The First Time
by U2

Album: Zooropa (1993)
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  • I have a lover
    A lover like no other
    She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
    And she teach me how to sing

    Shows me colors when there's none to see
    Gives me hope when I can't believe
    That for the first time
    I feel loved

    I have a brother
    When I'm a brother in need
    I spend my whole time running
    He spends his running after me

    When I feel myself going down
    I just call and he comes around
    But for the first time
    I feel love

    Ho ho ho ho ho ho
    Ho

    My father is a rich man
    He wears a rich man's cloak
    Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
    Gave me a cup of gold

    He said I have many mansions
    And there are many rooms to see
    But I left by the back door
    And I threw away the key
    And I threw away the key
    Yeah, I threw away the key
    Yeah, I threw away the key

    Ho ho

    For the first time
    For the first time
    For the first time

    I feel love Writer/s: Adam Clayton, David Evans, Laurence Mullen, Paul David Hewson
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

  • Okineki from SofiaThe song is about Grandma, absolutely!
  • Pat Murphy from Dublinthink trinity ..... spirit (often understood as female) .... son .... father
  • Dewey from Californian I love this song too. It’s real and honest. How we have all experienced the three types of love: Eros, philos, Agape. I love how even when we leave out the back door and throw away all the keys and blessings from the Father, thats when we experience real Love fir the first time.
  • Gernot from Graz, AustriaI once read that the song was inspired by the biblical parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15), but I could never really link the song and the story in my mind myself.
  • Tanmay from Delhi, IndiaI'm quite surprised actually because for me this was a song which signified a certain religious attainment. He talks about his lover and brother being in love with him and giving him happiness in their own ways, and in a more materialistic sense this is also true about his father. But then he leaves "by the back door" and throws away the key. This symbolises his shedding of worldly ties of love, brotherhood and materialism and reaching the ultimate realisation: "for the first time, i feel love". For the first time, the writer feels what true love, free from worldly encumbrances, is all about. phew! does anybody agree?
  • Chadd Bryant from Pragueq, OkBono added a line to this song on the Vertigo Tour. "yeah, i threw away the key.. but only grace can give it back to me..."
  • Katie from Newcastle-upon-tyne, EnglandI heard this song, and I absolutely love it! One of their best.
  • Adeeb from Dhaka, OtherThe lyrics gel perfectly with the feeling of loosing your faith.
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