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U2 Feedback » Your Blue Room » It's A Musical Journey » Song Interpretation: Smile

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dgurjala
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01-23-2008 10:35 PM - Song Interpretation: Smile

Love this song--to me one of U2s most honest, heartfelt, tender, and downright beautiful songs.

I've never been able to nail down the meaning of the song, though.

Was browsing the web, and came across this posting by a user named Aeneas. Of everything I've seen out there, this may make the most sense.

Discuss!

Aeneas, 1/8/07:
I believe it concerns an old flame who has come back into the life of the singer after many years of absence. Seeing her again powerfully evokes passions the singer hasn't felt since youth. The singer, however, wants to avoid falling in love with her again, in part perhaps because he or she (or both) are already committed to someone else. "I don't want to see you smile" = I can't stand to see you smile because it will draw me to you again. "It started, lighthearted, it won't be easy like you said": A common beginning to a reconnection with a former lover is the claim that "we'll just be friends again." The singer, however, already feels the magnetic pull of a force other than gravity (i.e., romantic desire) and warns his old flame that it will be difficult to maintain an innocent friendship. "I will live again, you will live again.": I think the lines have a dual meaning. One, the singer is rebuffing, gently, his former lover's advances by assuring her (and himself) that they don't need to be together again in order to feel the youthful passion they once felt. They can feel alive apart from one another. Two, it may include a reference to reincarnation. Passionate lost loves who are driven to reunite by a heart connection that never waned over the years may wonder if they were lovers in previous lives. Such a history would explain the intensity and duration of their passion in this life. The singer may be counseling his old lover that, while circumstances may have separated them in this life, they may be able to try again in their next lives. "God knows it, knows me, knows me, knows me": "God knows me" is something you say when you refer one of your personality traits, particularly to one that is a character flaw. We've reached an emotional crescendo at this point in the song. It is the sound of a person struggling to control themselves, to control a darker side of themselves. "Save it again, burnt out blind, the smoke machine is yours not mine" - obviously smoke machine refers to some kind of deception. The specific deception here is self-deception. The old flame is lying to herself if she thinks she can reconnect with the singer and not be swept away by the ensuing passions. I was inclined to view the lyrics through a "lost lover" lens because of previous songs with lyrics written by Bono that document an obsessive love affair that ultimately ended. I suspect that these songs, along with Smile, are highly autobiographical. I speculate that they reflect an affair Bono may have had with a women (not his wife) in the mid 80's (reflected in "With or Without You", Joshua Tree; "All I want is you", Rattle and Hum; and "Night and Day" a song featuring an extremely dark, intense, obsessive love affair). The end of this illicit relationship is ruminated on in Achtung Baby's "Who's going to ride your wild horses" and "So Cruel." Bono reminisces about her in "Wild Honey" (which also has a reincarnation theme). And finally, in "Smile", he is confronted with her when she attempts to reconnect with him again.

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dgurjala
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01-23-2008 10:41 PM -

Gravity, is not pulling me
I won't be a picture with no sign
Decaying, I'm praying
You are my air but
I need the ground to kneel upon
And love can't be a song
I don't want to see you smile

I'm breaking it, taking it
I'm breaking it slowly in mind
I'm seeing it, freeing it
I know love is in this soul of mine
It's not in your eyes
I don't want...
I don't want to see you smile

I started, light-hearted
It won't be easy like you said
I'm going, flowing
I'm leaving on the day of the dead
I will live again
You will live again
I don't want to see you smile

God knows it, knows me
Knows me, knows me
You sing, hear me love
Say it again, burnt out blind
The smoke machine is yours not mine
I don't want to see you smile

I will live again
You will live again
I just don't want to see you smile

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BonoVoxSupastar
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01-24-2008 03:18 AM -

I think it's just about not wanting to see the person that broke your heart happy, you want them to be sad about the break up as well...

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last unicorn
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01-24-2008 11:19 AM -

I don't buy the "affair" interpretation. Bono has said many times that, as a singer and songwriter, he can be emphatic and sing/write about stuff that isn't necessarily autobiographical.

Smile is, again, one of those songs that have multiple meanings. I love the song very much, for me it contains pain as well as hope.

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Marien
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01-24-2008 09:34 PM -

Songs can mean different things for different people, they can also change their meanings for you when your circumstances change. Right now, I understand this song as a self-assurance chant from a lover whose relation is being broken unilaterally by the other one:

Gravity, it’s not pulling me
I won’t be a picture with no sign
Decaying, I’m praying

(I'm feeling bad, but I'm not gonna let this destroy me, and I'm praying for strength )

You are my air but
I need the ground to kneel upon
And love can’t be a song

(you're very important for me, but not the only thing, and I know love is not only what a romantic song sings about)

I don’t want to see you smile

( but I can't bear seeing you happy now)

I’m breaking it, taking it
I’m breaking slowly in my mind
I’m seeing it, freeing it

(I'm understanding the new situation, I'm breaking this relation slowly in my mind, I'm getting free from it)

