Bono on Vanity

by Chris Alexion, Copyright January 10, 2007, all rights reserved. 28 views

Okay, I was kidding about the Mick Jagger thing. But come to think of it, rock and roll, though not exactly high culture, is a powerful voice in our generation. And rock lyricists have dealt with the same problems as Solomon. (As Pastor Bill Einwechter points out, the 1960s group The Birds' hit "Turn, Turn, Turn," was taken directly from Ecclesiastes.) Some of these songs were written "under the sun" and fail, like Mick, to find "satisfaction"; others look above human experience.

I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you. . .

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone . . .

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

- U2, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"

I walk this empty street,
On the boulevard of broken dreams,
Where the city sleeps,
And I'm the only one and I walk alone.

My shadow's the only one who walks beside me;
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating.
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me–
Till then I walk alone.

- Green Day, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"

Well, the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount
But nothing really matters much; it's doom alone that counts
And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

I've heard newborn babies wailin' like a mournin' dove
And old men with broken teeth stranded without love.
Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn?
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes
I bargained for salvation an' they gave me a lethal dose.
I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

- Bob Dylan, "Shelter from the Storm"

I close my eyes,
Only for a moment, and the moment's gone;
All my dreams,
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity.
Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind.
Same old song,
Just a drop of water in an endless sea.
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see.

- Kansas, "Dust in the Wind"

Everything fails;
Everything runs its course.
A time and a place, for all of this love and war.
Everyone buys, everyone's gotta price,
And nothing is new.
When will all the failures rise?

Happy is a yuppie word
Nothing in the world could fail me now.
It's empty as an argument
I'm running down a life that won't cash out.

. . . I'm looking for an orphanage
I'm looking for a bridge I can't burn down
I don't believe the emptiness;
I'm looking for the kingdom coming down.
Everything is meaningless
I want more than simple cash can buy. . . .

- Switchfoot, "Happy Is a Yuppie Word"

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