Peace On Earth
by U2

Album: All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is about tensions in Northern Ireland. Bono wrote it in one night after a bombing in the town of Omagh.
  • The Lyrics "She never got to say goodbye, To see the color in his eyes, now he's in the dirt" is about how James Barker, a victim, was remembered by his mother Donna Maria Barker in an article in the Irish Times after the bombing in Omagh.
  • Sean and Julia, Gareth, Anne, and Breda, were victims of the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland. They died Saturday, August 15, 1998. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bill - Johnstown, PA, for above 2
  • The Edge has said this is the most bitter U2 song ever written - almost too bitter, particularly the line "I'm sick of hearing again and again that there's gonna be peace on earth."

    "It's too negative," he explains in the band's 2005 autobiography, U2 by U2. "I thought it should have been 'I'm sick of hearing again and again that there's never gonna be peace on earth.' Which turns it completely around. Cynicism has its place but it's often a self-fulfilling prophecy. The notion that we only have a few short years on planet Earth so we all better 'get real' and live life to the hilt is just an excuse for total self-centeredness. That said the reliance on the fairy tale, pie in the sky when you die aspect of religion is as dangerous, because it excuses so much. I don't think either are right. Our stance as a band is that we believe in heaven but we live as if we didn't."
  • The lyrics to this song were nearly lost when Bono's laptop computer was stolen in 1999. They were recovered when an Irish man who bought the stolen computer discovered the lyrics and turned it in for a reward.

Comments: 13

  • John from St Louis MoOne of the 40 songs that the band re-recorded for 2023's "Songs of Surrender". The newer version is sung by The Edge, with his simple acoustic guitar as the main instrument. It might be even more haunting, bitter, and full of righteous anger (at the world and at God) than the original recording, especially since listeners can focus even more on the words.

    It is possible to believe in and have great faith in God and yet still be angry at him over the sin and evil in the world. I've always thought that this was the theme of the song, not a dismissal of the idea of "Peace on Earth", but more a cry to God asking why He can't just make it happen immediately, if not sooner.

    Personally, the lyrics always seem to enter my thoughts whenever there's been a recent mass shooting in the news. It's a personal cry, lament, and prayer for me on those days.
  • Dust2dust from GaI have a little different take on it, no doubt influenced by my Christian perspective and a sober (neither pessimistic nor pie in the sky) view of humanity. I don't see how abandoning God helps you get to a positive humanism, Leo. I mean, the problem of insane evil is everyone's problem to explain, not just the Christians...
    I see the song as an honest expression of Bono's faith wrestling with the Christmas announcement of the angels "peace on earth good will to men" (Luke 2) and the gap between our present state of affairs. This kind of honest wrestling with God runs ALL through the Psalms, and even into Jesus' own cry of forsakenness on the cross, quoting pSalm 22.

    It also echoes the great Carol by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow when his son nearly died in the Civil War:

    I heard the bells on Christmas day
    Their old familiar carols play
    And mild and sweet their songs repeat
    Of peace on Earth, good will to men
    And the bells are ringing (peace on Earth)
    Like a choir they're singing (peace on Earth)
    In my heart I hear them (peace on Earth)
    Peace on Earth, good will to men
    And in despair I bowed my head
    "There is no peace on Earth, " I said
    For hate is strong and mocks the song
    Of peace on Earth, good will to men
    But the bells are ringing (peace on Earth)
    Like a choir singing (peace on Earth)
    Does anybody hear them? (Peace on Earth)
    Peace on Earth, good will to men
    Then rang the bells more loud and deep
    God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
    (Peace on Earth)
    (Peace on Earth)
    The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
    With peace on Earth, good will to men

    Honest wrestling with God still keeps the faith and calls on the One who is Prince of Peace, gives and teaches forgiveness, and renews even the darkest hearts of men...
    God is not dead, nor doth He sleep...
  • Leo from Westminster 1, MdIn the saddest U2 song in recent memory, Bono in country electronica ballad Peace on Earth is right on target here. Every time I hear this sad American tune, I ask "If God is good, then why does he allow War, Violence and Absolute Hypocrisy, Insanity and Madness to happen?" I have never understood that and I never will. I am not a Christian, I am a humanist! That is my belief and I happen to pray on my own time! I don't want anyone to tell or ask me what to do! I'm a Rebel and damn proud of it. What Bono really is crying out is "I'm tired of hearing again that there's NEVER going to be Peace on Earth!" I'm going to see U2 in June of 11 at Ravens Stadium in Baltimore because I LOVE WHAT THEY STAND FOR AND MEAN TO ME! So the time has come to put down our glock guns AND HOPE FOR PEACE ON EARTH BECAUSE HISTORY WONT RHYME! We need to change and have a better future because Bono is my friend and I will love U2 Forever!
  • David from Woburn, MaJesus can you take the time to throw a drowning man a line. Wait a sec... Drowning Man? Isn't that another great U2 song? OH MY GOD, Bono just referenced himself! They're that good that they can do that!
  • Bubba from Airdrie, AbI disagree with alewhatever about what "You become a monster, so the monster will not break you" means. To me, Bono is talking about apathy, here. What kind of a person could ignore the ugliness that occurs, be it famine, the suffering of the poor, animal abuse, or in this case an endless war terrorist war in Ireland? Wouldn't you have to be a monster to ignore it? To not care beyond saying, "I care?" Well, the pain and suffering wrought by Man is the real monster. If you think about all the pain in the world, you could go quite mad. So, you turn away from it. You become a monster, so the monster will not break you. In an uncaring world, you can't care. I'm probably wrong, but if this is what Bono meant, it's pure brilliance.
  • Niall from Limerick, IrelandFantastis song . bono you are a genius. why can't the rest of us in Ireland be like you?
  • Alecerveceroneco from Necochea, ArgentinaGod is dead. If you want any evidence, you should read Nietszche and then listen to this song. Excellent.... and to "become a monster in order to defeat a monster" is obviously taken from Jenseits Gute und Böose, 146: "he who fights monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. When staring deep into the abyss,the abyss stares deep into you" Friedrich Nietszche (english translations suck)
    BTW: SONGFACT Bono also uses this phrase in Communication, at the beggining of Miss Sarajevo.
    Salut!

    Ale de Neco
  • Andres Anleu from Guatemala, Otheri think it sounds kinda like love by john lennon, is it me or does it really sound like it
  • Ria from Boston, Mathe first time i heard this track it brought tears to my eyes...quite moving.
  • Tomas from Chicago, IlThis is a very deep, thought provoking songs, and one of those little U2 gems hidden in their albums.

    "Their lives are bigger than any big idea". Simply genious.
  • Acrobat from Adelaide, AustraliaThis is a very bitter, but moving song. We all have our moments in life where we question God and his actions. Brillant song, when I first heard it, it brought me to tears.
  • Amy Friel from Barrie, CanadaThis song is the total opposite of what the title suggests- it is a very bitter plea, impatient with God. The line "They say that what you mock will surely overtake you, And you become a monster so the monster will not break you." reminds me of Bono's statement "Mock the Devil and he will run from you." (That's not the exact wording, I cant remember it.) This song takes on a very special meaning for me, as I grew up in Dublin and witnessed the shooting of Veronica Guerin.
  • Jack Lee from Nottingham, England'Jesus can you take the time, to throw a drowning man a line, Peace on Earth' - Brilliant
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