GALBRAITH Biblical Allusions U2

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Biblical Interpretation
BRILL
Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222
brill.nl/bi
Drawing Our Fish in the Sand: Secret Biblical Allusions in the Music of U2
Deane Galbraith University ofOtago
Abstract Confronted with a popular music subculture which is predominantly antipathetic to Christianity, the charismatic-evangelical members of rock band U2 double code their lyrics in such a manner that Christian references are hidden from mainstream listeners and media while being readily recognizable to their Christian fans. The device of allusion is especially amenable to this end, as the meaning of an allusion can only be considered by a reader or listener who possesses the requisite competency in respect of the evoked text(s). Through their utilization of biblical allusions, U2 therefore construct two different, perhaps even irreconcilable, groups of listenersa knowledgeable Christian in-group and an unknowledgeable non-Christian out-group. With detailed reference to U2's songs, this paper examines the covert tendencies of allusion and the manner by which it is able to engage the listener s intertextual imagination. The paper also distinguishes a secret or hidden allusion from a generic allusion on pragmatic and socio-cultural grounds, and demonstrates the potential of secret allusions to increase semantic indeterminacy. Lastly, the paper examines some examples of the reception of the U2 song 'Magnificent' which demonstrate the effectiveness of U2's secret biblical allusions in creating two largely discrete groups of listeners. Keywords U2, Bono, allusion, secrecy, popular music, reception, reader response
Bible Studies at the Back of the Rock 'n' Roll Tour Bus In 1976, four schoolboys from Dublin, Ireland thought it would be a fine idea to form a rock and roll band. The band, later named U2, would go on to sell some 140 million albums, receiving the title of'Band of
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011
DOI: 10.1163/156851511X557352
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D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222
the '80s' from RollingStone in 1985,l even before releasing their landmark album The Joshua Tree in 1987.2 U2 have won some twenty-two Grammy Awards over their careerthe most of any band in popular music.3 Although the late 1980s and early 1990s witnessed the peak of their popularity, U2 continues as one of the most widely known bands in modern popular music, releasing their twelfth studio album, No Line On The Horizon in 2009.4 The band, and in particular lead singer Bono (Paul Hewson), are also widely renowned for their political and social activism, which extends from their involvement at Live Aid in 1985 to their more recent ONE campaign for African debt relief and financial assistance. In addition, three of the four members of U2 profess orthodox Christian faithof a type stamped with a distinctive charismatic-evangelical imprint. While U2 regularly express their faith in their song lyrics, characteristically they do so in a manner which is inexplicit, ambiguous, or even veiled. The first part of this paper addresses the cultural context which prompted U2 to camouflage their Christian and biblical references. The remainder of the paper explores some of the ways in which U2's covert biblical allusions complicate audience reception and interpretation, paying close attention to certain aspects of allusion which make the device particularly amenable to the task. Born in 1960 from the uncommon Dublin pairing of a Protestant mother and Catholic father, Bono adopted the Christian faith at a young age. His youthful efforts at evangelism were instrumental in the conversion of two of his fellow band members, The Edge (David Evans) and Larry Mullen Jnr.yet were resisted by U2's English-born bassist, Adam Clayton.5 When the three Christian members of U2 were in their late teens and early twenties, they were closely involved with a charismatic
1} Rolling Stone, March 1985 (front cover); cf. Eamon Dunphy, Unforgettable Fire: The Story ofU2 (London: Penguin, 1987), pp. 1, 304. 2) Island U26 (March 1987). 3) David KootnikofF, U2: A Musical Biography (Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 2010), p. 155. 4) Universal-Island 1796037 (February 2009). 5) The Edge (Ghettout Music Conference, Gaines Christian Center, Worcester, England, January 1981) notes that it was Mainly through him [Bono] that Larry and myself came to the Lord\
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Christian group called the Shalom Christian Fellowship.6 Although they later parted company with that group, they retained much of Shalom's charismatic form of Christianity, including an aversion to the socalled institutional Church. Consistent with their charismatic beliefs, U2 believe that their lyrics are inspired by God, maintaining that a divine presence is cin the room' at U2 concerts.7 On the early album October (1981), Bono wrote his song lyrics 'on the spot'partly out of the necessity of having lost the first drafts, but also on the basis of his belief that the Spirit would inspire him, claiming, c[w]e will speak in tongues and words will form and songs will appear'.8 As a result of Shalom's emphasis on regular and extensive Bible study, and also as a result of the Bible studies U2 regularly undertook at the back of their tour buses, Bono gained a familiarity with the words of the Bible which has enabled him to recite many passages at will.9 He reads the Bible believing that, through its words, God is speaking to him, stating in one interview, 'if I'm studying the Scriptures, they become alive in an odd way, and they make sense to the moment I'm in, they're no longer a historical document'.10 When Rolling Stone asked him in 2005 how big an influence the Bible was for him and to what extent he drew on its imagery and ideas, Bono simply answered, 'It sustains me'.11 U2's Elusive Allusions A swathe of recent popular works has examined the influence of the Bible on U2's music.12 Most of these works conclude that U2's song
