U2: New Years Day Meaning

Song Released: 1983

New Years Day Lyrics

Yeah...

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day

I will be with you again
I will be with you again

Under a...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Mar 26th 2008 !⃝

   This song is about life under Communist Rule and in particular Poland and someone's attempts to escape. This was written back in the early 80's. I cannot find a source, but I have read this somewhere

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   crutchead

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   Oct 10th 2005 !⃝

   Another song from the Christian ideal that the band have triffled with early on in their career. Speaks of Christ's promise to return in a marred context from one who speaks on a call for peace amidst political chaos and revolutionary conditions, which half of the album WAR where it came from dabbled with.
3. anonymous

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   Nov 20th 2021 !⃝

   My interpretation is for sure when our Lord Jesus Christ return and Rapture the few chosen ones on New Year's Day next year 1st January 2022 when people will be drunk, drugged, eat a lot on New Year celebrations and so lost in their souls as to forget why we are here in this world and where we're going. Best celebrations will be definitely in heaven or what is called the quantum leap to the 5D and upper frequencies/vibrations of LOVE!
4. Ashtar Sheran

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   Nov 7th 2015 !⃝

   This song is about the end of the world.
   
   U-2 has shown again and again who their masters are. This song is a warning about the end days.
   
   "Under a blood red sky
   the crowd has gathered black and white
   Arms entwined the chosen few
   The newspaper say it's true, it's true
   We can break through though turn in two
   we can be one."
   
   In the end days, the sky will turn red because of the carbon oxide clouds that envolves Planet X, Hercolubus, Nibiru, whatever you want to call it - the second sun that is coming toward earth.
   
   The people who are the "arms entwined chosen few" are the people who are going to be raptured, this is why "the newspaper say it's true,it's true" cause it will happen despite people's disbelief.
   
   "Torn in two" - Because millions of people will disappear and human kind will be torn in two.
   
   "And so we're told this is the golden age
   And gold is the reason for the wars we wage"
   
   This is an indication of the New World Order that will come in the end (hopefully not, but this is the plan). U-2 is Illuminati, so they KNOW what is coming and the Illuminati always warns in subliminal ways about the future and their plans.
5. anonymous

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   Mar 31st 2015 !⃝

   Bono once stated the song is about nuclear holocost.
6. FredKenpo

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   Jul 1st 2012 !⃝

   OK, I came to this site to see what the lyric's meant. I thought the man was referring to a loved one who had died--she will still be dead on New Year's Day--but he is thinking of joining her (I will be with you again)by committing suicide. I can see the Christian interpretation--it's just that the loved one will be Christ. And the Polish Revolution? Well, I had the thought that his loved one was lost in a war.
7. anonymous

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   Jul 20th 2011 !⃝

   I never understood why the video for this song shows Soviet troops advancing, probably in winter 1941/42 .
8. anonymous

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   Nov 22nd 2010 !⃝

   Often wondered about this one, in reading the posts I suspect it's both about the Poland thing & Christs return etc and perhaps other ideas. Clever mixing of two ideas.
9. Blue_Falcon

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   Aug 8th 2010 !⃝

   Definitely Revelations. New Years Day refers to the day after the "Doomsday Clock" ticks down the last seconds of mankind. If the entire timeline of the earth were condensed down to one year, we are just seconds away from midnight on December 31. The end of the world is midnight, so after that is New Years Day.
10. chickenjackson

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    Aug 6th 2010 !⃝

    SHORT INTERPRETATION -
    a person longing for a loved one of course...OR THE MAN's return (i.e. Christ):
    "under a blood red sky" see Revelations 6.
    "a crowd is gathered black and white...the chosen few" see Rev. 14
    "I, I will begin again" see Rev. 21
    "oh, maybe tonight" see Matt. 24
    "I will be with you again" see John 14
    
    LINE BY LINE INTERPRETATION -
    Yeah
    - ahh yes, the characteristic operatic yelling of bono
    
    
    All is quiet on New Year's day
    A world in white gets underway
    - this could just be the breaking of an actual new year's morning where snow covers everything...or could it be something more? (these are rhetorical questions by the way...haha)
    
    I want to be with you, be with you, night and day
    - ok, yeah, you're prolly thinking this is a typical song about longing to be with a loved one...blah blah blah
    
    Nothing changes on New Year's day
    On New Year's day
    - yeah, true nothing really does change and make this day different from any other day
    
    I will be with you again
    I will be with you again
    - alright what's with this repetitive longing that's sounds so familiar? (wait for it)
    
    
    Under a blood red sky
    - what's with this imagery? where else do we find this? it brings to mind the end times (a.k.a. The apocalypse) and passages such as the one found in Rev. 6: "I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place".
    
