Lyrics for Lemon as interpreted by jt

Lemon Lyrics
Lemon - see through in the sunlight
She wore lemon - never in the daylight
She's gonna make you cry
She's gonna make you whisper and moan
But when you're dry
She draws water from a stone
I feel like I'm slowly, slowly, slowly slipping under
I feel like I'm holding onto nothing

She wore lemon to colour in the cold grey night
She had heaven and she held on so tight

A man makes a picture - a moving picture
Through light projected he can see himself up close
A man captures colour - a man likes to stare
He turns his money into light to look for her

And I feel like I'm drifting, drifting, drifting from the shore
And I feel like I'm swimming out to her

Midnight is where the day begins
Midnight is where the day begins --

Lemon - see through in the sunlight

A man builds a city with banks and cathedrals
A man melts the sand so he can see the world outside
A man makes a car and builds roads to run them on
A man dreams of leaving but he always stays behind
[You're gonna meet her there - she's your destination]
[You gotta get to her - she's imagination]

And these are the days when our work has come asunder
And these are the days when we look for something other

Midnight is where the day begins
Midnight is where the day begins --

A man makes a picture - a moving picture
Through light projected he can see himself up close
A man captures colour - a man likes to stare
He turns his money into light to look for her
[Gotta meet her there - she's your destination]
[There's no sleeping there - she's imagination]
She is the dreamer - she's imagination
Through the light projected he can see himself up close



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U2aholic
07-26-2002

 Rated  0 
The song is okay....the music video is disturbing.

Bono sang it okay during the Zoo TV show in Sydney.

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u2elevation
08-24-2002

 Rated  0 
This song is actually written about Bono's mother. Weird, huh?

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simplicity
06-29-2003

 Rated  0 
I always interpreted this song to be about the relationship of an artist to their own creativity, imagination, ingenuity, etc... the prices it exacts for the ability to create amazing things. i thought the music video was so fitting to the song -- the use of seemingly primitive film techniques and the like. sure, Bono in a Joker-like getup WAS a little disturbing, i grant that, i still thought it captured the song very very well. the dreamlike quality of the tune also adds to the meaning, i think... as if groping for inspiration.

well, that's what i got out of it, anyway :)

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USPOAHZMSF
04-11-2004

 Rated  0 
no... the video is AWESOME. the actual filming is, as simplicity says, "primitive", but it's doing a play on the original work by this one guy (sorry i forget his name, i can look it up) if you have best of 1990-2000 listen to the commentary. it's awesome.
the getup bono is in sync with his macphisto character, ('cept for the horns)
peace, toner

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U2takemehigher
04-17-2004

 Rated  0 
the guy's name who did the 'photographs' that inspired the video was eadweard muybridge. read about him here: http://web.inter.nl.net/users/anima/chronoph/muybridge/index.htm

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marcus aurelius
10-01-2004

 Rated  +1 
I actually thought this song was about mankind, and our wish to develop things to find a solution to problems we make ourselve. This doesnt work eventually.
'And these are the days when our work has come asunder
And these are the days when we look for something other'.
luckily when it's black it cant get any worse.
'Midnight is where the day begins '

i'm probably wrong, but this was my idea of what the song is about.

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2861U2
10-27-2004

 Rated  0 
This is in my top 10 favorite U2 songs. I have always liked this song, but it wasnt until my girlfriend broke up with me that I started loving this song and really listening to the lyrics. So i honestly dont know what this song is about, but to me, it will always be Bono singing of a broken relationship. Heres some reasons why:

"She's gonna make you cry
She's gonna make you whisper and moan"

"He turns his money into light to look for her
Gotta meet her there - she's your destination
There's no sleeping there - she's imagination
She is the dreamer - she's imagination"

"She had heaven and she held on so tight"

Just my opinion of course

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msngj
04-17-2005

 Rated  0 
'She's gonna make you cry
She's gonna make you whisper and moan
But when you're dry
She draws water from a stone'

Theses lines definately resonate sexual connotations, but I don't think the song is entirely about sex. I really can't define it

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Sempre
05-08-2005

 Rated  0 
I sort of agree with Simplicity. The lady in the lemon dress is the imagination. She is heaven, she is the destination.

"But when you're dry
She draws water from a stone "
"Midnight is where the day begins"

Creativity comes when you least expect it. Man has spent lifetimes searching for the lemon lady. He has built roads and cities to reach some sort of elevation. But happines/creativity comes when you least expect it; it rises from the blackest night. Life comes from death.


This is why I like U2's songs. Even though the lyrics are complex and disjointed, they are pretty deep and open to interperetation.

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g_notte
05-10-2005

 Rated  +1 
In american slang lemon (or high yellow) means sexually attractive mulatto girl. This song was written after Adam and Naomi Campbell split-up. As far as I know they`re supposed to be married but... Naomi with her illusive lifestyle could be mysterious lemon lady. Look how tenderly Bono hugs Adam in the video.

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astepcloser24
08-20-2005

 Rated  0 
I know I've read that Bono saw a home video of his mother wearing a lemon dress. He was 14 when she died, but he says he can barely remember what she looked like. If you listen to the song closely, it can be related to the loss of a mother. He is saying he's going through life, but eventually he'll meet up with her.

