Album: Zooropa (1993)

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• I went out walking
  Through streets paved with gold
  Lifted some stones
  Saw the skin and bones
  Of a city without a soul
  I went out walking
  Under an atomic sky
  Where the ground won't turn
  And the rain it burns
  Like the tears when I said goodbye
  
  Yeah I went with nothing
  Nothing but the thought of you
  I went wandering
  
  I went drifting
  Through the capitals of tin
  Where men can't walk
  Or freely talk
  And sons turn their fathers in
  I stopped outside a church house
  Where the citizens like to sit
  They say they want the kingdom
  But they don't want God in it
  
  I went out riding
  Down that old eight lane
  I passed by a thousand signs
  Looking for my own name
  
  I went with nothing
  But the thought you'd be there too
  Looking for you
  
  I went out there
  In search of experience
  To taste and to touch
  And to feel as much
  As a man can
  Before he repents
  
  I went out searching
  Looking for one good man
  A spirit who would not bend or break
  Who would sit at his father's right hand
  I went out walking
  With a bible and a gun
  The word of God lay heavy on my heart
  I was sure I was the one
  Now Jesus, don't you wait up
  Jesus, I'll be home soon
  Yeah I went out for the papers
  Told her I'd be back by noon
  
  Yeah I left with nothing
  But the thought you'd be there too
  Looking for you
  
  Yeah I left with nothing
  Nothing but the thought of you
  I went wandering
  
  Oh ho Writer/s: Adam Clayton, Dave Evans, Larry Mullen, Paul Hewson
  Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 10

• Greg from Harrington Park, NjI believe the lyrics tell the story of a haunted man - a man confused by the difference of wrong and right - a man trying to discern how to make it in this crazy world - a man looking for help from his demons - someone who asks almost begs to be saved by God. A man who can't take it anymore so he goes out and abandons who and what he loves in search for the truth. I think the end is the man saying I left with nothing nothing but the thought of you I went Wandering. Yeah I left with nothing But the thought you'd be there too, looking for you... I take this verse as a man thinking he is going to meet up with God who the narrator also feels is going to be out there looking for himself because even HE doesn't have the answers -- this is a powerful and lyrically brilliant story. Johnny Cash sings it but Bono wrote the words. I've always felt that Bono crawled inside Johnny Cash's head when he wrote this because when you listen to it it sounds like a song Cash would have written himself - with all the references to God and bibles and guns and repenting, etc. Brilliant!!! - I also think the alarm at the end is blatantly intentional - kind of like it's saying to us - hey wake up - if you don't make changes like the character was trying to make you're going to end up like him -- not a message to a specific person but a message to all of us as human beings...
• David from Woburn, MaDefinitely my favorite Cash song and one of my favorite of U2's entire catalogue. Also, the version on The Essential Johnny Cash doesn't have the alarm at the end.
• Tim from Linkoping, SwedenI can't understand why they would wanna end the album with that damn alarm. When ur lying in bed completely relaxed and listening to this awesome song. And all of a sudden you get a BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP. :P
• Acrobat from Adelaide, AustraliaBono and Edge do sound scarily similar at times, listen to Seconds to confirm that...they BOTH sing lead at certain times on that song... try and pick where
• Jon from Oakridge, OrOne of the best for both Cash and U2.
• Racine from Truro, MaTo comment on the fact about U2 never performing this live: U2 did play this during the Vertigo tour at least once, with Bono singing Johnny Cash's vocals. One of their performances was showed during a TV tribute to Johnny Cash; "Walk The Line" star Joaquin Pheonix introduced them.
• Angela from Hagerstown, MdThe alarm is SO irritating when you listen to this falling asleep. i wake up thinking it's my alrm clock, then just go to the next CD and fall asleep again.
• Beau from Phoenix, AzActually, that was The Edge on background vocals, not Bono.
• Rich from Commack, NyThe alarm freaked me out at first... I had the CD player at full blast and then *whee-ooh, whee-ooh, whee-ooh," Now I know to lower the volume whenever the long break is cming on.
• Clay from Chattanooga, TnNear the end of the song, Bono can clearly be heard doing the backing vocals despite his comment that he did not appear in the song

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