U2: Pride (in The Name Of Love) Meaning
Song Released: 1984
Pride (in The Name Of Love) Lyrics
One man come and go
One man come here to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love!
One man in the name of love
In the name of love!
What more? In the name of love!
One man caught on a barbed wire...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:My interpretation:
"One man caught on a barbed wire fence" Man killed trying to escape to West Berlin - Love of freedom
"One man he resist" Man killed trying to resist the Nazis occupation - Love of liberty
"One man washed on an empty beach" Aftermath of D-Day after troops moved inland - Done out of love of one's country
"One man betrayed with a kiss" Jesus allowing betrayal by Judas - Love of mankind
I grew up watching "World at War", so that influenced what I visually pictured for the first three. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:The song refers to many people who have sacrificed their lives in the name of love. Some of these are famous individuals; others are representative of a group or generation of people.
First verse - discusses in general how people do many things in the name of love, some good and selfless, some selfish and evil.
Second verse:
One man caught on a barbed wire fence - the soldiers of WWI
One man he resist - the pacifists who opposed the war
One man washed on an empty beach - I think this is Roger Casement, who was captured on Banna Strand, arrested and executed for his part in the Easter Rising
One man betrayed with a kiss - Jesus, of course
Obviously, the last verse is about MLK. -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:The greatest aspect of this song is its ambiguity. Sure, Martin Luther King and Jesus are both obvious references here, but I think the unclear lines are meant to refer to others who have died 'in the name of love'. I like the idea that 'One man washed on an empty beach' refers to a soldier at Normandy on D-Day, but that's not the only possible interpretation. In fact, most of this song's lines do not have a clear interpretation one way or another. I think it spoils the song to say that particular lines ONLY refer to specific characters throughout history.
Contrary to what I presume the popular opinion is, I do not believe the song's theme is that Martin Luther King and Jesus died because of their love for society. I think the title, 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)', refers to the 'love' that the assassins strongly felt for their beliefs. As Bono repeats the line 'One More In The Name Of Love' over and over, I can't help but think of all the great leaders who have died or all the wars that have been fought for mistaken ideologies. 'One more' refers to another great leader dying and 'In The Name Of Love' refers to the foolish reasons a person might have for wanting them dead. In many cases such as Mark David Chapman (John Lennon's assassin), the assassin does not even hate their target, they are merely in love with the act of taking another life. Bono laments such an immense loss for misguided love, but proclaims that even the act of assassination cannot diminish the leader's pride or accomplishments. -
The song is about those who sacrifice for love but killed by those who oppose them because of their pride..
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Barbwire fence probably ww1
washed up on The Beach of Normandy
Good pride (the kind you give your life for inorder to make the world a better place
Definitely reference s to Mlk and Jesus
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he night was a starless black and Japanese destroyers were around. It was about two-thirty. The 109, with three officers and ten enlisted men aboard, was leading three boats on a sweep for a target. An officer named George Ross was up on the bow, magnifying the void with binoculars. Kennedy was at the wheel and he saw Ross turn and point into the darkness. The man in the forward machine-gun turret shouted, “Ship at two o’clock!” Kennedy saw a shape and spun the wheel to turn for an attack, but the 109 answered sluggishly. She was running slowly on only one of her three engines, so as to make a minimum wake and avoid detection from the air. The shape became a Japanese destroyer, cutting through the night at forty knots and heading straight for the 109. The thirteen men on the PT hardly had time to brace themselves. Those who saw the Japanese ship coming were paralyzed by fear in a curious way: they could move their hands but not their feet. Kennedy whirled the wheel to the left, but again the 109 did not respond. Ross went through the gallant but futile motions of slamming a shell into the breach of the 37-millimetre anti-tank gun which had been temporarily mounted that very day, wheels and all, on the foredeck. The urge to bolt and dive over the side was terribly strong, but still no one was able to move; all hands froze to their battle stations. Then the Japanese crashed into the 109 and cut her right in two. The sharp enemy forefoot struck the PT on the starboard side about fifteen feet from the bow and crunched diagonally across with a racking noise. The PT’s wooden hull hardly even delayed the destroyer. Kennedy was thrown hard to the left in the cockpit, and he thought, “This is how it feels to be killed.” In a moment he found himself on his back on the deck, looking up at the destroyer as it passed through his boat. There was another loud noise and a huge flash of yellow-red light, and the destroyer glowed. Its peculiar, raked, inverted-Y stack stood out in the brilliant light and, later, in Kennedy’s memory.
It was clear that the remains of Kennedys boat PT109 would soon sink. When the sun had passed the meridian, Kennedy said, “We will swim to that small island,” pointing to one of a group three miles to the southeast. “We have less chance of making it than some of these other islands here, but there’ll be less chance of Japs, too.” He swam breast stroke, pulling the helpless sailor along on his back. It took over five hours to reach the island. Water lapped into Kennedy’s mouth through his clenched teeth, and he swallowed a lot. But he saved his crew and successfully hid on a small deserted beach till rescued
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Read this to understand meaning of man washed up on an empty beach.... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat
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"They could not take your pride"
pride does not always mean: satisfaction derived from your own achievements, achievements of friends, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired,
it can also mean: Awareness of one's own dignity; self respect.