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Steve Stockman, Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 (Orlando: Relevant Books, 2005), p. 17. 7) Robert Hilburn, 'The SongwritersU2"Where Craft Ends and Spirit Begins'", Los ngeles Times (8 August 2004), http://www.atu2.com/news/the-songwriters-u2where-craft-ends-and-spirit-begins.html. 8) Keith Cameron, 'U2 At The Crossroads', Mojo (July 2005), p. 82; October, Island ILPS 9680 (October 1981). 9) Visnja Cogan, U2: An Irish Phenomenon (New York: Pegasus, 2008), p. 81. 10) Bono, in Michka Assayas and Bono, Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas with a Foreword by Bono (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2005), p. 25. u) Jann S. Wenner, 'Bono: The Rolling Stone Interview', Rolling Stone (3 November 2005), http://www.atu2.com/news/bono-the-rolling-stone-interview.html. I2) E.g. Raewynne J. Whiteley and Beth Maynard (eds.), Get Up Off Your Knees:
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lyrics are saturated with biblical allusionsand, moreover, that the fact is so obvious it barely requires stating. However, two factors significantly problematize such conclusions. In the first place, the majority of these authors are writing from an explicitly Christian point of view. Yet notably, the few non-Christian writers who address the topic do not find biblical allusions to be so predominant, often expressing puzzlement at the emphasis given to biblical allusions by Christian writers and fans. Secondly, when Christian interpreters affirm the ubiquity of biblical allusions throughout U2's music, we often find tensions or outright contradictions in their reasoning. For example, Greg Garrett, a professor at a conservative evangelical Texan university, admits that he did not notice any religious dimension to U2's music earlier in his life when he was not a practising Christian. But having returned to the fold, he concludes that the religious dimension to U2's music is ''self-evidently present'. He now dismisses his earlier nonChristian interpretation as spiritual blindness concerning what he takes to be the inherent meaning of the songs.13 There is a similar tension observable in Brian J. Walsh's comments on the U2 song 'Elevation' (2000).14 Within the space of two adjoining sentences, Walsh, a Reformed Christian chaplain and professor, both acknowledges that U2's biblical allusions are difficult to detect and also affirms that they can be found everywhere:
Granted, folks don't necessarily know that and I in the sky is a reference to God, or that the you' in 'All because of you, I am' is the Creator of all. But that
Preaching the U2 Catalog (Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley, 2003); Stockman, Walk On (2005); Robert Vagacs, Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2005); Christian Scharen, One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2006); Stephen Catanzarite, Achtung Baby: Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall (33 1/3; New York and London: Continuum, 2007); Greg Garrett, We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel According to U2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009); cf. Bill Graham and Caroline van Oosten de Boer, U2: The Complete Guide to their Music (London: Omnibus, 2004); Niall Stokes, U2: Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every Song (New York: Thunder's Mouth, 2005); Visnja Cogan, U2 (2008); Andrea Morandi, U2: The Name Of Love: Testi Commentati (Rome: Arcana, 2009). 13) Garrett, We Getto Carry, pp. 2, 124. 14) All That You Can't Uave Behind, Island CIDU212 (October 2000).
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doesn't matter because... the lyrics literally drip with biblical allusion wherever you look.15
By contrast, one of the few non-Christian authors to write in detail about U2's Christianity, Visna Cogan, does not consider U2's songs are dripping, 'literally' or otherwise, with biblical allusions. She writes:
That their songs could all be read as spiritual is a point of view. However, I don't think it is actually the case. The biblical references abound indeed but some that are submitted to websites as spiritual are rather dubious. It is all a question of interpretation.16
Furthermore, Cogan admits that 'some of the religious and spiritual connotations went over [her] head before [she] started analysing the lyrics' for the purpose of writing her book. With an emphasis not found in many of the other authors, Cogan recognizes a widespread ambiguity in U2's music, concluding that U2 'don't play their songs for one type of audience'.17 Clearly, U2's biblical allusions can only be found if the listener knows what they are looking for. For example, not every listener of U2's song 'The Fly' (1991) would hear the words 'shine like a burning star / falling from the sky' in the angelic falsetto of the song's chorus, and link it to Jesus' description of the fall of Satan from heaven in Luke 10:18.18 But the allusion becomes apparent when one not only has knowledge ofthat biblical passage, but appreciates that the song features a demonic character called 'the Fly' making a telephone call from hell, or is aware that Bono dressed as the Fly during concerts from the early 1990s with the expressed intent to 'mock the devil'.19 Again, in the chart-topping
Brian J. Walsh, 'Foreward', in Vagacs, Religious Nuts, p. xvi. Cogan, U2, p. 109. 17) Cogan, LB, p. 116. 18) Island CIS 500; cf. Deane Galbraith, 'Fallen Angels in the Hands of U 2 \ in Scott Calhoun (ed.), forthcoming. 19) Neil McCormick, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jnr., U2 By U2 (London: HarperCollins, 2006), pp. 225, 247; Stokes, Into the Heart, p. 103; Bono was familiar with the meaning of Beelzebub, basing U2's early song 'Shadows and Tall Trees' {Boy, Island ILPS 9646 (November 1980)) on a chapter from William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954).
