I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For

I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For is the second song on The Joshua Tree album. It was the second U2 song to top the US charts (after With Or Without You) . The song is widely seen as a gospel song about searching for and understanding one's spiritual beliefs, with U2 even going to the extent of taking a gospel choir with them to sing backup vocals during The Joshua Tree tour. The lyrics of the song very much seem to resemble the feelings of Bono towards Jesus/God, painting a picture of the landscape of their relationship. Interestingly, Bono has often expressed dissatisfaction with the recorded lyrics for this song, often rewriting them during live performances and making the lyrics even more deep and meaningful (Gallucci, 2017).

The phrase "Carried the cross of my shame" Bono is demonstrating his true belief in the existence of Jesus, and his overwhelmed admiration for him. But within the song Bono also goes on to discuss how in this spiritual world or landscape, he is often looking for (and even holding hands with) the 'devil' . The 'devil' in the case of this song, is seen by most to be referring to things which his Christianity faith prohibits him from, with his acknowledgment that there is a landscape of spiritual warfare, with there being things which he has dabbled with, but yet didn't comfort him. One of these struggles or temptations seems to be adultery, with the words "I have kissed honey lips" likely making reference to biblical scripture in Proverbs 5:3 where it speaks a warning regarding adultery:"For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil" (Stokes, 2005).

The location or landscape used for the filming of the music video accompanying the song (see above), is interestingly Las Vegas (often referred as "Sin City") with it's world-renowned reputation for gambling and prostitution. These are two things which Christians see as being a sin, though for Bono and other Christians this doesn't mean there isn't a temptation lying there. With the backdrop of Las Vegas, the lyrics of the song take on an even more significant meaning for the listener/viewer, symbolising how for Bono (and others) the temptations of the 'devil' can be all around, on every-side. The boundaries of Las Vegas as a city however, do not mark the same boundaries of these temptations, with these temptations being boundaryless in many respects.

Allan Moore, in Looking for the Kingdom Come: Questioning Spirituality in U2 (2002), talks about how in I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2 are proclaiming a spirituality or faith which questions its beliefs and accepts and embraces doubt. It acknowledges that the reality of the difficulty of belief (Moore, 2002). Moore than goes on to talk about how the song is "frequently interpreted in terms of the inadequacy of faith", a song uncovering the ambivalence of religious traditions and spiritual experience. The song can very much be seen as "a call to to leave behind the past and press on in the upward call of Jesus Christ", which was made by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 (Moore, 2002).