I know love is in this soul of mine
It’s not in your eyes

(I know love is inside my soul, I know it doesn't depend on anything outside, even on your beautiful eyes)

I don’t want
I don’t want to see you smile

I started light-hearted
I won’t be easy like you said

(I started this with hope and now it won't be easy as you are telling me)

I’m going, flowing
I’m leaving on the day of the dead
I will live again
You will live again

(I'm not going to abandon until I die, I will have a life again, I will love someone again, and you will do the same)

I don’t want to see you smile

God knows it, knows me
Knows me, knows me
You sing, hear me love
Say it again burn out blind
The smoke machine
Is yours, not mine

(God knows what's happening and knows me, so listen to me, love, repeat that again, destroy our love, the power for it is in you, not in me)

I don’t want to see you smile

I will live again
You will live again
I just don’t want to see you smile

(I'll recover from this and live again, you'll love again, but I just can't stand a smile from you right now)

As has been said before, a breaking up story, I can't see the affair point 'cause I don't imagine telling someone who isn't really important in my life that he's my air, involving God or getting so emotional about a long forgotten story I don't want to revive, but anyway, that's only my point of view.
I can see different kinds of relations, not only a romantic one, being the focus of the song and I won't be surprised if Bono tells us it's about a father and a son, a rock band or even a religious institution, and while I think this last one very probable, I bet for the romantic love because it's the only one I can relate to this kind of feelings.

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Marien
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01-24-2008 10:25 PM -

I've forgotten to point out that I don't think Bono believes in any kind of reincarnation, he's a Christian and when he was invited by the Dalai Lama to a congress about oneness he refused gently by saying "we're one, but we're not the same", so if he's referring to any life after this, it will be eternity after the Final Judgement.
There has always been a great debate about the meaning of "With or without you" even Bono has changed the story several times, explaining how a song can change its meaning through time, but "All I want is you" is oficially dedicated to his wife, Ali, and he usually sings it for her when she's present in a concert. Like last unicorn has said not all the songs have to be autobiographical, a good writer can get into someone else's shoes and evoque their feelings.

Last edited by Marien on 01-24-2008 at 10:30 PM

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Varitek
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02-12-2008 08:55 AM -

There are several problems wiht that post. Bono didn't write Night and Day, I doubt he believes in reincarnation, and it's pretty clear that the AB songs were about Edge's issues.

Quote:
Originally posted by BonoVoxSupastar
I think it's just about not wanting to see the person that broke your heart happy, you want them to be sad about the break up as well...

I agree.

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toffypie
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02-25-2008 01:55 AM -

This is one of my absolute favorite songs, and it wasn't until after my last breakup that I really came to understand what it meant, at least to me.

It's about a relationship (which we quite obviously established), that probably never should've happened. It was something that just started as a friendship and fun, and quickly evolved into something more, deep and serious. Then comes the realization that the relationship is more about the physical than the actual love aspect, and while it's not a sort of "toxic" and unGodly relationship (something that Christians are against. Any relationship that takes you away from God, isn't a good one to be in), it seems to be heading that way. He loves her, but it's just not reciprocated, though she fakes it well, and it never quite will be reciprocated. So, he got out of that, despite still being in love with the person. He'll be okay, as long as he doesn't see what made him fall for her in the first place...doesn't want to see her smile.

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kingofsorrow
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03-07-2008 11:00 AM -

maybe a 1 sided love affair. loving someone who literally doesn't know you exist. like a fan falling for a celebrity they admired.

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Varitek
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03-11-2008 06:20 AM -

I doubt it's as specific as kingofsorrow or toffypie think - it's simply about the feelings you have after a breakup. And it's a great job of capturing them.

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bonocomet
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03-28-2008 09:25 AM -

I keep seeing the lyric here quoted as:
I won't be a picture with no "sign"

I always had heard that lyric as:
I won't be a picture with no "sound"

Makes more sense to me. Plus it rhymes with "ground" later in the verse.

I dunno, have I had it wrong all this time

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kingofsorrow
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03-28-2008 06:10 PM -

Quote:
Originally posted by Varitek
I doubt it's as specific as kingofsorrow or toffypie think - it's simply about the feelings you have after a breakup. And it's a great job of capturing them.

ahem....................i used the word "maybe". i think that negates the possibility of my interpretation being specific.
now saying "it's simply about the feeling you have after a breakup", that's being specific.

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popacrobat
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03-29-2008 03:49 PM -

Quote:
Originally posted by Varitek
I doubt it's as specific as kingofsorrow or toffypie think - it's simply about the feelings you have after a breakup. And it's a great job of capturing them.

I'm not sure why they can't interpret it their own way yet your opinion is canon?

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Trinity3000
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03-30-2008 09:51 PM -

Quote:
Originally posted by bonocomet
I keep seeing the lyric here quoted as:
I won't be a picture with no "sign"

I always had heard that lyric as:
I won't be a picture with no "sound"

Makes more sense to me. Plus it rhymes with "ground" later in the verse.

I dunno, have I had it wrong all this time

I think you're right, that's how I hear it too.

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