Lyrics for Unknown Caller as interpreted by suede67

Unknown Caller Lyrics
Sunshine, sunshine
Sunshine, sunshine
Oh, oh
Oh, oh

I was lost between the midnight and the dawning
In a place of no consequence or company
3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face
Speed dialing with no signal at all
Go, shout it out, rise up
Oh, oh

Escape yourself, and gravity
Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak
Shush now
Oh, oh

Force quit and move to trash
I was right there at the top of the bottom
On the edge of the known universe where I wanted to be
I had driven to the scene of the accident
And I sat there waiting for me
Restart and re-boot yourself
You're free to go
Oh, oh

Shout for joy if you get the chance
Password, you enter here, right now
Oh, oh

You know your name so punch it in
Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak
Shush now
Oh, oh

They don't move or say a thing
---
"Unknown Caller" as written by Adam Clayton, Dave Evans, Paul David Hewson, Larry Mullen, Daniel Roland Lanois, Brian Eno
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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suede67
02-18-2009

 Rated  +1 
Yay 1st!!! I've heard this is about a phone call from god.

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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
raw7466
02-23-2009

 Rated  +1 
My interpretations of the song:

This is a beautiful worship song portraying an intimate experience with God.

The song is nonlinear. It is looking back at an event with narration spliced through the event. It's easier to understand by regrouping the lyrics. Everything Bono sings solo is the main character of the song narrating or recalling his state previous to the event. The Bono/Edge harmony is the character of God. God’s words are nonlinear also. The character is retelling them in a different order.

The soft opening, bird sounds, and Sunshine, Sunshine is the present time. The character wakes with new meaning seeing the Light (Light of Christ, John 8:12) in a new way.

Bono solo/recalling the character's situation.

I was lost (these three words give all the meaning. He was lost. Isaiah 53:6) between the midnight and the dawning
In a place of no consequence or company
3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face (the call from God comes at 3:33 Jeremiah 33:3)
Speed dialing with no signal at all

I was right there at the top of the bottom (he was stuck in the middle of nowhere)
On the edge of the known universe where I wanted to be (he didn’t exactly realize he was lost or stuck, he thought he was where he wanted to be)
I had driven to the scene of the accident
And I sat there waiting for me (his life was out of control and he was about to crash)

Words of God:

(first grouped by the technical metaphor, then the rest)


Force quit (This Macintosh metaphor is a poetic masterpiece. Force quit in Mac language is the method to quit a program that is out of control and can’t be stopped the normal way. It needs a different kind of intervention. God is doing a force quit on this guy’s life.) and move to trash (Mac language for delete. God is deleting the man’s life. Isaiah 1:18)
Restart and re-boot yourself (John 3:3, 2 Cor 5:17)
Password, you enter here, right now
You know your name so punch it in

Go, shout it out, rise up
Escape yourself, and gravity
Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak, Shush now (You’ve been so busy doing your own things to hear me before. Stop and listen.)
You're free to go
Shout for joy if you get the chance (Psalm 40:3. This is a U2 theme. They have been shouting the joy of God and redemption throughout their time in the spotlight. Gloria, 40, October, WTSHNN Elevation tour version, Yahweh.)
Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak
Shush now
Don't move or say a thing (Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.)

The last part of the song is the best. My interpretation is that the message we hear in the lyrics of the song is “be quiet so I can teach you” and the generic message “leave your old life and start a new life in me”, but there is much more after the lyrics end. After God speaks the final words of “Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak, Shush now, don't move or say a thing”, the song goes right into non-lyrical music as if it is a continuation of the lyrics. I believe U2 is using music as a way to imply spiritual communication (Ephesians 5:19, see U2’s interpretation of the Holy Ghost in The First Time “She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul. And she teach me how to sing”).

The music starts out with beautiful organ/cathedral style music and then moves into an amazing Edge guitar solo, as if the meaning and feeling God is speaking is too beautiful to put into words and instead is portrayed by music over the final minute and half of the song.




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My Interpretation
raw7466
02-23-2009

 Rated  +1 
addendum

I just discovered the final 1:30 of the song including Edge's guitar solo is taken from the hymn "My Savior's Love". This adds even more meaning to the song. This implies an alternate interpretation for the final 1:30. This could be cutting back to the present retelling of the account and is the character's answer and expression of God's admonition: "Shout for joy if you get the chance."


The words of that hymn:

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Refrain
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!

For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!

In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
'Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!



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2 Replies  ·  General Comment
bigrobbo2006
02-25-2009

 Rated  +2 
umm yeah...

i like this song. it has a positive message that you can start again. Apparantly its a call from your creator force. I don't think its a specific God reference, even though it contains religious imagerey. The whole album seems to be a positive one. "no line on the horizon" - its not the end of time yet. "its not a hill its a mountain as you start out the climb" - it may seem hard at first but it will get better. "the future needs a big kiss" - embrace the future. "Get on your boots" - get your shoes on we have work to do.

