Rejoice by U2 - Songfacts

Album: October (1981)

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

This early U2 song from their second album, October, expresses the Christian beliefs of band members Bono, The Edge, and Larry Mullen:

I can't change the world
But I can change the world in me
If I rejoice

They were involved in a devout religious group and almost broke up the band over their beliefs. It was a difficult time for the fourth member, Adam Clayton, who did not share their faith.
Bono improvised most of the words. The lyrics for many of the songs on October were lost while they were touring America, forcing Bono to come up with new ones quickly. In 2004, a U2 fan whose friend told her about the cache of lyrics and song notes she had found in her attic in 1983 put the pieces together and returned them to Bono. Included in the scribblings were ideas on how Bono should introduce himself on stage, as he was still adjusting to being Bono and not Paul Hewson.

Comments: 1

Brian from Meriden, CtJust as Bono debated in their first big Rolling Stone interview in 1985 (Our Choice: Band of the 80s), why is religion so taboo in America?
It's a subject we don't have to pretend doesn't exist.
Some believe the Constitution protects us from religion.
Religion is actually the first article provided protection for in the First Ammendment to the United States Constitution. Or so it says...
Some seem to forget there is a reason for this and that the imagined fears which would otherwise require the inverse to be true are absolutely meaningless.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

The Man Who Sold The WorldDavid Bowie

David Bowie was in a mystical state when he wrote "The Man Who Sold The World," which he said happened during his "15 minutes of Buddhism."

RaptureBlondie

The first #1 hit with a rap was "Rapture" by Blondie in 1980. Debbie Harry's rhymes left lots of room for improvement.

ForeverChris Brown

"Forever" by Chris Brown was written for a Wrigley's Doublemint Gum commercial. The full song contains the gum's tagline: "Double your pleasure, double your fun."