U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own


U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Released: 2004

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own Lyrics


Tough, you think you've got the stuff
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough

You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

We fight all the time
You and I, that's alright
We're the same soul
I don't need, I don't need to hear you say
That if we weren't so alike
You'd like me a whole lot more

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

Say, say, say

I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can you hear me when I
Sing, you're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me

We're here
I've still got to let you know
A house doesn't make a home
Don't leave me here alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Sometimes you can't make it
Best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

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

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
  • This is a tribute to Bono's father Bob Hewson who died in 2001. Bono sang it for the first time at his father's funeral; it reflects on their tense relationship until just before his death, when Bono claims they became closer than ever before.
  • This was released as a single in every other part of the world except the US, where "All Because of You" was released in its place.
  • Bono's father enjoyed Opera music and used to sing as a hobby. This explains the line, "You are the reason the Opera is in me."
  • Bono: "His whole thing was, Don't dream - to dream is to be disappointed. That was really what I think was his advice to me. He didn't speak it in those words, but that's what he meant, and of course that's really a recipe for megalomania isn't it? I mean I was only ever interested in big ideas, and not so much dreaming but putting dreams into action, doing the things that you have in your head has become an important thing for me. The song was dedicated to him and it's a portrait of him - he was a great singer, a tenor, a working class Dublin guy who listened to the opera and conducted the stereo with my mother's knitting needles. He just loved Opera, so in the song, I hit one of those big tenor notes that he would have loved so much. I think he would have loved it, I hope so."
  • The Edge: "It's very hard when people refer to one of our old songs and say, 'Can you write another song as good as Where The Streets Have No Name or One? These are the kind of songs people refer to, but I think on this record, we may have a couple of songs which are equally as good, maybe even better. Insome ways I am still too close to really say for sure if I even believe it myself - and in the end what I believe is not that important, it's what everyone else thinks that will decide if the songs on this record are as good as our best work, so I am happy to just see what people think."
  • In 2006, this won a Grammy for Song Of The Year.
  • As a tribute to his father, Bono usually removes his large sunglasses during this song. His dad used to say to him, "Bono, why don't you ever take off those f--king glasses?"