anonymous November 13th, 2005 07:13PM  
I think his heart is breaking for someone close to him suffering through a drug addiction. He's begging them to "surrender", "let it go". If he could, he would do it for him, but he can't.

anonymous April 25th, 2006 10:33AM  
This song is about a guy the band knew that was pretty close with, he destroyed his life on heroin, I am not sure if it killed him or not though.

'If I could, you know I would, let it go'

if he could, he would get off the drugs... He couldn't

anonymous June 13th, 2006 04:50PM  
I think when he says "if I could, I would let it go" he's talking about letting go of caring about his friend. He sends out the lifeline to him, but the friend does the drugs anyway, which makes the lifeline 'lifeless' - useless. Even though, he wishes he could walk away, he can't let go of the love he has for his friend despite the fact that the friend is an addict, and turns away from the help he is offering. On the other side, the friend can't let go of the addiction. It's almost like he's singing the song from two perspectives. The addict, and the friend.

magsieboy March 15th, 2010 03:21AM  
It was written about a friend of Bonos from Dublin who overdosed on heroin on his 21st Birthday, its a song about addiction and Bono sis telling his friend if he could he would take it away, Probably one of U2 greatest songs and just so Passionate and Stellar when performed live.