This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Like a desert needs rain
Like a town needs a name
I need your love
Like a drifter needs a room
Hawkmoon
I need your love
I need your love
Like a rhythm unbroken
Like drums in the night
Like sweet soul music
Like sunlight
I need your love
Like coming home
And you don't know where you've been
Like black coffee
Like nicotine
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love
I need your love
Like a Phoenix rising needs a holy tree
Like the sweet revenge of a bitter enemy
I need your love
Like the hot needs the sun
Like honey on her tongue
Like the muzzle of a gun
Like oxygen
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love
I need your love
Whoa!
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
Like thunder needs rain
Like a preacher needs pain
Like tongues of flame
Like a sheet stained
I need your love
I need your love
Like a needle needs a vein
Like someone to blame
Like a thought unchained
Like a runaway train
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
Like faith needs a doubt
Like a freeway out
I need your love
Like powder needs a spark
Like lies need the dark
I need your love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
Like a town needs a name
I need your love
Like a drifter needs a room
Hawkmoon
I need your love
I need your love
Like a rhythm unbroken
Like drums in the night
Like sweet soul music
Like sunlight
I need your love
Like coming home
And you don't know where you've been
Like black coffee
Like nicotine
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love
I need your love
Like a Phoenix rising needs a holy tree
Like the sweet revenge of a bitter enemy
I need your love
Like the hot needs the sun
Like honey on her tongue
Like the muzzle of a gun
Like oxygen
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
I need your love (I need your love)
When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love
I need your love
Whoa!
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
Like thunder needs rain
Like a preacher needs pain
Like tongues of flame
Like a sheet stained
I need your love
I need your love
Like a needle needs a vein
Like someone to blame
Like a thought unchained
Like a runaway train
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
I need your love
Like faith needs a doubt
Like a freeway out
I need your love
Like powder needs a spark
Like lies need the dark
I need your love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
In the heart of the heat of the love
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira
Hawkmoon 269 Lyrics as written by Dave Evans Adam Clayton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Sorry, I don't think that's the case. Hawkmoon 269 is supposedly a roadsign their tourbus passed at one point...as in the town of Hawkmoon is 269 miles away. Why they chose to name the song that, I have no idea.
There is no town called Hawkmoon. Also:<br /> <br /> ""Hawkmoon 269" was recorded in Hollywood, California in Sunset Sound studios. The 269 in the title refers to the number of mixes the song went through before the final recorded version, according to The Edge, who said they spent three weeks on the track"
the part that amazes me about this song is larry mullen jr and the drums. As for the meaning im not quite sure if hes happy about this love or not. I cant tell if he is angry over how he feels and because of the intensity of his emotions, or if hes overjoyed by how much he needs this love. great song
There is no town called "Hawkmoon". Bono was quoted as saying that it's a motel room somewhere in his imagination. It's about being drunk, ("As the room spins around") and missing someone's love. Yes, great song, though. And I love the addition of the organ played by Bob Dylan at the beginning, and the gospel choir at the end.
At the end of this song, isn't the Gospel choir singing, "All alone in the heart of a thief?"
I love this song. I'm not sure what Bono meant when he wrote it. One theory is that it's about being drunk, but I doubt it's literal. I think the song is leaning more toward being crazy in love. To me it's about being at a state where you're so in love with somone that it transcends wanting and needing and longing and it reaches sort of a crazed, psychotic, angry, addiction for that person. Clearly from the lyrics, it isn't a pure and sweet love, but rather an intense system-killing kind of love that can only be described as disastrous. Notice that none of the analogies used in the lyrics are particularly healthy. Ex: "Like the muzzle of a gun" "Like black coffee" "Like Nocotine" "Like the sweet revenge of a bitter enemy"...
I think it may even be less about love and more about a stalkerish obsession. He does not say "I want"; he says "I need" which gives the impression that he's not in control of what he's feeling. (Ex: "Like a thought unchained".) Like "Heartland" and a lot of the tracks from Rattle and Hum, I feel that Bono is deeply homesick, and this song points out how it feels to be away from the one he loves and needs for so long. He feels crazy with desire and loneliness and it's turned him into a sort of madman because he's alone without the one thing he needs to keep him together...his love.
This song is simple, its about needing someone's love so much. I love it for it being simple in that way. If there is someone you really like and would give anything to be with, you can listen to this song, and it will sum up how you feel.
Fantastic song! The organ by Bob Dylan at the beginning and gospel choir at the end make this song that bit special.
This is one of my top 5 favorite U2 songs. The passion and emotion with which Bono sings sends chills up my spine. But I have a new suggestion for it's meaning.
The author Sam Shepard, who Bono is known to appreciate, has a book of "prose, poetry and monologues" titled Hawk Moon (see U2faqs.com). This seems like a plausible reason for the first part of the title and some of the inspiration for the lyrics. I've never read it myself.
But the "269" part?
Psalm 26:9 (NIV): Do not take away my soul along with sinners, My life with bloodthirsty men,
KJV: Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men,
I suggest that the love Bono needs is the love of God, and that the many sinful acts in the lyrics are references to his own sin, an ironical statement about the fact that he (and all of us) are sinners, and are drawn to the love of God as much as our sin. I'm sure some people may find this difficult to swallow, but I think it's absolutely brilliant, and makes me appreciate the song even more.
It would also explain his reluctance to discuss the song on a certain radio broadcast, which you'll also read about on U2faqs.com.
Also, as I side note I forgot to mention. I don't know if this theory has any credibility, but I read somewhere a long time ago that when Hawkmoon was written, the band was on the road with the Joshua Tree tour, and he happened to look out the window and see a road sign that read: "Hawkmoon 269 mi." and that inspired Bono with a title for his previously untitled song...
However, I've gotta say, if there is a place anywhere in the world called Hawkmoon, I have no idea where it is and even a google search didn't come up with anything.
Also, I have heard another theory (one that Bono supposedly backed up) that the '269' part of the song was tagged on when it took the band 269 mixes of this song to find the right one.
Don't know if either of these theories are true, but I thought it was worth a mention in case anyone was curious. :)
I love how the song is building up. You can look at this song in many ways, I think. We need God's love, but we also need to be loved by each other.
This is true, its about needing God's Love..You'll notice the lyrics are a bit like Tai Chi where one cannot be without the other as we can not be without God's Love and that we would go great length for this Love from God. As some lyrics are not healthy, Nicotine is addicting and some people need it to sustain themselves so likewise we need God's love to sustain ourselves in the stress of daily life.
I like this song but it is almost like Bono ran out of ideas for "Like [blank] needs [blank]/I need your love." Take for example "Like a phoenix rising needs a holy tree," when was the last time you heard on a phoenix on a holy tree. Maybe a normal tree but a holy tree.jk