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U2 - The Electric Co.

U2 - The Electric Co. Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Boy
Released: 1980

The Electric Co. Lyrics

Somebody cry, somebody cry, somebody cry
Well, somebody try, somebody try, somebody try
Something quick
Did you look back, did you look back, don't you look back
Well, somebody cry, somebody cry, somebody cry
Well, I can't see why or what for
What for, what for?

Break it up
Boy, stupid boy
Don't sit at the table
'Till you're able to

Toy, broken toy
Shout, shout, you're inside out if you don't know

Electric co. (Electric co.)
If you don't know Electric co.
Electric co.

Red, running red
You'll play for real
The toy could feel
A hole in your head
You go in shock
You're spoon-fed

If you don't know Electric co.
If you don't know Electric co.

Break it up
Div it up

If you don't know Electric co.
If you don't know Electric co.
If you don't know Electric co.
If you don't know Electric co.

Writer/s: ADAM CLAYTON, DAVE EVANS, PAUL HEWSON, LARRY MULLEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Electric Co. Song Chart

The title refers to Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT), which was a popular treatment in Irish mental hospitals, but one that the band felt was inhumane.

There was a real mental institution in Dublin that inspired the song. It's was called Grangegorman District Mental Hospital (or "The Grangegorman"), and later renamed St. Brendan's Psychiatric Hospital. A school friend of the band was confined to the institution, and when Bono visited him, this friend talked about killing himself as a way out of the place.

A live favorite, this appears on Under A Blood Red Sky. On that version, Bono sang 27 seconds of Stephen Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns." Because they did not get permission, they had to pay Sondheim $50,000 and edit it out of US releases. It remains on non-US releases because the US copyright law does not apply. The song is listed as 5:18 on US versions of Under A Blood Red Sky, but the actual length is 4:51.

U2 included this on the set list for many of their 2005 shows.

U2 - A Day Without Me

U2 - A Day Without Me Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Boy
Released: 1980

A Day Without Me Lyrics

Starting a landslide in my ego
Look from the outside
To the world I left behind

I'm dreaming
You're awake
If I were sleeping
What's at stake
A day without me

Whatever the feelings
I keep feeling
What are the feelings
You left behind

Today's a day without me

I started a landslide in my ego
Look from the outside
To the world I left behind

In the world I left behind
Wipe their eyes, and then let go
To the world I left behind
Shed a tear, and then let go

Writer/s: ADAM CLAYTON, DAVE EVANS, PAUL HEWSON, LARRY MULLEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

A Day Without Me Song Chart

Suicide and mental illness are the main themes of this song. Bono wrote the lyrics after hearing news that Ian Curtis had killed himself - the Joy Division lead singer died on May 17, 1980 at age 24. Bono also had a good friend who was institutionalized; he is the subject of the Boy track "The Electric Co.."

Island records had Steve Lillywhite produce this on a trial basis. If it worked out, which it did, Lillywhite would produce their first album. That began a successful collaboration, with Lillywhite working on U2's first 2 albums.

This was released as a single two months before appearing on Boy. It's one of U2's earliest songs.

The Edge ran his guitar through a cheap echo unit he bought.

U2 - Out Of Control

U2 - Out Of Control Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Boy
Released: 1980

Out Of Control Lyrics

Monday morning
Eighteen years of dawning
I say how long
You say how long

It was one dull morning
Woke the world with bawling
I was so sad (so sad)
It was so bad

I was of a feeling it was out of control
I had the opinion it was out of control

Boys and girls
Go to the school and girls
They make children
Not like this one

I was of a feeling it was out of control
I had the opinion it was out of control

I was of a feeling it was out of control
I had the opinion it was out of control

(Out of control)

(Out of control)

I fought fate
There's blood on the garden gate
The man said childhood
It's in his childhood

One day I'll die
The choice will not be mine
Will it be too late
You can't fight it

I was of a feeling it was out of control
I had the opinion it was out of control

Writer/s: ADAM CLAYTON, DAVE EVANS, PAUL HEWSON, LARRY MULLEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Out Of Control Song Chart

Bono (Hot Press, October 1979): "Out Of Control is about waking up on your eighteenth birthday and realizing that you're 18 years old and that the 2 most important decisions in your life have nothing to do with you - being born and dying." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

This was included on U2's first release, U23, a single available only in Ireland in 1979 which also contained "Stories For Boys" and "Boy Girl." Only 1000 copies were pressed, making it a rare collector's item today.

