Song of the Week: U2's "Drowning Man"

U2's new album, No Line on the Horizon, drops Tuesday. So let's go back to when they first landed on the scene. From 1983's War, here's "Drowning Man." Excuse the pops and scratches: you're getting this from my well-worn album (exposing my ancient-ness):



I was just out of college and heading to seminary when this punk-tinged album showed up in record stores. You would have had to lived thru the 70s to know how revolutionary it was to hear any devotional reference to Jesus anywhere outside the self-imposed ghetto of the nascant evangelical subculture.

"It's a mind-blowing concept," Bono, U2's lead singer once told a journalist, "that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between grace and karma."

When the journalist asked him what that difference was, Bono said that the idea of karma is central to all religions: "What you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called grace to upend all that 'as you reap, so you will sow' stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff....It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity" (Michka Assayas, Bono: In Conversation, Riverhead Books, 2005.

Lyrics to "Drowning Man"--

Take my hand
You know I'll be there
If you can
I'll cross the sky for your love
For I have promised
Oh, to be with you tonight
And for the time that will come
Take my hand
You know I'll be there
If you can
I'll cross the sky for your love
And I understand
These winds and tides
This change of times
Won't drag you away
Hold on, and hold on tightly
Hold on, and don't let go
Of my love

The storms will pass...the storm will pass...
It won't be long now...it won't be long now...
His love will last
His love will last...forever

Take my hand
You know I'll be there
If you can
I'll cross the sky for your love
Give you what I hold dear

Hold on, hold on tightly
Hold on, hold on tightly
Rise up, rise up
With wings like eagles
You run, you run
You run and not grow weary

...Take my hand, take my hand...
Hold on, and hold on tightly
Hold on, hold on tightly
To this love...last forever
To this love...last forever

Take my hand