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General Comment
Dawud
02-26-2009

 Rated  0 
It can be about our consciousness.

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General Comment
yrogerg1
03-02-2009

 Rated  0 
Maybe it's me but put the meaning aside and just listen musically. I swear this song could be put on War or Unforgettable Fire. It has that 80's U2 sound to it.

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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
Nathan54AB
03-04-2009

 Rated  -1 
@#$%&!? These people who are doped up and mellowed out of it from smoking religion render me speechless every time. But what can ya do? How in the world does one respond to the behavior of a drug addict? Oh well.

I do have a spiritual interpretation of the song. Not a religious one referencing to scripture or that monstrous creature Jehovah, but a genuine interpretation involving soul and spirit in the sense that everyone has a sense of.

This song is about the lies and illusions one constantly piles in their life to make sense of it. Yet deep within their soul, they know that they are far from any truth. Eventually they find that they can't go any further with their own perception, so for the first time they silence their mind which they have let run haywire with nonsense. Now their soul is able to assert itself now that there is room (Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak), and for the first time a glimmer of truth is seen ("I was right there at the top of the bottom/ On the edge of the known universe where I wanted to be/ I had driven to the scene of the accident") - they got a good look at their life from an objective point of view ("And I sat there waiting for me"). The rest of the song is about their outlook on life from then on. They no longer sink to living in illusions (religion, ideologies, untested philosophy, any unobserved and/or untested thought) and redirect themself into the path of the soul, in which the only goal is to make known the unknown.

This song is NOT about religious nonsense or expressing worship to any deity. It is the exact opposite! It is about denouncing the external God, throwing away and/or testing beliefs, condemning religion, ultimately silencing that nagging voice preaching sermons (not necessarily religious ones) in one's mind and, as I said, redirect themself into the path of the soul, in which the only goal is to make known the unknown. We are not here in life to preach some gospel, impose our beliefs on others, or to be a martyr. We are here in our life as explorers. Whatever circumstance we were born into, no matter what it is, we chose to come into as EXPLORERS. Ponder that.

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2 Replies  ·  General Comment
U2fantasy
03-05-2009

 Rated  0 
Raw - I love your interpretation of this song, it really makes sense and makes it an even more beautiful song! Thanks!

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General Comment
Green_Death
03-06-2009

 Rated  0 
I actually liked this song until I read Theresa's whack comments.

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General Comment
hardy33
03-10-2009

 Rated  0 
Restart and re-boot yourself
You're free to go
Oh, oh
Shout for joy if you get the chance

I take it to mean ... you get another chance to start over in your life, whatever was holding you back no longer has power over you and you're joyful because of it.

No Christian interpretation required. :) Though if you take it the religious way, feel free, U2 songs are pretty open-ended in their interpretations (ONE for example).


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My Interpretation
malonesnoogie
03-11-2009

 Rated  0 
moment of surrender and unknown caller are part of a two part song about a junkie whose lost in addiction and as he's dialing the phone for more drugs,he gets a text from god. this gives much needed insight into the new third person style of lyrics bono has incorporated on to the new album.

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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
Celtic_FC
03-11-2009

 Rated  0 
A lovely tune.

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General Comment
stillwater
03-16-2009

 Rated  +1 
wow, it would be fantastic if we could get an opinion on what the song means without the opinion of the song being three times as long as the song it is commenting on!!! and theresa, get back in the kitchen. =]

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General Comment
RayMan
03-17-2009

 Rated  0 
Okay Stillwater, how about this interpretation:

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." - Psalm 46:10

Concise enough for you?

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General Comment
ptanzola
03-21-2009

 Rated  +1 
This song is clearly about the joy of eating a steaming plate of waffles on brisk autumn morning. The 'unknown caller' is the maple syrup, which calls down from the bottle and covers our plate with syrup. The syrup is like the soul. The protagonist of the song is Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, a known waffle afficionado. I like the lyrics a lot.

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2 Replies  ·  General Comment
retzo
03-21-2009

 Rated  0 
raw7466 was spot on a month ago. I love this song. It made me cry from joy several times.

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General Comment
dcba
03-30-2009

 Rated  0 
In the song, the singer gets the message that he has the power to start over, or reboot himself, or however you want to describe having a fresh start.

The specific mechanics that Bono uses to convey this message are a bit questionable- if there is a direct God Requirement to the lyric, I both reject it and maintain that the song and its message work just fine without it.

