Where The Streets Have No Name

Where the Streets Have No Name is the opening song on the album. Though we can't be certain, there are three commonly held opinions regarding the landscape serving as Bono's inspiration when writing this song. In reality, this song will mean different things to different people, with there likely to be elements of truth to all three landscapes mentioned, and others which are not.

First, it is widely thought that the lyrics to this song were influenced by the trip that Bono and his wife Ali took to Ethiopia in 1985. This was in the aftermath of the 1984 famine which devastated the country, eventually killing up to a million people (Wooldridge, 2014). Bono and Ali travelled to a World Vision relief camp in the country, which was providing food and medical attention for thousands of people every day. During their six weeks working at the camp, Bono and Ali also developed music and drama programs for the children at the centre. The melody of one of these songs, which aimed to teach children at the camp basic forms of hygiene, is rumoured to have been used in a song featuring later on the album, Mothers of the Disappeared.

The streets that have no name some believe are a reference to the tent cities which were prevalent across the poorest parts of Africa at the time (and are still prevalent over 30 years on). "I want to run, I want to hide" could be a reference to Bono trying to express the frustration of the people living in those tent cities, or he may even be expressing his own frustration over his inability to help so many hungry people.

The second landscape which is thought to have influenced Bono when he was writing the lyrics for this song, is the city of Belfast. It is thought that the song Where The Streets Have No Name is making reference to the social standing within the city, which was so segregated at the time between the Roman Catholics and Protestants, and the rich and the poor, that you were able to tell a person's religious views and income simply by what street they lived upon. It is believed that Bono heard about this, he was moved to write this song. His desire to end the bloodshed in his beloved Ireland (which was also reflected by the earlier U2 favourite "Sunday, Bloody Sunday") can be seen through this dream place mentioned in the lyrics "where the streets have no name". This place talked about is a place where all people can live alongside each other. Rich and poor. People of any or no faith. All living alongside each other in peace and harmony, with no walls dividing them. The presence of walls still segregating parts of Belfast today, shows how far the city still is from coming close to matching the place referred to in the lyrics of the song.

This 'dream' place referred to as part of the previous point hints at a much deeper, spiritual landscape which Bono is referring to. As previously mentioned, many of U2s songs carry a spiritual meaning, and Bono's underlying Christian beliefs provide an insight into a deeper level of interpretation of the lyrics of the song, regardless if this was Bono's intention or not.

The streets with no name could very easily be interpreted as an allegory for heaven.

Reading the lyrics above, there is clear reference which could be referring to the landscape of Ethiopia, with the dusty nameless streets of the tent cities Bono encountered whilst visiting the country. Taking the lyrics one step deeper, and the streets of Belfast where it was said the religion and income of an individual could be determined by the street they were from, is also very much plausible. But then taking the allusion further, given Bono's faith, a reference to the landscape of heaven through the lyrics of the song, is also very believable. In reality, it's likely that Bono was making reference to more than one of these proposed landscapes, and probably is referencing all three.

"The city's a flood" could be making reference to the poverty Bono had witnessed first hand, and our inability as mankind to love each other enough to deal with poverty once and for all, and it resulting in us being overwhelmed by the problem. But despite the inability of man to love our fellow man enough to bring the destitute out of poverty, there is an undoubtable a promise and hope that there is a better world coming. "A place high on a desert plain where the streets have no name". Looking to Christian scripture briefly, the heavenly city is often portrayed throughout the Bible as being "up high" (descriptions as the city on the high or as Mount Zion). "The streets have no name" could be referring to the lack of walls in heaven, where those who are saved will be able to sit down together as one people.

Where the Streets Have No Name is ultimately a sketch (something common among older U2 songs). The song is sketching a location. A landscape. We don't know where or what that landscape is for certain. For some, it's a spiritual landscape. For others, romantic. It's likely that Bono's faith, along with his Irish upbringing and his visit to Ethiopia in 1985, are almost all likely to have influenced and inspired him as he wrote the lyrics for this song.