U2: Where the Streets Have No Name Meaning

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Where the Streets Have No Name Lyrics

I want to run
I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls
That hold me inside
I want to reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

I want to feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear
Without a...
↓ See the rest of these lyrics ↓

1. 1TOP RATED

   anonymous

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   Jan 17th 2008, 21:38 report

   
   

   After watching's Bono's brief interpretation of this song, he elludes to it being a place without social distinction, something that weighs heavily upon him. He yearns for a place where social classes are not readily apparent by areas within a city.

   
   
   
   

2. 2TOP RATED

   anonymous

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   Mar 28th 2006, 02:01 report

   
   

   It's about class segregation. In Dublin, people know what social standing you have based upon the street you live in. So the song is about a world where streets have no names; where there is no segregation based on where you live.

   
   
   
   

↓ More Where the Streets Have No Name meanings below the jump ↓

3.  

   timojran

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   Mar 2nd 2006, 21:07 report

   
   

   Heaven

   
   
   
   

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   scottydfox

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   Mar 3rd 2006, 02:41 report

   
   

   Possibly the destruction of the world through WW3 and the collape of society.

   
   
   
   

5.  

   hewsonfan

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   Mar 12th 2006, 19:26 report

   
   

   Its about Ethiopia. Bono wrote it when he and his wife Ali were in ethiopia on some charity trip. He wrote it about the time they spent there..."and when I go there I go there with you".

   
   
   
   

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   anonymous

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   May 30th 2006, 11:31 report

   
   

   Ahem.. excuse me, but...
   
   During the troubles in Northern Ireland, British troops were regularly 'rotated' in short tours of duty, each new battalion would take a while to get to know their 'patch'. To keep the troops confused and uncertain, the IRA used to remove street signs in Londonderry, Armagh and Belfast as so many of the 'back-to-backs' looked alike. Hence, 'Streets with no names' : Ulster.
   
   Sorry, I thought everyone knew...

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

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   anonymous

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   Jul 17th 2006, 07:02 report

   
   

   I think the thing about segregation is closer to the point than the idea of changing street names.
   
   The song seems to me to be idealistic - I agree that the lyrics refer to northern ireland, but I think it's a dream of a future there in which streets have 'no names', where there is no distinction between catholic and protestant districts, where street names like garvaghy in portadown and ardoyne in belfast become meaningless, and lose all historical, sectarian significance

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8.  

   anonymous

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   Aug 3rd 2006, 16:18 report

   
   

   I love this song.
   
   A society in which there are no differences in social class. Where everyone is considered equil. Hopefully one day we can all realize the world like this. A world where material possessions don't mean anything. One day this can be, we just have to believe in it.
   
   A great message to the world!

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9.  

   anonymous

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   Oct 29th 2006, 12:05 report

   
   

   Always thought it was about New York, the streets have numbers

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10.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 20th 2006, 19:00 report

    
    

    I heard it was insipred by Nicaragua's capital city, Managua, where the streets have no names.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

11.  

    anonymous

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    Dec 29th 2006, 09:40 report

    
    

    guys it about heaven there are gold plated streets but the have no name so where the streets have no name is heaven and if you look at the lyrics of the website the "You" is captilized and considering one of their songs is call yaweh it is the jewish name for god or jesus

    
    
    
    

12.  

    anonymous

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    Oct 8th 2007, 12:35 report

    
    

    Environment. U2 is obviously lefty (yay) and "Poison rains" refers to acid rains, "Tear down the walls" means it literally, and so does "Desert plains"

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13.  

    joeshmo

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    Oct 10th 2007, 08:39 report

    
    

    Chicago.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

14.  

    Surfer_Coyote

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    Oct 11th 2007, 23:33 report

    
    

    This song could be interpreted as pretty open-ended in nature. It certainly is a positively charged song, but is one that could mean a lot of different things. The idea of Heaven or Paradise is a good one, but I also see it being any positive place or ideal. Reaching a happy place in life, falling in love, a feeling of bliss.

    
    
    
    

15.  

