Lyrics for One as interpreted by spitfirek7

One Lyrics
Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you
Now you got someone to blame

You say
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
It's one love
We get to share it
It leaves you baby
If you don't care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well it's too late
Tonight
To drag the past out
Into the light
We're one
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come tor raise the dead
Havew you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
We hurt each other
Then we do it again

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should

One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers

One life
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other

One

One.

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 208 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
3RA1N1AC
07-29-2007

Rated 0 
Bono is short for Boner. Please visit SST records' website to buy a "Kill Bono" t-shirt.

Henry Rollins wants to hurt you all!!!!!!!

Log in to reply
dawsons_creek
07-29-2007

Rated 0 
i hate the mary j blige version it sucks but this one is one of my favorite U2 songs ever

Log in to reply
PrEsLeYsBiGsIsTa
08-20-2007

Rated 0 
this song is like amazing

Log in to reply
Lollylicious
08-23-2007

Rated 0 
Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
Did I ask too much?

Have you come here for forgiveness
Well it's too late to drag the past out

You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl

And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

Beautiful lyrics... they say it all really :(

Log in to reply
animated lies
09-11-2007

Rated 0 
As a band, I don't really like U2. What made me fall in love with this song, though, was Shinedown's cover of it. Brent Smith is amazing in every way possible.

Log in to reply
Bennyri
09-13-2007

Rated 0 
This song is about two things A gay son talking to his father /two lovers. Can be taken either way
But as with any song it really wat it means to you personnelly,the way it makes you feel,sad, happy, angry. What it means to me is prob different to wat it means to you.The repersent periods in our lives and since everyone has a different life we observe the songs differently so every one is entitled to their opinion on a song and should not be abused or attacked for their views

Log in to reply
DanInNewWest
09-20-2007

Rated 0 
I recently broke up with my wife. Searching for lyrics that sum up how I feel, this song seemed to really capture it. So it may be about a million different things, but what is important is the meaning it holds for me at this moment. Thank you U2!

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you
Now you got someone to blame
-- She just doesn't see that blaming me does nothing but keep her feeling bad. And it will prevent her from healing and not having to do it all over again with someone else.

You say
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
It's one love
We get to share it
It leaves you baby
If you don't care for it
-- The love she wants so badly has left, because she didn't 'care' for it, she didn't allow it to develop and thrive naturally. She was scared it would leave, and made that happen.

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
-- She acts like I never did give her the love and intimacy she wanted. And now she hopes I will go without as a punishment.

Well it's too late
Tonight
To drag tha past out
Into the light
We're one
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One
-- Carry each other, to me, means our time together will always be with us, we will carry it forever. It's too late to fix the past, so we must move on, with the burden of the past on our shoulders.

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come tor raise the dead
Havew you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
We hurt each other
Then we do it again
-- this verse just rings so true to me. She wants to play Jesus to the lepers in her head - she is ridden with anxiety and guilt and tries to justify her actions to relieve this - playing Jesus, to forgive herself. And when she has justifications, then she will 'do it again'.

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
-- make me crawl - I have to live under her control and behave the way she wants to get her love. Otherwise, I get hurt, and that's all I got in the end.

I too believe this song can have many meanings, but this is the way i am interpreting it today. As with any good art, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Cheers

Log in to reply
maneki neko
09-26-2007

Rated 0 
Ofcourse it's not about love between two people, not in that meaning. I knew it's about, as somebody wrote, brotherhood of men (btw, why don't we use the word 'sisterhood' ?). I knew it since I first listen to this song :D

Log in to reply
DREADFUL
11-05-2007

Rated 0 
as far as im concerned they wrote it in such a way that it can be applied to any relationship, whether the love is unconditional or not

that way it can touch more people on a broader spectrum

as far as im concerned theres no specific meaning to this song, and that U2 have allowed enough space for everyone to decide what it means according to themselves

Log in to reply
lexie411
11-20-2007

Rated 0 
I read in their book (can't membah the name) that its about bonos ex cybill who he was with for 14 years and how she came crawling back when he was already with someone else. Its a transitional point where he still has feelings for the ex but he's already with someone else. So the book says anyway. I just know I love this song!!! Its one of their best. I never get sick of it

Log in to reply
lexie411
11-20-2007

Rated 0 
I read in their book (can't membah the name) that its about bonos ex cybill who he was with for 14 years and how she came crawling back when he was already with someone else. Its a transitional point where he still has feelings for the ex but he's already with someone else. So the book says anyway. I just know I love this song!!! Its one of their best. I never get sick of it

Log in to reply
erebelwen921
12-19-2007

Rated +1 
i found this when i was looking up the meaning of the song. i think the song can be interpreted as whatever the person wants but it has an overall message "It is a song about coming together, but it's not the old hippie idea of 'Let's all live together.' It is, in fact, the opposite. It's saying, We are one, but we're not the same. It's not saying we even want to get along, but that we have to get along together in this world if it is to survive. It's a reminder that we have no choice." -Bono
you can read the whole thing here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_(U2_song)

Log in to reply
lan85
12-28-2007

Rated 0 
this song is beautiful on many levels,as with most lyrically good songs do,but it makes me feel and think that we are only ONE and that we should have each other and hold on to it respect it cherish it, on more than just a lovers level, a brothers a mothers a world etc . . . funny thing is that its palyed at so many weddings [which i understand why] yet its about a lovers quarrell.i think thats whats so great about music your free to interpret it how you please. bono says thats one thing he loves is that the people finish his music.