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U2 single from 1987, Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', we may or may not detect an allusion to 1 Cor. 13:1 in the words, have spoke with the tongue of angels', followed by an allusion to Christ's passion with the lyrics, 'You broke the bonds / And you loosed the chains / Carried the cross of my shame'.20 Not every listener detects that the lyrics to a U2 song obliquely entided '40' (1983) are largely derived from Psalm 40, or understands that the refrain ('How long to sing this song?') has been lifted from Psalm 6.21 Although missed by most mainstream listeners, many of Bono's lyrics reveal a special predilection for the Psalms,22 as for example U2's early single, 'Gloria' (1981), which features the opening words of three Psalms, each disguised in Latin: in te domine ('In you, O Lord'; Psalm 31); exultate ('Rejoice'; Psalm 33); and miserere ('Have mercy'; Psalm 51). 23 When author John Walters told Bono about his initial difficulty in discerning the meaning of'Gloria's' lyrics, Bono joked, 'You probably wanted it to be about a waitress'.24 Much of the humour in Bono's joke lies in the fact that so many listeners did in fact interpret this pop song as though it were a simple love song. And 'Gloria' is far from being the only case in which U2 has veiled a song about God behind a song which is ostensibly about a woman. To provide two further examples, a song called 'Grace' (2000) concerns a woman who 'takes the blame... covers the shame' and 'removes the stain',25 and the song 'She Moves in Mysterious Ways' (1991) conceives of the Holy Spirit as a female presencein fact, as a belly-dancer.26
Island IS 328. War, Island ILPS 9733 (March 1983). 22) Cf. Bono, 'The Book of Psalms', in Jamie Byng (publisher), Revehtions: Personal Responses to the Books of the Bible (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2005), pp. 133-140. 23) Island WIP 6733; Steven R. Harmon, '152: Unexpected Prophets', Christian Ethics: A Series in Faith and Ethics (January 2006), pp. 81-88 (82). 'Gloria' also features a probable further allusion to Col. 2:10, in the line 'only in you I'm complete' (Beth Maynard in Angela Pancella, 'Bible References in U2's Lyrics: Drawing Their Fish in the Sand', <2>U2.com, http://www.atu2.com/lyrics/biblerefs.html). 24) John Waters, Race of Angeh: The Genesis of U2 (London: Fourth Estate, 1994), p. 148. 25) All That You Can t Leave Behind, Island CIDU212 (October 2000). 26) Achtung Baby, Island U28 (October 1991); Lynn Ramert, Century Apart: The Personality Performances of Oscar Wilde in the 1890s and U2's Bono in the 1990s',
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Contrary to the conclusions of many evangelical Christian writers, U2's biblical allusions are rarely explicit, typically employing 'skillful disguise' to double code lyrics for their bifurcated audience of Christians and non-Christians.27 What makes allusion so amenable to such a goal is that the device, to adopt Umberto Eco's phrase, 'does not invite all readers to the same party'.28 So by employing the device of biblical allusion, U2 is able to send a covert signal to Christian fans within lyrics which still make sense at the surface level to their wider audience. One audience member might hear a song of praise to God where another hears a song about a waitress.29 What is more, the evidence demonstrates that U2 follows a deliberate strategy of obscuring their beliefs from the full view of some sections of the public and the mainstream media. Early in their career, U2 made
Popular Music and Society 32 (2009): pp. 447-460 (455); Stokes, Into the Heart, p. 104. 27) Stockman {Into the Heart, p. 14) discusses 'skillful disguise' in U2's Will Follow'. The term 'double coding' originates in Charles Jencks' theory of postmodern architecture, where he describes double coding as the tendency of postmodern buildings or art to address simultaneously 'a minority, elite public, using "high" codes, and a mass public using popular codes' {The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (Wisbech: Balding and Mansell, 1978), p. 6; cf. The New Paradigm in Architecture: The Language of Post-Modernism (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2002), p. 27). Matei Clinescu applies double coding to texts, explaining that a double coded text 'may be publicly coded so as to convey spurious or deceptive or merely neutral information to the layman and at the same time secretly coded so as to convey the privileged information to the initiate only' (Rereading (New Haven: Yale UP, 1994), p. 228; cf. 'Secrecy in Fiction: Textual and Intertextual Secrets in Hawthorne and Updike', Poetics Today 15 (1994): pp. 443-465 (444); Umberto Eco, 'Intertextual Irony And Levels of Reading', in idem., On Literature (trans. Martin McLaughlin; London: Seeker and Warburg, 2005), pp. 212-235). 28) Eco refers to what he terms 'intertextual irony' ('Intertextual Irony', 220). 29) U2's veiled allusions are by no means unique to the band, nor are they unique to Christian artists. For example, Ted Swedenburg ('Islam in the Mix: Lessons of the Five Percent', paper presented at the Anthropology Colloquium, University of Arkansas (19 February 1997)) documents the covert Islamic New Religious Movement allusions which dominated many 1980s and 1990s rap and hip hop artists. While their target in-groups are significantly smaller than that of Christianity, Ted Swedenburg's conclusion applies mutatis mutandis to U2: 'Full comprehension is only I possible for the initiate, and many allusions appear to be aimed specifically at insiders' (p. 4).
