Lyrics for Staring At The Sun as interpreted by dsfire

Staring At The Sun Lyrics
SUMMER streching on the grass... summer dresses pass
in the shade of a willow tree creeps a crawling over me
over me and over you stuck together with God's glue
it's going to get stickier too...
it's been a long hot summer
let's get undercover
don't try too hard to think... don't think at all

I'm not the only one starin' at the sun
afraid of what you'd find if you took a look inside
not just deaf and dumb I'm staring at the sun
not the only one who's happy to go blind

there's an insect in your ear if you scratch it won't disappear
it's gonna itch and burn and sting
do you want to see what the scratching brings
waves that leave me out of reach
breaking on your back like a beach
will we ever live in peace?
'cause those that can't do often have to
those that can't do often have to... preach

to the ones staring at the sun...
afraid of what you'll find if you took a look inside
not just deaf and dumb... staring at the sun
I'm not the only one who'd rather go blind

intransigence is all around... military still in town
armour plated suits and ties... daddy just won't say goodbye
referee won't flow the whistle God is good but will HE listen
I'm nearly great
but there's something I'm missing I left in the duty free
though you never really belonged to me

you're not the only one starin' at the sun
afraid of what you'd find if you stepped back inside
I'm not sucking my thumb I'm staring at the sun
not the only one who's happy to go blind

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  • 26 Comments
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u2elevation
05-21-2002

Rated 0 
People call "Pop" U2's failure album. This I can't understand. For a failure album this is a pretty darn good song!

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AYUL1234
05-24-2002

Rated 0 
i agree wit u....i tink the album on the whole is good and tho they aint my face group i respects U2 for everythin they do....and im pretty shure its 'referee wont blow the whistle" makes more sense

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lilybart
08-24-2002

Rated 0 
To me, this song is about our culture ignoring the problems around us. There can be something fundamentally wrong in our lives, but we'd rather pretend than admit anything.

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U2takemehigher
04-17-2004

Rated 0 
POP is awesome, don't ever let anyone diss POP... i think there is really no u2 failure album

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Golgotha
05-07-2004

Rated 0 
This is a great song. I don't know why. Maybe it's the chords.

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bazza102
11-19-2004

Rated 0 
i love the video to this song the way shadows pass over the band its just such a great image

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bill_the_pony
02-17-2005

Rated 0 
this song kicks anus!! and if U2 have a falurie album then its problay zooropa
WOO U2!!

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StolenBriefcase
02-27-2005

Rated 0 
You are right about zooropa. Half of it is great but the other half... yeah... shit

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Domo31
03-31-2005

Rated 0 
This song sounds amazing on the Slane DVD where it is just Bono, the Edge and his guitar, you can hear the crowd singing along for some of it.

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Bono_is_God
04-03-2005

Rated 0 
It must just be mee but my favourite u2 cds are Pop and Zooropa. I love how different the songs on Pop are especially Mofo and Staring at the Sun. This song is soo beautiful. "not the only one who's happy to go blind " pefectly describes how people would rather look the otherway and go blind then face the problems that are existant on the earth and try to fix them because we are afraid of what we will find.

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Deltawing
06-26-2005

Rated 0 
I once was singing the song in my head, and then out loud I sang "I'm not the only one who's happy to go blind". Think about that line out of context for a second. There were a few laughs from my friends.
Seriously though, there are some lines in this song which just confuse me. What does the insect represent? And why does he doubt that God will listen?

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Marquez
11-08-2005

Rated 0 
I think "Pop" is a great wonderful album, I love it. This song is like reading a diary, you know, all these images and pictures glued together with apparently no link between each other. And "Stuck Together With God's Glue" is an album by Something Happens, an Irish pop-rock band.

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wrestlewithjime
01-02-2006

Rated 0 
u2 dosent have a failure album, all of their albums are just experiments for the band. this album, pop, did amazing eveywhere other than america. bono said that while this was being recorded their life was one big party and they wanted to try and get that on a record but it ended up sounding like the morning after the party. i like this cd though, probally my 5th favorite and zooropa only has 2 or 3 bad tunes but all in all great albums

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Hobbit Habbits
02-25-2006

Rated 0 
alright seriously i ahve no idea what you guys are talking about
i thought we're hear to talk about the meaning of the song.
the song makes no sense whatsoever. it has themes that are not connected. i only realized this cause i like the song so much but seriously, you make sense out of it.

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shmu
07-09-2006

Rated 0 
Staring at the sun

There was a story going around in the 60's that a group of california university students were so high on LSD that they were staring at the sun while laying on a grassy hill for several hours that it didn't bother them but in fact burnt part of their retina and could not see anything closely. They also held religious conversations with god while under the influence.This story has never been proven and actual names were never given (check out Erowid for more on this myth).

