Know Your Bonoisms, Part 14 – Bono Gets Personal on “Song for Someone” – U2

Bono has been quite open about the transparency of Songs of Innocence; if there’s one point he wants to emphasize, it’s that this is the most personal U2 album to date. Although “Iris,” “Cedarwood Road” and “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” are great examples of that, one song that I feel isn’t getting its due at all is “Song for Someone.” It really deserves more attention, as it appears to be the track Bono is really trying to drive home as the next great U2 love song. If you thought you were going to get “All I Want is You” on the tour, think again because this is replacing it. There is typically only one song per show designed to get all the couples lovey-dovey, and for the U2 World Domination Tour of 2015 (until it has a name, I’ll call it whatever I want to), it’s this one. I don’t know why “Song for Someone” isn’t getting as much praise as other tracks on the album, because frankly, this is one song that should make the ladies swoon. Maybe I’m just hearing from male critics too much (ladies, speak up!).

In terms of what Bono has said specifically about “Song for Someone,” he has called it “romantic” and has said it was the song where he really “went there” when it came to addressing sex in an honest way. He has also said that Ali, when giving her feedback on Songs of Innocence, may have wanted him to hold back on personal details a little in some lyrics – while not referring specifically to “Song for Someone,” but perhaps implying that was the song she was concerned about. I wish I could tell you guys which things were said in which interview, but at this point the interviews are all kind of running together for me (with the exception of the Dave Fanning one, which stood out from the rest. I believe that’s when he said “I went there”).

And he did, didn’t he? Really listen to the lyrics in “Song for Someone,” and tell me this isn’t the most deeply personal love song Bono’s written to Ali since “All I Want is You.” In other words, it’s been 26 years since he’s given us – I mean, um, his wife – a love song that personal. Doesn’t that deserve some more recognition?