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the strategic choice to market themselves as a mainstream rock band, and to avoid any association with Christian Contemporary Music.30 They made one surprise appearance at the UK's largest Christian music festival, Greenbelt, in 1981, but the performance was unadvertised on the concert billing so as to avoid mainstream media coverage.31 Bono and his wife Ali attended further Greenbelt festivals, but dressed in disguise and only appeared behind the scenes.32 When Bono spoke at the Ghettout Christian conference in 1981 in the safe company of Christians (which was recorded and clandestinely distributed among Christians for more than two decades), he disclosed that U2 had earlier 'came out' as Christians only by accident, after he had asked a journalist to turn off his tape-recorder for an off-the-record testimony and the journalist had secredy kept recording.33 As Bono confides, 'we weren't going to tell anybody'. When Adam Clayton saw the resulting article, his first response to Bono was one of horror: 'You spilt the beans. It's all out now: we're a Christian band!'34 The Edge acknowledges that, in their early years, U2 tried to avoid being tagged as Christians, by not 'telling them in interviews', adding, '[w]e didn't want it to be on the album sleeve'.35 U2 also dissociated themselves from Christian media, not only
Cf. Stockman, Walk On, pp. 3, 12-13. Jay Swartzendruber, publicist for Christian Contemporary Music label Gotee Records, comments, 'U2 has always avoided the Christian music industry since they didn't want to imply a heavy-handed agenda or propaganda was driving what they do' (Angela Pancella, 'The Nashville Summit: Behind the Scenes with Bono, DATA, and the Christian Music Industry', @ U2.com (28 July 2003), http://www.atu2.com/news/the-nashville-summit-behind-the-sceneswith-bono-data-and-the-christian-music-industry.html). On Christian Contemporary Music, see John J. Thompson, Raised by Wolves: The Story of Christian Rock & Roll (Toronto: ECW; London: Turnaround, 2000). 31) 24 August 1981 (Pimm Jal de la Parra, U2Live:A Concert Documentary (2nd edn.; London: Omnibus, 2003), p. 25; Cogan, U2, p. 100). 32) Kootnikoff, U2, p. 65. 33) After circulating among Christian U2 fans for 25 years, it entered the market in 2006, sold by Dream Depot, whose company director, Laurie Mellor was the Ghettout conference organizer (Scott Calhoun, 'Rare Recording Featuring Three-Fourths of U2 for Sale', @U2.com (3 July 2006), http://www.atu2.com/news/rare-recordingfeaturing-three-fourths-of-u2-for-sale.html). 34) Ghettout Music Conference. 35) The Edge, in Waters, Race ofAngeL, p. 162.
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refusing to give interviews, but actively discouraging Christian magazines from writing about them. Bono revealed at Ghettout that we made it known that we didn't want them [the Christian music magazine, Buzz] to write about us, in fact, that they just leave us be, and let us get on with what we were doing', which he described as an 'outreach mission'.36 When Bono finally broke with U2's longstanding policy of not dealing with the Christian media in 2002-03, it was only done for what he viewed as the greater good of recruiting church support in the fight against the AIDS epidemic.37 The social context which first prompted U2 to camouflage their Christianity is not difficult to establish. Callum Brown identifies popular musictogether with other electronic media, fashion, and student revoltas the main carriers of cultural change from the 1960s onwards.38 While the nature of these popular religious changes varied significantly between England, Ireland, and various regions of the United States,39 what quickly became dominant within the popular music subcultures of these regionsamongst musicians, music media and industry ownerswas a conspicuous antipathy towards Christianity. A typical media response is recorded by Ireland's Hot Press interviewer, Bill Graham, reflecting on Bono's confession during their first interview that U2 were Christians. Graham recalls, , a typically Irish ex-Catholic agnostic, feared for their reputation. Born-again Christianity could
Ghettout Music Conference. Cathleen Falsani, 'Bono's American Prayer', Christianity Today Al . (March 2003), http://www.christianitytoday.eom/ct/2003/march/2.38.html. U2's change of policy was met with a vindictive and petty editorial from Christianity Today, which complained that U2 had 'declined to speak with American evangelicals' mass media for years', and which proceeded to cast aspersions on the band's motivations and churchgoing record (Editorial, 'Bono's Thin Ecclesiology', Christianity Today 47.3 (March 2003), http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/march/29.37.html). Cathleen Falsani, who penned the edition's lead article, 'Bono's American Prayer', strongly objected to the editorial; cf. Falsani, 'Bono', The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (New York: Sarah Crichton, 2006), pp. 7-19. 38) Callum G. Brown, Religion and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain (Harlow: Pearson, 2006), pp. 224, 227. 39) Brown, Religion and Society\ p. 258; Steve Bruce, God is Dead: Secularization in the West (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), pp. 204-223; David Martin, On Secukrization: Towards a Revised General Theory (Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate, 2005).
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hinder their career.'40 In turn, U2 were very wary of the mainstream music press, which they described as 'a very corrupt medium'.41 They were just as wary of the mainstream audience, as Bono confided in 1981 to a Christian audience:
if we were to sing a song [with the lyrics], 'Jesus Christ, we thank you for this band and for the music that we're playing',... someone would hear it and go, 'Phew... the God Squad!'... Jesus was much subder than that.42
Behind U2's perceived need to veil their Christianity from the general public and the media is their charismatic-evangelical belief that they are engaged in a spiritual battle against demonic forces. Addressing fellow Christians, Bono describes U2's entry into the world of rock and roll as a 'battle' in which Satan 'is waging war on the Lord and on us', and that 'by getting involved in battle, okay, you're fighting Satan'.43 This attitude is evident in their later song 'Acrobat' (1991), where Bono describes the dualistic struggle between spiritual forces of good and evil as palpable: 'If you just close your eyes you can feel the enemy'.44 Again, in U2's 1991 single, 'The Fly', Bono describes what he sees as the obvious effects of Adam's sin in the world: 'It's no secret that our world is in darkness tonight /...It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky / The universe exploding 'cos-a one man's lie'.45 However, while U2 expects that spiritually engaged Christians will be able to discern this secret, they also expect spiritual blindness from their nonChristian listeners. Bono explains, 'When you start to get involved in [spiritual] battle, Satan comes out of his closet... If you are not in battle, you may not even be aware of the evidence of Satan.'46 When asked in the early 1990s about the Christian content of U2's songs, Bono responded:
Bill Graham, U2: The Early Days: Another Time, Another Pkce (London: Mandarin, 1989), p. 24. 41) Ghettout Music Conference. 42) Ghettout Music Conference. 43) Ghettout Music Conference. ^ Achtung Baby, Island U28 (October 1991). 45) Island CIS 500. 46) Ghettout Music Conference.