Bono is probably relating his own trip with the students who were sprawled out on the grass for hours. His description is almost identical to the mythical articles on the california university students. I would take the the song quite literally. "Those who can't do" are the teachers or the people who set our morals in society who create these myths to scare people out of using drugs or to be introspective and question what is accepted as truth or right. Are they afraid of what they find when they look inside of themselves? Bono says these people (government/military state) is still in town or in control. Its not so obvious as they are disguised in suits and ties. Daddy (government) won't leave you alone. "I'm nearly great but there's something missing" = Grandiosity is a symptom of such trips. "I left it in the Duty free" = [airplane] "trips" may be taken literally. Its not really him as its an effect of the drug. He's not sucking on his thumb. He's not a baby he can do what he wants and if that means destroying his retina so be it. Could this be an anti-drug message?

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gakk
07-23-2006

Rated 0 
I have never really understood the lyrics of this song.. but drugs?? didn't thought it was about that, though..

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amahony
08-03-2006

Rated 0 
Great great great song, Paul McGuiness (manager) has said it was to be there main song from Pop but was badly promoted and had a poor video to go with that, Love the acoustic live version.. Would be in my top 3 fav u2 songs

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amahony
08-03-2006

Rated 0 
Great great great song, Paul McGuiness (manager) has said it was to be there main song from Pop but was badly promoted and had a poor video to go with that, Love the acoustic live version.. Would be in my top 3 fav u2 songs

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amahony
08-03-2006

Rated 0 
Great great great song, Paul McGuiness (manager) has said it was to be there main song from Pop but was badly promoted and had a poor video to go with that, Love the acoustic live version.. Would be in my top 3 fav u2 songs

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The Big Bad Wolf
08-17-2006

Rated 0 
"Pop" is the album that marked U2's new face... And they even succeded in making the fans adapt to their new style (to be honest Bono looks preaty laim with that weird cap XD)

About this music... it's all been said i guess

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cgodfrey
11-30-2006

Rated 0 
Badly promoted, probably, but the video for this song blew my effing mind. Probably still my favorite, and in my opinion, the new iPod ads totally used this video for inspiration. As for the song meanings, I believe this is a song about apathy and peoples inaction

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Donyoguy
12-05-2006

Rated 0 
Funny how no one's brought this up yet. The song is most likely based on Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The following explanation is taken verbatim from U2 fansite "U2MoL":

For those that have read Plato's The Republic the analogy of the cave is familiar. In the text Plato uses this cave as an analogy of the way human nature is enlightened. Plato tells of how humans are held captive in a very dark cave, chained so they can only see one of the walls and behind them there is a fire, between the fire and the people objects and puppets pass, casting shadows on wall where people can see.

People are deceived into thinking the shadows are reality, until one of the humans is suddenly set free and brought to see how the "reality" of the shadows were actually created light cast on different objects. Then he is forced outside into the bright sunlight and is at first blinded by the intensity and the pain from the brightness. But soon he realizes that the the reality of the sun and its light is much more real than the darkness and shadows of the cave. He has pity on the people in the cave and decides to show them how they are misled. The people in the cave think he is crazy and eventually kill him.

Plato then relates truth and the search for enlightenment to the analogy of the cave and how humans are easily deceived and persuaded to believe in what the perceive and are not open to new ideas if they are offered outright. But knowledge can be taught in degrees to gradually allow the soul to become accustomed to the "light" of truth from the Sun. Staring at the Sun captures this idea of Plato's teaching.

~don't try to hard to think dont think at all~

Humans are not willing to think to reach their conclusions, they believe only what they see.

~there's an insect in your ear/if you scratch it won't disappear~

In the cave analogy there are voices that the people hear that they can't understand where they come from. They don't go away.

~I'm not the only one Staring at the sun~

There are actually other people that are teaching this person about the truth of the Sun.

~Afraid of what you'll find, if you step back inside~

The thought of going back in the cave to teach the people about the light of truth is frightening and afraid that they will be killed if they go back inside.

~Not just deaf and dumb, staring at the sun, Not the only one who's happy to go blind~

This is happiness due to the discovery of what real truth is. The brightness of the sun is blinding at first but soon they see the good of the light (truth) and are happy to go blind, staring at the truth.

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cookiemonster4
12-15-2006

Rated 0 
this song is REALLY about masturbation.
sorry,but it is.
creeps=the feeling of orgasm
a long HOT summer=ya know...a dog in heat
satring at the sun=masturbating
peopel are afraid to masturbate because its a sin,but hes not the only one whos happy to go to hell(blind)
insect in your ear=orgasm
scratching wont help it dissapear=masturbating wont help
those who cant do often have to preach=preachers dont masturbate so they preach against it
god is good but will he listen?=will god forgive me for this?

so yeah.that is truly what its about.listen to it,and see if you get it.

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Jelreyn
05-24-2007

Rated 0 
Staring at the sun is about people who were unable to face themselves when it came time to do so. They were unable to look inside themselves to see all the horrors that lie there.

As a result, they're stuck in this ordinary world, deaf/dumb/ and blind - unable to see the souls of other people, and unable to communicate with Others too.

It's a shit existence, and i don't know if there's any cure for it. Hopefully there is...

PS. Life sucks.

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Jacob1
10-08-2007

Rated 0 
Someone here is with cookiemonster4 ?

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