As for the computerese talk... I get it, although its a bit borderline silly... but I guess the silliness succeeds in taking away some of the uberseriousness that the song still suffers from.

All in all, I like the song, especially the monotone commands to get off your butt and live your life like the rest of it started today. I could do without some of the vibrato-heavy vocal dramatizations... "driven to the scene of the accident" is a bit like taking a bandaid off on YouTube... uh, thanks but no thanks.

But the real reason that I logged in to comment here is that I noticed how much this song sounds like a Paul Kantner Jefferson Airship kind of anthem. Certainly the empowerment message in the lyric, but also the actual sounds of the recording. The unison shouting of the "reboot yourself" parts, and the guitar work- very much Jorma Kaukonen on Wooden Ships... lots of simple bends and emotive but non-technical noodling. I wouldn't normally expect U2 to sound like Airplane 1969, but check it out.

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General Comment
blobertcoltrane
04-26-2009

 Rated  +1 
Theresa is gone, thank the lord almighty saviour. great song, second fave on the album after breathe. The whole phone conversation theory does it for me but it can be interpreted in a few different ways

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General Comment
rain_king
06-06-2009

 Rated  0 
U2 are amazing. I really have nothing to add to the meaning, I think Raw7466 got it all covered.

Instead, I would like to comment on the amazing nature of the entire album. 'No line on the horizon' has an awesome recurring theme of love, in all its senses. Look in each song and how they connect and you'll see the lyrics discussing love in every possible angle in the given timeframe. Amazing, turning amazing stand alone songs into something almost narrative... wow

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My Opinion
U2momma
07-19-2009

 Rated  0 
Raw said it best. The second I heard those french horns pipe in at the end, I was transported to the pew I grew up in and knew this album was going to be a mind-blower since they sampled a beloved old hymn of all things!

This is my 2nd fav on the album (behind the title track) because it rocks in every sphere: musically, lyrically, symbolically, and it taps into our unconscious-knowing that there's something bigger than us and we should feel compelled to wake up and find out who or what it is. I'm so into the "Sunshine, Sunshine." I could hear just that over and over again, it's to beautiful with Edge's bells following.

I must say it is lovely to not have to see Theresa's rants anymore! Off-subject, anyone? And it's definitely not the way to win someone to your belief system to boot.







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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
houstoncougar
08-11-2009

 Rated  0 
I sure enjoy the various analysis of this song; personally, I'm not 100% sure the meaning behind it. I do know this: I play it over and over again. It's one of those great songs that give me goose bumps. I'm just glad U2 continues to create great music after all these years.

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General Comment
enriquedelayeurrea
09-08-2009

 Rated  0 
It says that you can still change your life
no matter how far have you drive in the wrong way
you can still go back and start again

"Go Shout it out rise up"

"Force quit and mobe to trash"

"Restart and reboot yourself you are free to go"

Bono wanted to give this message with the story of a yunkee that realizes that he is in an adicction and wants to quit.

Its My Favorite Song Of All The Times Till Now

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General Comment
gjack2211
09-19-2009

 Rated  0 
Edge's guitar at the beginning sounds exactly like Walk On. Lots of technological terms thrown in this song:

Speed-dialing with no signal at all…

Force quit and move to trash…

Restart and re-boot yourself…

Password, enter here…

You know your name so punch it in

Where is this call coming from?

Also a very cool part of the song is the horns, with an xylophone, followed by some epic guitar playing by some dude who is awesome. Sounds like a whole orchestra taking turns. Great variations.

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General Comment
utwogirl
10-11-2009

 Rated  0 
It amazes me how people are so afraid to admit to the Biblical, God references in U2 Songs.....whether you are Christian or not, the members of U2 are Christians! If you don't like the lyrics and the meaning of the spiritual/christian lyrics, then don't listen, and don't try to tear down what they are. Unknown Caller is TOTALLY a conversation with GOD. We know this, because Bono and Edge, Larry and even Adam are Christians. It's so evident in this song, among so many others. Geesh!!! To say it's a message to a "creator"....well HELLO!!!!! We know who Bono's creator is!!!!!!

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2 Replies  ·  General Comment
BradB
12-06-2009

 Rated  0 
This is what Bono said, on stage this past summer. Unknown Caller is (and please allow me to paraphrase, it is close to Bono's actual language, as I have this fan-recorded concert on my iPod but it's not in front of me as I type) about a suicidal man who was alone in a hotel room with a gun and with his cell phone. And, at the height of the darkness, ":his cell phone begins receiving texts". He doesn't know who is texting; "could be G-d, could be his mates..." but somehow, he listens, "and, somehow, it gets him out of the hotel room alive".

This was so powerful the way Bono relates it. PS: listening to the lyrics, we all know that it was G-d who sends the texts...

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