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I have a lover
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing
Shows me colors when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time
I feel love
I have a brother
When I'm a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me
When I feel myself going down
I just call and he comes around
But for the first time
I feel love
My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold
He said I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
And I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key
For the first time
For the first time
For the first time
I feel love
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing
Shows me colors when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time
I feel love
I have a brother
When I'm a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me
When I feel myself going down
I just call and he comes around
But for the first time
I feel love
My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold
He said I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
And I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key
For the first time
For the first time
For the first time
I feel love
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Each of which show him aspects of his personality he never knew he had due to a troubled upbringing. With his girlfriend he finds romance, happiness and compassion. With his brother he finds friendship, companionship and devotion. And finally with God he finds faith, belief and hope.
However he has a crisis of faith as he believes he is unworthy of God's love and unworthy of all the good things (referred to by the; 'I have many mansions, and there are many rooms to see') he (the person) has going for him; that is his brother and girlfriend.
He throws it all away but the last four lines indicate a redemption of sorts, he's giving a second chance by his girlfriend, his brother and God thus explaining the last four lines. For it took him shunning everything he cared for to realise there are people who love for and care for him. Hence; 'for the first time... I feel love'.
Well, in the end when he sings:
My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold
He said I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key...
Everyone talks about it going like this (pay attention to the quotation marks):
...Gave me a cup of gold
He said "I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see"
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key...
BUT when I listened to it I always imagined it going like this (again, pay attention to the quotation marks):
...Gave me a cup of gold
He said "I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key..."
With that demonstrating the fact that God has all the power over everything in Heaven and Earth but He leaves it behind because that means nothing to Him compared to having a relationship with us. The build-up in the music when he sings "And I threw away the key" puts you in an awestruck state filled with the feeling of a beautiful and unconditional love. God has many mansions and many rooms to see in Heaven but He left Heaven, and sent His son (Jesus) so that we could come into His presence any time here on Earth and then have eternal life with Him in Heaven.
Again, this may not be how Bono intended. I, however, will continue listening to it this way because this puts a positive twist to the seemingly negative-ish ending to this song. This song is so beautiful and I enjoy it leaving a good taste in my mouth. :)
It seems to me the first part of the song is about drugs, doesn't matter if Bono does them or not.. As has been mentioned he sometimes speaks in the first person from other perspectives.
--
Shows me colours when there's none to see
--
Drugs? yes..
--
I have a brother
When I'm a brother in need
--
A brother could be a dealer..friend..brother in need? needing drugs? yea..
--
I spend my whole life running
He spends his running after me
--
Even when he's running away..trying to ditch..the drugs/dealer are running after him...
--
When I feel myself going down
--
coming down off them.
--
I just call and he comes around
--
Dealer is there spot on...
--
But so is Dad... Trying to save him..
He could have taken it all..
But he threw away the key..
Dad is giving him everything he can..
And for the first time he feels loved.
Bono nearly always writes in the first person, but not always AS Bono. Quite often he uses other characters to express things that he may be thinking or to work through questions or issues that he has. I think this is one of those songs. I remember reading once in an interview that the song originally had a different, and more faith affirming, ending, but Bono changed it as that wasn't the kind of thing he was exploring at that time.
In the last verse, God gives him the keys to the kingdom, but the narrator chooses to slip away and forsake all that was bequeathed to him. The last lines, however, still say, "For the first time, I feel love."
In the second verse, despite saying, "When I feel myself going down, I just call and he comes around," Bono ends it with, "!!BUT!! for the first time, I feel love." That "but" shows how regardless of the kindness shown him in the past, for the first time he feels love. The question is whether this is *because* he has become gratefully aware of that love or *in spite* of it.
This song is wide open to interpretation, though I'd love to know what Bono's intent was. The holy trinity ideas were interesting. Another idea I might throw out is that, having forsaken God, the events in the first and second verses occur AFTER the third verse, when his friends (i.e. lover/brother) are showing him that, even having thrown away the keys to the kingdom, there is still love and beauty in life.
As for me, an atheist, I can't tell you how in love I felt with life when I threw God away. For someone who breaks away from faith or believing in something, it doesn't happen in an instant, the cracks form and deepen across the years, and when you finally let go it becomes an affirmation of life, of yourself. Like he says, for the first time I felt love.
...Maybe I am wrong, but i think everyone can feel a poem like this in his own way. :)