U2: Pride (in The Name Of Love) Meaning

Song Released: 1984

Pride (in The Name Of Love) Lyrics

One man come in the name of love
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...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 25th 2008 !⃝

   "Free at last, they took your life
   They could not take your pride" is on Martin Luther King's gravestone
2. crutchead

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   Jul 30th 2007 !⃝

   I guess the refrain from this song =
   
   'Early morning, April 4
   Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
   Free at last, they took your life
   They could not take your pride'
   
   - which are the only lines that (albeit all of a sudden) coined the song that refers it to MLK, might've been revised from some lines that could've went something like this originally:
   
   "Early morning - April morn,
   A shout cries out from the midst of the sky,
   Free at last they took your life,
   But they could not take your Life!"
   
   or perhaps something more obvious within the last two lines:
   
   "...Jesus Christ they crucified,
   but they could not take your life!"
   
   what more indeed.
3. anonymous

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   Feb 27th 2007 !⃝

   mate, the lyrics are:
   WHAT more in the name of love.
   meaning... I don't know. This is purely a guess. meaning "what more will happen to those who stand for what is right in this world?" jesus and MLK loved people and stood for what is good for us all, and they both got killed for it.
   i like what was said about many other people who have deid for what is right, all those who fought for our freedom in the two world wars etc... and deid in the fight. Thanks to them we have the rights and freedom we do today.
   "pride" the title, could mean that at least these men (and women) died with their dignity, and left legecies never to be forgotten. "they took your life, they could not take your pride" my favourite part of the song :-)
4. anonymous

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   Jan 28th 2007 !⃝

   This song is about BOTH Martin Luther King AND Jesus Christ.
   and hey, can't bono take a few artistic liberties with the lyrics??? this song is a tribute to great men, not a history lesson.
   anyway, I love U2 and I think Bono is hot, even as he ages... although he was hotter when he was younger.
   i also believe that many U2 songs have a spiritual meaning, although not every single one of them.
5. anonymous

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   Dec 27th 2006 !⃝

   Or If you have ever watched rattle and hum he says "For the Revrend Martin Luther King Sing"
6. crutchead

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   May 3rd 2006 !⃝

   If one would look at the lyrics - obviously it identifies no one else but Christ himself - the only line that made the song pertaining to Martin Luther King is on the bridge part, which appears to be an added part to the song - in fact Bono is in error to say "early morning" because Martin Luther King was shot in the evening of Aprl four - or perhaps an line altered from its original form lyrics presumably regarding Christ's "early morning" ressurection (which in theological sttudies it is actually identified that christ according to scriptural records have already resurrected long before sunrise at that time). Another proof that indicates this is that the song came out by the UNFORGETTABLE FIRE album , wherein the band have finally decided to renounce the 'Christian' label - being that U2 (unknown to many) is among the first to profess that they are indeed a "Christian" band - most evidently found on their OCTOBER Lp, in which The Edge now cites as 'out of the border' regarding some of the songs that appeared in there.
   
   It's only until later on that when Bono began to be so much involved with charitable activism/benefit proj's that the shed of Christian ethos is being brought back into their system, cause even with the JOSHUA TREE, Bono refused to come up wioth something inherently straightforward-Christian, as evidently reflected with the song "I Still Haven't Found..." which came up from a request by one of the producers if Bono could come up something in the veins of a Christian song for the said album.
   
   
   Furthermore, it's kinda stupid to say that this is for Martin Luther King - for Christ sake, had MLK ever been baptized in an empty beach, caught in a barb-wire as christ is with the crown of thorns, or ever "betrayued with a Kiss"? Comon, Bono should've altered the rest of the song's lyrics as well.
7. erinandkyla

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   Apr 24th 2006 !⃝

   I happen to be a U2 expert, as my friend and I are researching Bono for our final paper for the Graduate School of Musical Interpretation at the University of Minnesota. The song is about Martin Luther King, Jr., obviously, being shot in Memphis. "One man in the name of love," clearly signifies this.
8. groove

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   Oct 31st 2005 !⃝

   This is pretty straightforward - April 4th, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee - the day and location of Martin Luther King Junior's assassination.
   
   "Free at last, they took your life - they could not take your pride"
   
   Rest In Peace, Martin.

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