    A crowd has gathered, black and white
    Arms entwined, the chosen few
    - this is an interesting image of people across usual barriers ("black and white") being united. This would make sense in the context of the end times where John saw in his vision a crowd of thousands set apart with God. The line "the chosen few" seems to indicate this special group even more (at first 144,000 in Rev. 14)
    
    The newspapers says, says
    Say it's true, it's true
    And we can break through
    Though torn in two
    We can be one
    - this could mean a host of things. It could be speaking to a more current event of the time it was written ("The lyrics refer to the movement for solidarity lead by Lech Walesa in Poland. After this was recorded, Poland announced they would abolish martial law, coincidentally, on New Year's Day, 1983" from songfacts.com) or with His return in mind...in either case it is a clear longing of the speaker to see what is broken united - reconciled.
    
    I, I will begin again
    I, I will begin again
    - so then who is this "I" here? this could be read as the speaker starting anew with a new year OR it could be read as something much bigger...as in the begining of a new world (Rev. 21) as in God speaking "He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everthing new!'" a "new heaven and a new earth."
    
    Yeah, ohhh
    - o yes bono. yes world.
    
    Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah
    Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah
    - uh huh
    
    
    Ah, maybe the time is right
    Oh, maybe tonight
    - that's right "you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him, (Matthew 24)" like a "thief in the night."
    
    I will be with you again
    I will be with you again
    - these lines are repeated from before. now once again this could be read as a simple lover's longing but with all that has been alluded to by this point it is reasonable to believe that this could in fact recall the words of Christ concerning his emminent return...as the Groom...THE REAL LOVER "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:3)"
    
    And so we're told this is the golden age
    And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
    - the speaker's dissillusionment with the present is clear...where the apparent "golden age" we live in is in fact the source of so much bloodshed. he, and possibly, we as well hope for something better...a true golden age...streets paved with gold even.
    
    Though I want to be with you
    Be with you night and day
    Nothing changes on New Year's day
    On New Year's day
    On New Year's day
    - now New Year's day can take on a whole new meaning. These last lines could now be of the person longing for Christ's return or even the longing of Christ to be with his bride, longing for us to come to our senses...one day.
11. anonymous

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    Jul 7th 2010 !⃝

    These lyrics refer to one's longing to have a personal relationship with the Lord. "I want to be you with you night and day" "nothing changes on New Years Day" With this he is saying that he longs for this relationship no matter the day...
    
    "Under a blood red sky"....the sky darkened when Christ was crucified.... "a crowd has gathered" ...a crowd gather at the crucifiction..."Arms entwined, the chosen few"....Christ'd diciples "the choosen few" set entwined at the base of the cross..."The newspaper says"....The Gospel is commonly known as the "News".... "Its true its true, we can break through"...through Christ's death we are saved..."Though torn in two, we can be one"....At the time of Christ's death the vail seperating the most Holy place in the temple was torn in two...this symbolizes that all peoples of the earth now have access to God and can be "one" with Him
    
    Priceless
12. anonymous

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    Nov 5th 2009 !⃝

    The song is about Lech Walesa's Solidarisnosc in Poland and the application of the martial law in that country.
13. anonymous

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    Aug 19th 2009 !⃝

    My interpretation is that it is about the TET offensive. In 1968 when the Vietname War were attacked on New Years day. He is saying how everybody crowds around to mourn the loss of loved ones.
14. anonymous

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    Feb 20th 2009 !⃝

    This is a song about people two people who really love each other in an ethereal way. Although they can't be together nothing changes as new year dawns. it is an hommage to eternal and pure love.

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