial of Robert John Bardo (for actress Rebecca Schaeffer’s killing), though U2 had no responsibility and were troubled by the link—rarely performing it live for years. 🎥 U2’s “Exit” with Biblical Allusions
Bono’s Bible87,672 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
On this day, November 22, 1997, Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS, was found dead in a Sydney hotel room. He was 37. The coroner ruled it suicide. Hutchence and Bono were close friends through much of the 80s and early 90s. They partied together, vacationed as families, and often stayed at each other’s houses. Bono has described Hutchence as one of his best friends during that period. By the mid-90s the friendship had cooled, mainly because of Hutchence’s increasing drug use. Bono and Ali kept their distance and later turned down Hutchence’s request to be godparents to his daughter, Tiger Lily. After Hutchence’s death, Bono wrote “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” as a conversation he wished he’d had with his friend—urging him not to give up. Before his death, Hutchence had written an unreleased song called “Slide Away.” Posthumously, Bono sang over it, where he dreams of catching his friend from falling and finding him wings to fly. 📽️ “Slide Away” by Michael Hutchence and Bono
Bono’s Bible97,952 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