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We've found different ways of expressing it [our belief], and recognized the power of the media to manipulate such signs. Maybe we just have to sort of draw our fish in the sand. It's there for people who are interested. It shouldn't be there for people who aren't.47
Bono's reply recalls Leo Strauss's observation that a writer who feels constrained by society's censorship will write 'between the lines about the art of writing between the lines'.48 Bono indirectly affirms that the band continues to include biblical and other Christian allusions in their songs, but in a manner that can only be fully understood by members of his Christian in-group. In order to fully appreciate Bono's affirmation, the reader must first be aware of the tradition concerning the alleged early secret practice of persecuted Christians in which they signalled their Christian identity by drawing fish in the sanda practice continued today, incidentally, on evangelical bumper stickers.49 Second, the reader must be able to detect Bono's covert allusion to Mark's distinction between those who understood Jesus' covert parables and those who were excluded from the secret of the Kingdom (Mark 4:1112).50 So by answering with two covert allusions, not only does Bono continue to veil U2's message from the out-group, but he justifies U2's covert method to their Christian in-group by making a covert yet authoritative appeal to the words of Jesuswho was in turn appealing, via his own covert allusion, to the selective revelation claimed by Isaiah (Isa. 6:9-10). Bono's biblical allusions have not been lost on those who are spiritually attuned. Christian writer Angela Pancella cites this very
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Bill Flanagan, U2: At the End of the World (London: Bantam, 1995), p. 440. 'Exoteric Teaching', in idem., The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss (Essays and Lectures by Leo Strauss selected and introduced by Thomas L. Pangle; Chicago and London: University of Chicago, 1989), pp. 63-71 (64). 49) While Robin Margaret Jensen ( Understanding Early Christian Art (New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2000), p. 22) points out that there is no definitive proof of the ichthys sign's cryptic use, the Catch-22 is that if there had been a. clandestine practice, definitive proof would be unavailable (cf. Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing (New York: Free Press, 1952), pp. 27-30). 50) See Frank Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy: On the Interpretation of Narrative (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), p. 3; George Aichele, Jesus Framed (London and New York: Routledge, 1996), pp. 85-92.
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quotation from Bono at the head of a list of more than a hundred biblical allusions she documents for U2 song lyrics.51 If it is true that some Christian artists, including U2, still managed to succeed in the hostile subculture, their successas Christopher Partridge observes in The Re-Enchantment ofthe Westcame about despite their Christianity, not because of it. The popular music subculture required Christian musicians like U2, who aimed for mainstream success, to accentuate aspects of their music which coincided with the subculture's dominant values and conversely to obscure or camouflage their Christian beliefs.52 Similarly, John J. Thompson cynically concludes, in his comprehensive survey of Christian involvement in popular music during the late twentieth century:
there are really two eras with respect to Christians in pop music: before U2, and after U2. The band proved that Christians could speak to the masses, and how U2 came to prominence has been the subject of much study and attempted replication.... The lesson seems to be that executives of record labels don't listen very closely to music; hence, as long as a band isn't tagged as Christian before they 'make it, ' they'll be let through the gates, especially if they are a hit. Thus, after U2, many Christian musicians used stealth. If they could keep their faith cloaked long enough to be a hit, while still telegraphing it to their established Christian fans, they could articulate it with impunity thereafter.53
Partridge attributes U2's success in particular to their explicit identification with 'a range of subcultural concerns', in combination with the fact that 'there is sufficient ambiguity in their lyrics for their music to have a wide appeal'.54 Partridge does not identify the particular concerns by which U2 gained subcultural capital, but foremost among them must surely be U2's regular expression of their Christian faith in terms of social justicefrom their opposition to third-world poverty
Available at the largest U2 fan site, @U2.com: Angela Pancella, 'Bible References in U2's Lyrics: Drawing Their Fish in the Sand', http://www.atu2.com/lyrics/biblerefs. html. 52) Christopher H. Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West (London: T&T Clark, 2004), vol. l , p . 148. 53) Thompson, Raised by Wolves, p. 100; emphasis added. Regarding the failure of record executives to listen closely to the music, cf. Strauss, Persecution, p. 25. 54) Partridge, Re-Enchantment, p. 148.