Log in to reply
lan85
12-28-2007

Rated 0 
the part where he says love is a temple that part gets me the most

Log in to reply
blushbug
01-28-2008

Rated 0 
"Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
We hurt each other
Then we do it again

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt"


From my personal situations, to me this song (or at least this section of lyrics) is about the girl giving all she has into the relationship but gets nothing back. It’s a one way street. The relationship is so bad that all they can offer each other his hurt. The guy preaches about love to the girl and how he wants their love to work, yet it’s a façade. He hurts her instead by basically telling her that her she needs to make all the changes instead of both of them changing.

I know it’s probably a stretch, but every song can mean something different to someone.

Log in to reply
anonymous86
03-13-2008

Rated 0 
The song sounds better when Mary J. Blige is singing with them. Likeable song, probably about a relationship that where there is alot of love but also alot of bickering and arguments, about how both feel like they are giving the other their all in keeping it happy and together but the other is not.

Log in to reply
nothinlikesomegit
03-20-2008

Rated 0 
its amazing how one attacts such spineless comments. its a ballad... still rock music. Mary J. Blige.. well, everyone to their own but i would rather S^!t broken glass than put her ahead of one of the best songs ever written (and performed by the masters)

Log in to reply
anonymous86
04-07-2008

Rated 0 
Whose comment is spineless? I think it's a bit harsh if you are talking about mine. That is what I think when I listen to this song.

Log in to reply
Gori11aBear
05-15-2008

Rated -1 
For me this song is targeted at an abusive father.

After being brought up in an abusive and love-less household - not feeling protected or safe from the father, who is a seriously flawed individual and the singer now has nothing to do with him or any sibling that sides with him, now that he's an adult and his father is dead - he or she reflects on the thought of the father's ghost coming back to beg forgiveness.

You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

...don't bring children into this world unless you're going to love and protect them.

Log in to reply
cassiarmemekio
05-17-2008

Rated -1 
This song is about love breaking apart. That meaning is clear, although the specifics are ambiguous. U2 most likely did this on purpose so the song would apply to the pain of many different situations, for many different people. This is why the various possible meanings all work with the lyrics, especially since breaking up in any situation has many of the same feelings. 'One' can apply to a girl and a guy breaking up, it can apply to a gay son and his father, it can apply to an abused child, it can apply to friendship, it can apply to society in general. That is the true genius of the song, and why it appeals to so many people.

As for what inspired U2 to write the song, it's quite obvious. At the time, Edge was breaking up with his wife, and the band was falling apart. Those two painful situations are enough to bring about the song. Bono also mentioned that some of the lyrics have to do with a crisis of faith, which definitely happens when love breaks apart.

As for the whole connection with AIDS and gay people, I don't think that's what inspired the song. However, I think it is a way to apply the song to society as a whole, since non-tolerance, including non-tolerance of gay people, is something that breaks society apart. That is where the lyric "We're one, but we're not the same, we get to carry each other" comes from. Essentially, we're all different, and often we don't even want to help the people who are put down (because they're different), but we have to carry each other if we want to make the best out of this Earth. We have "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers", one life is all we have, so be tolerant and don't divide, don't break society up because of our differences.

The song is so amazing because it is so full of pain and anger. People play it at their weddings because they misinterpret the passionate emotion of the song. In a way, when the song is applied to society as a whole, it is about staying together, and so that can be connected to a marriage staying together. However, this meaning comes from the fact that people are breaking apart, and relationships are breaking apart; therefore, marriage and the song are only related in that they are opposites. people play it at their weddings because they only see the meaning of staying together, and don't realize the actual emotions of the song. They don't truly the understand the song; however, they still enjoy it in their ignorance.

All in all, One is freaking awesome.

Log in to reply
btcgandhi
06-08-2008

Rated 0 
To me - it is a description of love and a call to action for a better future. Great song! - below is how it means to me...

ONE ...

Is it getting hotter, or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now if you've got someone to blame?
Yes its one love, one life
and as one, we need to cut the strife
Lifestyle, we got to shrink and share it
Our world, leaves us baby if we don't care for it

Did we disappoint you, or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Its not too late, tonight, to change from the past into the light
We are one and we are all worth the same
We get to hurry each other, hurry each other, One

How d'you justify your lifestyle?
Your children's children aren’t already dead!
Or is the thing that stops you acting, just those lepers in your head?

Did we ask too much?
More than a lot?
You gave me nothing now its all we've got

We are one, and we are all worth the same
So lets come together, and together proclaim
One Planet Living,
Love the higher law
We can't go on wasting
and ever taking more

While we live in riches Africa stays poor
Our world can't support this dreamlife
that we have bought
while all our stuff brings hurt
One love, one blood,
One chance you got to do what you should
One world, love each other
Sisters, brothers
One world, we're all worth the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other

One

Log in to reply
pimpdad82
08-12-2008

Rated 0 
btcgandhi, that was a nice attempt but your totally destroyed that song.

Log in to reply
31193jaH
09-26-2008

Rated 0 
it doesnt matter who you are - everyone is a part of humanity
its not so much about love between 2 people, but rather love among everyone

Log in to reply
bttr2gthr55
09-30-2008

Rated 0 
great song....reminds me of this person and I....how we are one but not the same.

Log in to reply
Joe K.
01-04-2009

Rated -1 
This song is about forgiving one's father in the broadest sense of the word "father." My God why have you forsaken me?

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here