Songfacts®:

• One of the earliest U2 songs, in the "The Ocean," water is a metaphor for traveling and freewill. Ireland has lots of coastline, which lead singer Bono drew inspiration from.
• The first line, "A picture in grey, Dorian Gray," is a reference to the 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by the Irish author Oscar Wilde. The novel has been the basis for many musical works.
• In a 1981 interview with Hot Press, Bono told Neil McCormick, "'The Ocean' is just a complete teenage thought. It is the thought of every teenager. It is the thought of everybody in a band who thinks he can change the world. There is another verse which got left out on the record, it's on the sleeve:
  
  When I looked around
  The world couldn't be found
  Just me by the sea
  
  Which is the resignation that no matter what you do, people are going to go their own way."
  
  Bono came to find the youthful audacity of the song amusing.
• "The Ocean" was released on U2's debut album, Boy, which was produced by Steve Lillywhite. The album cover, with a shirtless, 7-year-old boy on the cover, caused some controversy. The American release has an alternate cover with a black-and-white photo of the band.
• "The Ocean" was U2's set opener at many of their early concerts. They played it pretty consistently until 1982, when it was phased out of their setlists. They brought it back for their tours in 2005 and 2018.