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to their championing of the activism of the Reverend Martin Luther Kingsocial concerns which were more typically associated with the godless left in the popular mind of the 1970s and 1980s.55 This emphasis, bolstered by the fact that U2's Christianity was regarded by many people as somewhat exotic and mystical merely by virtue of being Irish, served to frame U2 in opposition to the predominantly right-wing evangelical culture of 1980s American Christianity. A second way in which U2 achieved subcultural appeal was by virtue of their vocal opposition to 'religion' in favour of 'spirituality', which again served to separate the band from Christian fundamentalism and associate them with an amorphous New Age 'spirituality', despite the fact that they consistently professed a doctrinally orthodox evangelical belief.56 A third
55) E.g. Bono: am a Christian, but I feel very removed from Christianity. The Jesus Christ I believe in was the man who once turned over the tables in the temple and threw the moneychangers out... there is a radical side to Christianity I am attracted to. I think that without a commitment to social justice it is empty' (Chris Heath, Once Upon a Time...', Star Hits (January 1987), reprinted in Hank Bordowitz (ed.), The U2 Reader: A Quarter Century of Commentaryy Criticism, and Reviews (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2003), p. 31). In a Rolling Stone interview, Bono labels TV evangelists 'the traders... in the temple', before mentioning his reading of the biography of Martin Luther King which 'just changes your life' (Wenner, 'Bono'). Bono bases his advocation of equality on the Judeo-Christian tradition: 'Equality is an idea that was first really expressed by the Jews when God told them that everyone was equal in His eyes.. .You can imagine these farmers standing there with sheep shit on their shoes in front of Pharaoh. And Pharaoh would say: "You are equal to me? And they'd look in their book and they'd go: "That's what it says here."... You see, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, we have to accept this: it says that everyone is equal' (Assayas, Bono on Bono, pp. 80-81). In a discussion of liberation theology in Nicaragua, Bono recounts, remember just being amazed at how the populace were being taught revolution through Bible stories' (p. 177). 56) Bono opines, 'Religion is the enemy of God, as far as I'm concerned' (in Waters, Race of Angels, p. 162). Defending the Christian content of their most overtly Christian album, October (Island, ILPS 9680 (October 1981)), and their early affiliation with the fundamentalist Shalom Christian Fellowship, Bono notes that they had been influenced a lot by Watchman Nee, who he describes as 'a Chinese Christian mystic' whose central idea was ascetic self-negation. Bono's description of Nee disguises the fact that Nee was a very conservative Chinese evangelical preacher, much closer to the fundamentalists from whom Bono is attempting to distance himself than Bono's Orientalist, exotic and radical religious mystic. Bono's contrast of 'religion' and 'spirituality' often associates the former with TV fundamentalists ('Turn on the TV the night you arrive,
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basis was their refusal to separate themselves from what most evangelical Christians in the 1980s considered impious and unchristianin 57 particular drinking, smoking, and swearing. When U2 were directly confronted by interviewers about their Christian faith, a favourite strategy was to combine quite orthodox evangelical affirmations of their faith with dissonance-creating colloquialisms, ambiguities, open-ended wording, and playfulness, and avoidance of the term Christian', all peppered with most unchristian profanity. For example, in one interview Bono quotes, Tor all have fallen short of the glory of God', before exegeting the scripture as 'Everyone, basically is in the same shit'.58 A fourth ground of subcultural appeal was adopted in the 1990s, when U2 incorporated an ironic facade of glamour and kitsch into their image and performances, a deliberate reversal of the stark, ascetic image they
and there's all these people talking from the Scriptures. But they're quite obviously raving lunatics') and the latter with black churches ('Even though I'm a believer, I still find it really hard to be around other believers: They make me nervous, they make me twitch. I sorta watch my back. Except when I'm with the black church. I feel relaxed, feel at home'; Wenner, 'Bono'). 57) Stockman, Walk On, p. 2. 58) Waters, Race ofAngeh, p. 162. Bono describes the birth of Christ as 'a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw', before apologetically defending the necessity of the incarnation as 'pure logic' based on the premise that 'Essence has to manifest itself. It's inevitable... love must be made flesh' (Assayas, Bono on Bono, p. 125). In another interview, Bono quotes, 'Unless the seed shall die and be crushed into the earth, it cannot bear fruit', but subsequendy follows it up with a 'motherfucker' and 'bullshit'. Quoting 'the truth shall set you free', Bono quips, 'you can't fuck people with your head' (Anton Block, 'Pure Bono', Mother Jones (May 1989), pp. 32-37 and 54-56 (35)). Again, after affirming God as 'Creator', and the 'logic' of such a God manifesting his power in the incarnation of Christ, Bono adds, guess that would make me a Christian. Although I don't use the label, because it is so very hard to live up to' (Wenner, 'Bono'). Interviewer Michka Assayas catches Bono evading what he discussed with the Pope, when Bono had replied that the Pope loved to play soccer, and complains to Bono, 'Could you please, just for once, spare me the Monty Python digression?' (Assayas, Bono on Bono, p. 201). Bono's swearing sometimes repels more conservative Christians, as is evident in the comments by Steve R. Harmon, professor at a U.S. Southern Baptist university: 'Bono's occasional lapses into the language of the streets of Dublin do not serve as the best model for Christian speech' (Harmon, 'U2: Unexpected Prophets', p. 88 n. 12).