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astepcloser24
08-20-2005

 Rated  +1 
I know I've read that Bono saw a home video of his mother wearing a lemon dress. He was 14 when she died, but he says he can barely remember what she looked like. If you listen to the song closely, it can be related to the loss of a mother. He is saying he's going through life, but eventually he'll meet up with her.

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rock_candy
12-11-2005

 Rated  0 
Wow Sempre your thoughts of the song sound pretty exact. Astepclosert24 yours is too. I love how U2 songs make their songs sound so great and have what seems like hidden messages. I'm from New Zealand and their coming next year in March and last night my brother lined up for 2 and a half hours to get a ticket but they'd sold out already (Their first concert sold out in 15 mins so they decided to have a second) BUT sooooo many people have missed out because of fucking scalpers went earlier than anyone else and purchased ridiculous amounts of tickets like, 60 tix so they can go online and sell them for thousands. It's disgusting. My aunty is a massive fan and she has every record and album but she couldn't get a ticket because of them, she cried. My Dad has loved them since forever and he couldn't get one either. It's disgusting.

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svenllama
02-04-2006

 Rated  0 
It's about Bono seeing his deceased mom on video; this is well-documented.

The video is based on the work of Edward Muybridge.

As with the rest of U2's ZooTV/Zooropa stuff, the whole idea of media, virtual realities, etc. comes into play here. In most cases, seeing video footage is a pale stand-in for actual experience, but in the case of this song, it's the closest Bono can get to actually seeing his mother again...It's "Even Better than the Real Thing", get it? This sense of ambiguity and moral uncertainty is part of what made this stuff so impactful at the time of its release, right at the end of the Cold War, etc., etc.

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robino
02-19-2006

 Rated  0 
This is my favorite U2 song. If you subscribe to XM radio LUCY plays an incredible version. I was unaware that it was about his mother-thanks for the info-makes more sense now.

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Mistrike
05-12-2006

 Rated  0 
7 minutes of shit. But its good shit.

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Keyser Sushi
08-17-2006

 Rated  0 
The video is based on the artwork of Edweard Muybridge, who invented one of the earliest motion picture devices.

It was called, interestingly... the Zoopraxiscope.

If you're familiar with Muybridge, the video is hilarious.

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charlotte474
12-08-2006

 Rated  0 
who i ssinging the chorus ? is it bono ? maybe with edge ??

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drewhiggins
12-16-2006

 Rated  0 
Bono does indeed sing it about his mother. Also songs including 'I Will Follow', 'Mofo' (obviously), 'Out Of Control' and 'Tomorrow' are dedicated to her.

I would also assume that possibly 'Original of The Species' is about her too. I love U2 and Lemon strangely is one of those I listen to most. Why I do I don't know, but Zooropa and Pop were two of the VERY best albums of their career, but Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, Unforgettable Fire, War and Boy as well as UAR are up there too. Not as keen on HTDAAB but the B-side bootlegs rock.

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sebrat
12-16-2006

 Rated  0 
This song is about both Bono's mother and, as someone said earlier, man's wish to preserve the world in technology, which only becomes more relevant over the years. The relationship is that the only physical memory Bono has of his mother is a video recording of her in a lemon dress, hence the name.

The lyrics "A man makes a picture - a moving picture
Through light projected he can see himself up close
A man captures colour - a man likes to stare
He turns his money into light to look for her" obviously refer to that idea of capturing the world via video.

This also kind of ties in with the video - that whole theme of capturing moments by video.

Anyway, it's a great song, and it's probably about as far away from classic U2 as it's possible to get, lyrically and audially.

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she_speaks
03-28-2007

 Rated  +1 
The video is funny when Beavis and Butthead commented on it. Good song, I think the vid gave me nightmares.

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Lord Malbeth
06-10-2008

 Rated  0 
This song is about a time when Bono watched a video of his (deceased) mother in a lemon yellow dress. He wrote this song in reference to the fact that man is always trying to preserve time:

"A man makes a picture - a moving picture
Through light projected he can see himself up close
A man captures colour - a man likes to stare
He turns his money into light to look for her"

The song is 100? true, and kinda depressing, if I do say so myself. It however is awesome.

The music video is made in tribute to Edward Muybridge, or something like that. He was the first person to capture film, on his invention, interestingly enough called the Zoopraxiscope (Coincidence?). Basically, his films were prehistoric GIF files.

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U2fanindiana
06-11-2008

 Rated  0 
A lot of fascinating insights. I love U2 and though I had heard this song before, it never really struck me until recently. To me, the meaings of U2 lyrics depend entirely on the listener's perspective at a particular moment.

Is it possible that lyrics refer to someone who is trying desperately to get to something that is "acidic" and perhaps not generally considered sweet and desirable "I feel like I'm slowly, slowly, slowly slipping under"? Is the thing that is desired an illusion? Are all of these images illusions?

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Hathorre
06-15-2008

 Rated  0 
I haven't done research or anything so I totally believe you guys about the mother thing, but before I read the comments I thought that this was about a muse

"But when you're dry
She draws water from a stone"

"She is the dreamer - she's imagination"

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sandmuno
09-04-2008

 Rated  +1 
This is my favorite U2 song. It is very nostalgic :( and yes it is about Bono's mom.

"She draws water from a stone"// I believe Bono is talking about his heart and about his tears eventhough he acts tough :(

Very poetic and sad, poor Bono :(

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