I think a lot of people Don't understand the meaning of the song correctly, because the most common definition of pride is not the one that the song was referring to. When U2 wrote the whole song They probably weren't talking about boasting, or being a show off. It is more likely that they were talking about the second definition existing of self worth. -
What more in the name of love.... how much more brutality will there be in the world that is done in the name of religion or beliefs? Why is there so much violence that is justified by claiming that one group or another is doing it in the name of God or for the greater good?
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Awesome song that's obviously about men of God that fought and sacrificed Their lives for our freedom and salvation. Where from the beginning, all came from God. And is given to us freely by faith in Him, not to be suppressed and taken away by men. And yes, the beginning of this song is about JESUS who fought and struggled against the sins of the world and the Pharisees self righteous pride that held the law of God clean on the outside of themselves, but needed the fulfillment of CHRIST's consciousness that came in the name of love. Forwanting to go on the inside of Their souls and ours in order to truly become clean and humble. With and for the rest of humanity. Who were the meek and the poor in spirit. This song is also in relation to Martin Luther who followed HIM, that also fought and struggled for our freedom and salvation by faith in learning to know the words of JESUS CHRIST. All in order for humanity's believers that also believed in CHRIST, could receive true freedom and salvation directly. That God would give Freely. Away from the indulgences of the Catholic Church, with which you had to buy your way to Heaven back then. And What more came in the name of love for bonding together this God given freedom and salvation for one, was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Who also sacrificed His life with a God given pride that fought and struggled against the same kind of the Pharisee mentality in order to win His people Their God given rights and freedom from ''The Man'' made law of the land that suppressed Him and many of us.
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One man washed on empty beach, may be referring to Jonah
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Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
This part is about MLK, Jr. He was assisnated in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday April 4, 1968. -
I always thought that the man who resisted was NLK, as he resisted violence.
I assumed that one man washed on an empty beach was Ghandi. Another leader of peaceful change. I did not know who was referred to with the barbed wire fence. I am under the impression that the man betrayed by a kiss is Jesus Christ by Judas. -
There seems to be conflict in many of the bands lyrics in regards to the struggle of spirituality, which is what makes there songs so real,pretty sure these guys have spent a good amount of time in the bible and knowing that God IS LOVE in the name of love takes on greater dual meaning. "What more in the name of Love" Still havent found what im looking for, again believing but not quite getting to that finished place or a mature spiritual walk. tough to do. just think they do an incredible job of showing the struggle of living in this world while persuing a godly relationship and do it on secular radio.
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I feel people shouldnt direct the song to just religion. In many cases the lyrics have nothing to do with Christ. Even If the bans is openly Cheistian it doesn't mean every song they make is a allusion to christianity.
Example:
One man caught on a barbed wire fence
Most likely has something to do with one of the world wars. There was no such thing as barbed wire in Jesus's time.
One man to overthrow
has something to do with Gandhi. As he was trying to overthrow the British rule over India.
One man washed on a empty beach.
This is my idea but I believe this refers to JFK. When JFK served in WW2 he was washed ashore onto a deserted island after a major battle in the pacific.
I have nothing against religion but when people believe everything revolves around there religion it shuns everything in the dark. In my opinion God is there to show us the path and not lead the way. He is the light at the end of tunnel and we choose to follow it. We choose our path he does not. -
I don't think most of the second verse is about Jesus, except of course for the "betrayed by a kiss" line. On the other hand, I think the first verse is. Let me explain:
Start from the lines "one man come here to justify, one man to overthrow". Now the "overthrow" line could be about anyone, but there aren't many (any?) great people who claim to "justify" others, except for Jesus.
Therefore I think the first verse is about Jesus and Barabbas. For those who don't know, Barabbas was a violent revolutionary who itself assassination as a political tool to try and overthrow the Romans - basically a first-century terrorist. He's the one who came "to overthrow".
How does this fit in with the first two lines? Well, Jesus and Barabbas were arrested around the same time, and the Roman government offered to pardon one of them. The people chose to let Barabbas go free ("one man come and go") and have Jesus killed.
Alternatively, the contrast in lines 1 and 2 could be this: Jesus came in the name of love, and his influence is still felt in the world today. Barabbas came to overthrow, but he "came and went" - he's been mostly forgotten by history.
It seems to me this song isn't all about one person. I feel like Bono is lamenting the way people respond to social change - so often, we embrace violence, like the people who set Barabbas free, and the people who embrace non-violence, like Jesus, are sacrificed instead. -
Why not check this U2 website that talks about the lyrics.
I dont know about the war being in the song, but other interpretations say its has more than one biblical reference such as Jesus being betrayed with a kiss.
http://www.atu2.com/lyrics/biblerefs.html
Jesus is alive and is King of my life!
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