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had cultivated during the 1980s.59 Bono explains that on the 1992 Zoo TV tour, U2 deliberately 'dressed in the clothes of immoralityblack leather, shades... because people look for righteousness in the wrong houses'.60 Although U2's change in image is often viewed as being in fundamental discontinuitywith their 1980s image, there is also a much underappreciated continuity insofar as it constituted a further means of disseminating Christianity behind vehicles of subcultural appeal. But it would be wrong to view the ways in which U2 generated subcultural capital as merely superficial, cynical or disingenuous techniques to penetrate the largely non-Christian music industry. To the contrary, the techniques grew out of and were integrated into the band's character, cultural background, and social concerns in a very complex manner. There is no good reason to doubt, for example, U2's genuine passion for social justice. By the same token, their opposition to institutional religion is rooted in their everyday experience of colonial oppression in Irelandwhich is popularly expressed as a religious opposition between Catholics and Protestants.61 The important hermeneutical consequence of U2's hidden biblical allusions, which will be the focus of the remainder of this paper, is a significant complication in the way the audience interprets and receives their lyrics. How can a listener interpret U2 lyrics if she is aware that they do not always say what they mean? How can a listener understand a U2 song when she knows they sometimes employ inexplicit, ambiguous or covert biblical allusions? Should she always attempt to read between the lines, or do some lyrics contain no latent level of meaning at all? That is, should she always approach the lyrics with suspicion? Hugh Urban poses a related problem in respect of the epistemological problems posed by esoteric religious traditions: 'how can one study or say anything intelligent at all about a religious tradition that practices active dissimulation, that is, a religious tradition that deliberately
See esp. Flanagan, End of the World', cf. Fred Johnson, 'U2, Mythology, and Massmediated Survival', Popuhr Music and Society 27 (2004), pp. 79-99. 60) Waters, Race of Angels, p. 162. 61) Bono relates that, in Ireland, 'we get just enough religion to inoculate you against it. They force-feed you religion to the point where you throw up. It's power. It's about control' (in David Breskin, 'Bono: The Rolling Stone Interview', Rolling Stone (8 October 1987), p. 96).
59)
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obfuscates its teachings and intentionally conceals itself from outsiders?'62 While there can be no firm answers to that question, if we grant that U2 have employed a deliberate strategy of self-protective dissimulation, I propose that U2 songs should be understood as conveying at least two different levels of meaning to two distinct audiences. That is, U2 songs construct no less than two different, perhaps even irreconcilable, implied listeners.63 The proposition can initially be tested in respect of what is usually considered one of U2's most explicidy political songs,64 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' (1983)the title and lyrics of which recollect the English army's massacre of thirteen unarmed Irish civil rights marchers in Derry on 30 January 1972.65 The song lyrics soberly bombard the listener with war-torn images such as *[b] odies strewn across the dead-end street', and refer to the 'battle' which was memorably broadcast on the television news, while decrying the divisions within Ireland as 'trenches dug within our hearts'. 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is clearly dominated, textually and contextually, by themes of political and social justice. So what interpretive weight should a listener attribute to an apparently minor biblical allusion occurring towards the end of the song, where Bono sings, 'The real battle just begun / To claim the victory Jesus won / On / Sunday Bloody Sunday... '? 66 Although somewhat explicit when the lyrics are read in print as here, it should be noted that, in the original
Hugh B. Urban, 'The Torment of Secrecy: Ethical and Epistemological Problems in the Study of Esoteric Traditions', History of Religions 37 (1997), pp. 209-248 (209). 63) The emphasis in this paper on differences among different subcultures and their actual range of responses also benefits from discussions of 'authorial audience' (Peter J. Rabinowitz, Before Reading: Narrative Conventions and the Politics of Interpretation (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1987; James Phelan, Reading People, Reading Plots: Character, Progression, andtheInterpretation ojTarrative(Chicago: University of Chicago, 1989); Experiencing Fiction: Judgments, Progressions, and the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative (Columbus: Ohio State University, 2007); cf. Wolfgang Iser, The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response (London: Roudedge; Henley: Kegal Paul, 1978). M) Ian K. Smith, Top 20 Political Songs: Sunday Bloody Sunday | U2 | 1983', New Statesman (25 March 2010), http://www.newstatesman.com/music/2010/03/u2-sunday-bloody-political. 65) War, Island ILPS 9733 (March 1983); Stokes, Into the Heart, p. 37; a further, fourteenth, victim died months later from injuries received on that day. 66) Cf. Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1.
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recorded version of the song, the audibility of the line is obscured by The Edge, who simultaneously sings the crescendoing chorus-line, 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' over Bono's mention of Jesus. Is this indistinct allusion enough to overturn the relentless and eidetic images of political and social violence which appear throughout the song? The answer very much depends on the particular listener. For a biblically literate listener, the song's biblical allusions have the potential to threaten nothing short of a spiritualizing revolution in which the words rise up and overthrow their dominant political significations. While the fulcrum for this alternative level of meaning is carefully placed at the very end of the song, some biblically literate listeners may already have gained a heightened expectation for it. For in the immediately preceding couplet, there is a verbatim allusion to 1 Cor. 15:32 (or perhaps to Isa. 22:13, to which Paul alludes): 'We eat and drink while tomorrow they die'. At the level of the manifest political and social content of the song, the phrase connotes powerlessness before the external and mundane forces of violence and death, exacerbated by our television-numbed, internal incapacity to overcome those forces, a meaning which ironically recalls the tenor of resignation from parallel passages in Ecclesiastes.67 But at the level of the biblical allusion, death gains a spiritual dimension as a supernatural force of apocalyptic evil only able to be overcome by Jesus. The interpretation is reinforced if the listener is able to engage in a metaleptic or transumptive appreciation of 1 Cor. 15:32.68 For the main focus of the chapter is on human resurrection and Christ's final victory over the spiritual powers of death and evil.69 So for a biblically literate listener, the apparent hopelessness before violence and deathand the apparent nihilism of the words 'We eat and drink while tomorrow they die'dissipate, as the words become a mere foil for the confident Christian hope in the spiritual overcoming of death itself.