    Steveareno

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    Jul 20th 2008, 11:49 report

    
    

    The meaning of this song is quite obvious to those of us living north of Los Angeles. To begin, the title of the album in which the song is found is titled "Joshua Tree." This is an obvious reference to the Mojave Desert where the Joshua Tree is indigenous. In the Mojave Desert there is a valley named Antelope Valley. This valley is located "high on a desert plain," because the Antelope Valley is located in the "high desert," The high desert experiences torrid summers and freezing winters. It is a place where I can almost always "feel the sunlight on my face." because it is almost always cloud free and sunny. This God forsaken place is extremely windy and dusty and you can see a "dust cloud disappear without a trace." It is ALWAYS so windy that you would feel that "We're beaten and blown by the wind, Trampled in dust." This valley is extremely flat, and even though it is a lousy place to live the land is cheap so there is a huge amount of homebuilding always happening. So again "We're still building," fits perfectly. The flatness of course does nothing to stop the constant wind. Moreover, because of the flatness, when it does rain the water has nowhere to go and "The city's a flood," as the streets flood immediately whenever there is rain. Oh, and as to the names, or rather the lack of names of the streets, when the streets were originally laid out the streets that run east and west are named "A Street," "B Street," "C Street," and so on. Every tenth of a mile a street picks up a number like "A-3 Street." No kidding, you can look all this up on Google maps. The streets that run north and south are named by numbers, so the street names read like "45th Street East. Thus it's a place were "The Streets Have No Name." Q.E.D.

    
    
    
    

16.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 26th 2008, 14:43 report

    
    

    I think this song talks about shanty towns (propably in South Africa?). That was my first feeling about the song...However the other interpretations are interesting.

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17.  

    anonymous

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    Jan 16th 2009, 18:18 report

    
    

    I actually think this song is about a better place then here, like Heaven or so. Bono seems to be talking about escaping from such a flawed place and going to someplace better. "I want to tear down these walls that hold me inside/I want to reach out and touch the flame/where the streets have no name. In Heaven, the streets are paved with gold and I'm guessing don't have names. "I want to feel sunlight on my face/see that dust cloud disappear without a trace/I want to take shelter from the poison rain/where the streets have no name.

    
    
    
    

18.  

    anonymous

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    Jan 6th 2011, 00:31 report

    
    

    According to TIME magazine, a year after iconic rocker Bono visited Nicaragua in 1986 to raise awareness about Central American war refugees, U2 released its hit album The Joshua Tree, and one song was immediately identified as inspired by his experience... Managua, Where The Streets Have No Name.

    
    
    
    

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    anonymous

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    Jan 6th 2011, 12:54 report

    
    

    It's Bono's version of "Imagine."

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

20.  

    anonymous

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    Jan 9th 2011, 14:24 report

    
    

    It may refer to the practice of confusing British soldiers occupying Northern Ireland, it definitely laments the social and class meanings of street names there and everywhere else, but its larger reference is to Heaven, where our differences will be swept aside in the direct embrace of God, "the flame", to whom he is reaching out in the first verse.
    
    That this is no ordinary place should be obvious - it is a place without poison, without dust clouds, where love won't "turn to rust" - in short, Paradise, which in the beliefs of the tradition in which these men were raised, they enter with Jesus, the "you" of the chorus.
    
    Far from being Bono's version of "Imagine", where Lennon sings hopefully for the fall of religion, it is opposite - Bono sings of God elevating us from our quarrels and self-destructiveness.

    
    
    
    

21.  

    anonymous

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    Mar 9th 2011, 14:09 report

    
    

    Interesting so many possible layers of meaning previously mentioned, many of which could be correct & good example why U2 music endures..
    
    Not to forget the obvious literal interpretation, (as steveareno? referenced above) Joshua Tree, California, USA - where i grew up camping, climbing on my grandfathers desolate plot of land, complete with firepit, outhouse and dirt streets - where navigating was difficult because many streets didn't have signs at the time of this album & my young adulthood.
    
    I heard they wrote many of the lyrics at joshua tree national monument (rock climber's paradise). Go there and you might see how location undoubtedly inspired them on some level. Again probably many interpretations have deeper truths as well. Imagine only original band members know for sure. - peace

    
    
    
    

22.  

    anonymous

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    Mar 31st 2011, 11:30 report

    
    

    I read that in Belfast you can tell if someone is a catholic or a protestant and even how much they earn just by knowing wich street they live in. There's a quote of Bono telling this story somewhere, in reference to this song. I also think that he might be inspired by his experiences in Ethiopia. And that the poison rain also is a reference to the acid rain.
    I think that people somehow miss the fact that artist can adress more than one issue in a song. The guy is talking about a better place, and that better place is not only a place without segregation, but a place where humans live in harmony with nature. And many other things. A place where he imagines there would be freedom.
    
    I don't think that the song references one actual place where streets are numbered or have "no names" there's plenty of cities and towns and villages all over the world where streets haven't proper names.