U2 Lyrics - Where The Streets Have No Name

Material provided by EFL teacher Julian Armoa

I want to _____________ I want to ________________________ I want to ____________ down the walls That hold ___________inside I _____________ to reach out And _____________the flame Where the streets __________ no name

I want to ____________ sunlight on my face I see the dust cloud ______________ ______________ a trace I want to take __________ from the poison rain Where the _____________have no name

Where the streets have no name Where the streets have no name We're still ____________________ Then burning down _______________ Burning down love And ____________ I go there I go there with you It's all I ______________do

The city's _____________And our love turns to rust We're beaten and ____________by the wind Trampled in dust I'll show you a ______________ High on a desert plain Where the streets have no name

Where the streets have no name Where the streets have no name We're still building Then ________________ down love Burning down love And when I go there I go there with you It's all I can do Our love ______________ to rust We're beaten and blown by the wind Blown by the wind Oh, and I ________________ love See our love turn to ______________ We're beaten and blown by the wind Blown by the wind Oh, when I go ______________ I go there with you It's all I can ________________

U2 are a rock band from Dublin, Ireland. The group consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion). The band formed at Mount Temple secondary school in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. Within four years, they signed to Island Records and released their debut album Boy. By the mid-1980s, they had become a top international act. They were more successful as a live act than they were at selling records, until their 1987 album The Joshua Tree,[1] which, according to Rolling Stone, elevated the band's stature "from heroes to superstars".[2]

Their 1991 album Achtung Baby and the accompanying Zoo TV Tour were a musical and thematic reinvention for the band. Reacting to their own sense of musical stagnation and a late-1980s critical backlash, U2 incorporated dance music and alternative rock influences into their sound and performances, abandoning their earnest image for a more ironic, self-deprecating tone. Similar experimentation continued for the remainder of the 1990s. Since 2000, U2 have pursued a more conventional sound, while maintaining influences from their previous musical explorations.

U2 have released 12 studio albums and are among the most critically and commercially successful groups in popular music. They have won 22 Grammy Awards,[3] more than any other band,[4]

and they have sold more than 150 million records.[5] In 2005, the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone magazine listed U2 at number 22 in its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[6] Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes, including Amnesty International, the ONE/DATA campaigns, Product Red, and The Edge's Music Rising.

Song facts: In 1985, Bono visited Ethiopia after performing at Live

Aid. Many people assumed this song was about that trip, since the streets there really don't have names, just numbers. The song is actually about Ireland. In Ireland (and Northern Ireland), the many cities are divided: rich/poor, Catholic/Protestant, etc. By knowing which street a person lives on you can tell their religion, wealth and beliefs - it's where the streets have no name.

I think It's about class segregation. In Dublin, people know what social standing you have based upon the street you live in. So the song is about a world where streets have no names; where there is no segregation based on where you live.

The song seems to me to be idealistic - I agree that the lyrics refer to northern ireland, but I think it's a dream of a future there in which streets have 'no names', where there is no distinction between catholic and protestant districts, where street names like garvaghy in portadown and ardoyne in belfast become meaningless, and lose all historical, sectarian significance

In N. Ireland you can tell by the name of the streets whether the person who

lives there is protestant or catholic, this song is about a place where this no

longer happens

I think this song is about getting away from our fucked up society and our

fucked up cities. Going to a place where it all doesn't matter, where the

streets have no name.

Back during the time of the whole Ethiopia starvation crisis, Bono and his

wife Ali did a 6 week deal over there as volunteer relief workers or

something of the such. The tent cities that were set up for the people were

just lined up in rows, and that was how these people lived, hence there were

streets without names. 'high on a desert plain' would be referring to

Ethiopia, as well as the mentions of being 'blown by the wind' and 'trampled

in dust', as it was a drought and I'd imagine, awfully dusty. Also, I would

assume that 'and when I go there, i go there with you...' would be referring

to Ali. IMO, the beginning lines are written in frustration at the misery and

hopelessness of the situation and his inability to make very much of a

difference. Thats what I think