This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
From where I stand
I can see through you
From where you're sitting, pretty one
I know it got to you
I see the stars in your eyes
You want the truth, but you need the lies
Like Judy Garland, like Valentino
You give your life for rock n' roll
Uh huh
Stand, we're on a landslide of love
You got everything you want
But what you need you give away
For primitive love
And a ride on the mystery train
A primitive love
A room at the Heart
The Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak
Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak
Heartbreak Hotel
You say it's love, it's not the money
You let them suck your life out like honey
Turning tricks, you're on the street
Selling your kisses so bittersweet
My life yeah
Oh, yeah yeah
I wanna love
Did he bed again?
I gotta know
Oh the price
Is too hard to pay
A primitive love
A and a ride on the mystery train
A primitive love
A room at the Heart
The Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak, the Heartbreak
The Heartbreak Hotel, Hotel
[Repeat until end]
I can see through you
From where you're sitting, pretty one
I know it got to you
I see the stars in your eyes
You want the truth, but you need the lies
Like Judy Garland, like Valentino
You give your life for rock n' roll
Uh huh
Stand, we're on a landslide of love
You got everything you want
But what you need you give away
For primitive love
And a ride on the mystery train
A primitive love
A room at the Heart
The Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak
Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak
Heartbreak Hotel
You say it's love, it's not the money
You let them suck your life out like honey
Turning tricks, you're on the street
Selling your kisses so bittersweet
My life yeah
Oh, yeah yeah
I wanna love
Did he bed again?
I gotta know
Oh the price
Is too hard to pay
A primitive love
A and a ride on the mystery train
A primitive love
A room at the Heart
The Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak, the Heartbreak
The Heartbreak Hotel, Hotel
[Repeat until end]
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira, edited by santiago2u
A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel Lyrics as written by Dave Evans Adam Clayton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this song is about U2's fascination with Elvis Presley & his themes of love & lust.
hm... i thought the song was about a hooker.
I thought it was about a hooker too. Heartbreak Hotel = Brothel. Anyway, this song is great, i like the choir singing at the end.
I absolutely love this song. It's just so full of soul and it really shows off Bono's incredible vocal talent. Like everyone else, I think it's about a prostitute, but I also think it has a deeper meaning than just that the same way most other U2 songs do.
I think it's about a woman who mistakes sex for love. She associates the attention she recieves for her services as a sort of love because clearly it's all she's ever known. I think the underlying story is that the main character of the story is in love with her, but as the line goes: "You've got everything you want but what you need you give away" meaning she actually has real love in the form of this man (the lyricist) but she doesn't really see it or understand it because she thinks love just comes with her profession.
The lyricist is basically saying that she gives up every chance she gets at something meaningful and true for a primitive love (lust) and a ride on the mystery train* and she's headed for heartbreak because she's too naive to differentiate between real love and lust.
"I think this song is about U2's fascination with Elvis Presley & his themes of love & lust."
I agree w/ this statement. I'm not sure where I heard that from but it sounds like the song is more of a fascination with a public figure than with an ordinary encounter or meeting with a prostitute.
Its obvious to me that a prostitute does know the difference between lust and real love. They do not choose to be prostitutes, they become one out of unfortunate circumstances.
So it wouldn't make much sense to say this song is U2's take on a prostitute. Bono's lyrics are almost always to be taken symbolicly.
I had always understood it to be about Elvis Presley, Could the lyrics it be from the POV of someone talking to Elvis, maybe Priscilla?
This song is a b-side on Angel Of Harlem, which has a picture of Billy Holiday (the Angel of Harlem) on the back of the 7", 12" and CD-single sleeves. I seem to remember Elvis' picture also included on the 12" somewhere, maybe the disc label?