Songfacts®:

• Bob Dylan helped Bono write this song. U2 was touring in Los Angeles on their Joshua Tree tour when Bono woke up with the song in his head ("Lots of songs arrive in a dream state," he said). Thinking it was a Dylan song floating around in there, he drove out to Dylan's place in Malibu and asked if it belonged to him. Dylan told him wasn't, and he helped Bono finish the song. His contribution gave Dylan two writer credits on Rattle And Hum, since U2 also covered "All Along The Watchtower" on the album.
• In the book U2 By U2, Bono explained the song's meaning: "It's about a man people keep turning to as a savior but his own life is getting messed up and he could use a bit of salvation himself."
• Bono started writing this while staying with The Edge at his place in Los Angeles. After The Edge moved out, the Menendez family moved in. Eric and Lyle Menendez killed their parents there in 1989 and were sentenced to life.
• Bob Dylan recorded a vocal track, but it was not used because of contractual obligations to The Traveling Wilburys, a group Dylan was playing in with George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne.
• U2 recorded this at Sun Studios in Memphis during their 1987 US tour. Sun is considered by many to be the "Birthplace of Rock and Roll." Elvis recorded there as well as Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.
• Bono explains the "palace of your shame" lyric:
  
  "Part of the rock star disease is stewing in your own juices. All writers think their feelings are important but a great writer realizes that though his feelings may be important, they're not all important enough to share. 'The palace of your shame' describes how people build their lives into a monument of self-pity. Irish people love the melancholy. It's that bitter sweetness that we do better than anyone else. I always reckon it's the rain."
• Dylan came up with the line "I'm hanging by my thumbs, I'm ready for whatever comes, love rescue me."