This was chosen as the A-side of the single when an Irish disk-jockey asked listeners to choose among the 3 songs on U23.

Along with "Stories For Boys," this was one of 2 songs to make it on Boy from U23, which was only released in Ireland. The version on Boy was reworked by producer Steve Lillywhite.

U2 - An Cat Dubh

U2 - An Cat Dubh Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Boy
Released: 1980

An Cat Dubh Lyrics

Say goodnight
She waits for me to
Put out the light
Lay there still
She waits to break my will

Yes, if I know the truth about you

And in the daylight
A blackbird makes a violent sight
And when she is done
She sleeps beside the wild

Yes, If I know the truth about you

Writer/s: HEWSON, PAUL DAVID / EVANS, DAVE / CLAYTON, ADAM / MULLEN, LARRY
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

An Cat Dubh Song Chart

"An Cat Dubh" is Gaelic for "The Black Cat." English is the common language in Ireland, but schoolchildren are also required to learn Gaelic. Bono failed it in high school.

Bono: "It's definitely about sex."

This is segued together with "Into The Heart" on Boy. They were always played together when performed live.

This is about a woman Bono had an affair with after a falling-out with his girlfriend, Ali. He married Ali in 1982.

U2 - I Will Follow

U2 - I Will Follow Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Boy
Released: 1980

I Will Follow Lyrics

I will follow

I was on the outside when you said
You said you needed me
I was looking at myself
I was blind, I could not see

A boy tries hard to be a man
His mother takes him by his hand
If he stops to think he starts to cry
Oh why

If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away, I will follow

If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away, I will follow, I will follow

I was on the inside
When they pulled the four walls down
I was looking through the window
I was lost, I am found

Walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away, I will follow
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away, I will follow
I will follow

Your eyes make a circle
I see you when I go in there
Your eyes, your eyes, your eyes, your eyes

If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away, I will follow

If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away, I will follow

I will follow
I will follow
I will follow
I will follow
I will follow

Writer/s: B. HEWSON, L. MULLEN, A. CLAYTON, D. EVANS
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Will Follow Song Chart

Bono's lyric was inspired by his mother, who died in 1974 when he was 14. Bono calls it "a song about unconditional love."

The love he refers to is between a mother and a child, how no matter what the child does, the mother will still love him. There is a biblical component to the song as well, as it's an analog to the love of God as expressed in Romans 8:39: "In neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God."

This was the first song on the first U2 album. It was released as a single at the same time as the album Boy.

This song is an example of what would become The Edge's distinctive guitar style. He felt he could play only a few notes, but make it work by finding the right ones.

The spiritual themes in the lyrics were typical of early U2. Bono, The Edge, and Larry Mullen were members of a devout Christian group.

For sound effects, bottles were thrown on the floor and bicycle wheels were spun and hit with bottles and knives. (thanks, Bill - Johnstown, PA)

A glockenspiel, which is a percussion instrument similar to a xylophone, was used.

A concert favorite, this appears on their live album Under A Blood Red Sky.

Collective Soul played this at Woodstock '99. Other groups who played it from time to time include Third Eye Blind and Hootie & the Blowfish. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The Replacements recorded an answer song to this called "Kids Don't Follow" on their album Stink.

What happened to the boy on the album cover? His name is Peter Rowen and he is the younger brother of Bono's friend, Guggi, a one-time member of the goth/post-punk band The Virgin Prunes. Peter also appeared on several other of U2's release covers and is now a renowned Irish photographer.