Lyric discussion by afraidofpop 

My friend just died two days ago of an overdose. My very good friend who I loved very, very much. It had been two weeks since the last time we'd spoken when I found out he died. I miss him so much already.

I was looking up songs about dying from addiction, and this was one of the first ones that came up in my search. As a recovering alcoholic/addict myself, it was pretty obvious from looking at the lyrics that this song is about the agony of addiction from an outsider's perspective. It still worked for me, though, because I had found recovery and my friend never quite got it.

I'm not a big U2 fan, but I've seen at least one person in these comments mention that this is their best song, and based on what I know of their music, I agree. I think this is probably the best song ever written about what it's like to lose a friend to addiction. At least it's the best well-known song on the subject. Thanks to the band for writing it. It's helping me get through this.

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