67) 68)
Eccl. 2:24; 3:13; 5:18; 8:15; 9:7. John Hollander, The Figure ofEcho: A Mode of Allusion in Milton and After (Berkeley: University of California, 1981), pp. 113-132; Richard B. Hays, Echoes ofScripture in the Letters ofPaul (New Haven: Yale UP, 1993). 69) See, e.g. Alan F. Segal, 'The Afterlife as Mirror of the Self, in Frances Flannery, Colleen Shantz, and Rodney A. Werline (eds.), Experientiay Volume 1: Inquiry into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early-Christianity (Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series, 40; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008), pp. 30-31.
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Therefore, the dominant message of 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' for many biblically literate listeners will not be situated in the explicit images of earthly battle that permeate the song, reinforced as they are by the song's driving, snare-dominated military drumbeat. Rather, the primary meaning of the song will tend to be located in brief biblical allusions apparently squeezed into the song's climax, which, when activated by a knowing listener, have the potential to shine a revelatory light on //the prior lyrics. From this perspective, the apparent Unionist/Republican division which caused 'mothers, children, brothers, [and] sisters' to be 'torn apart' might be recast as a division between believers and non-believers in which eternal life is at stake. Prompted by the song's later biblical allusions, a listener might also suspect that the lyric alludes to Matt. 10:35, where Jesus promises to set 'a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'. Further, the primary referent of the phrase 'Wipe the tears from your eyes' might be displaced from the tangible grief following the Bloody Sunday massacre, to be suffused instead with an eschatological significance in relation to the permanent eradication of death and mourning in the coming afterlife. And so, we might also recognize an allusion to Rev 21:4 (which in turn alludes to Isa. 25:7-8; cf. Rev. 7:17). For a biblically literate listener, the hope for political union in Ireland, implicit in the refrain 'how long?' (Ps. 6:3; so too the refrain to U2's '40'), might well be transformed into an eschatological hope for the Second Coming of Christ and spiritual union with God (1 Cor. 15:28). While 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is usually identified as U2's most political song, for those who have ears to hear, the song's primary meaning is transformed into a proclamation of Christ's victory within an infinitely more important spiritual battle.70 The song thereby generates two main categories of implied listener: those who catch the allusion and those who do not. While the political significance is never lost for the Christian listener, this level of meaning tends to be subsumed under its more profound level of significance concerning the resurrection of Christ.
70)
Niall Stokes notes that The Edge conceived the original idea for the song, including the idea 'to link what was happening in Northern Ireland back to the original Christian blood sacrifice and subsequent resurrection on Easter Sunday' (Stokes, Into the Heart, p. 38).
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All Allusions are Hidden Allusions The aspect of allusion which makes it so appropriate for encoding covert messages is that the device can only be recognised and activated by a reader or listener who is sufficiently 'in the know'. So in this sense, all allusions are hidden allusions. Matei Clinescu observes that 'functionally, allusions are akin to secrecy insofar as their understanding justifies making a distinction between insiders and outsiders'.71 In Hugh Urban's definition, secrecy is 'what separates those who know from those who do not, those who are "in" on the secret and those who are outsiders'.72 Allusion functions by utilising a marker in the alluding text which typically employs only indirect or tacit imitation in order to evoke a specific external referent(s),73 the significance of which can only be contemplated by a reader possessing some requisite knowledgewhether it be knowledge of the Bible, James Joyce, Allen Edwardes, etc., as the case requires.74 The marker also interrupts the knowing reader's linear reading of the alluding text, prompting her reconsideration of the meaning of the words directly before her in light of the evoked text(s) and, vice-versa, prompting re-evaluation of the evoked text(s) in light of the text before her. Drawing in part on earlier scholarship,75 I therefore propose the following working definition of allusion:
Clinescu, Rereading, p. 235. Hugh B. Urban, The Secrets of the Kingdom: Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), p. 5; the term derived from the Latin secernere ('that which "separates" and divides'). 73) The specificity of the evoked text(s) distinguishes allusion from commonplaces or topoi. 74) Carmela Perri, O n Alluding', Poetics 7 (1978), pp. 289-307 (296). 75) In particular: Gian Biagio Conte, The Rhetoric ofImitation: Genre and Poetic Memory in Virgil and Other Latin Poets (trans. Charles Segal; Ithaca and London: Cornell, 1986); Ziva Ben-Porat, 'The Poetics of Literary Allusion', PTL 1 (1976), pp. 105-28; Anthony L. Johnson, 'Allusion in Poetry', PTL 1 (1976), pp. 579-587; Perri, 'On Alluding'; 'Knowing and Playing: The Literary Text and the Trope Allusion', American Imago 41 (1984), pp. 117-128; Udo J. Hebel, 'Towards a Descriptive Poetics of Allusion\ in H. Plett (ed.), Intertextuality (Research in Text Theory, 15; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1991), pp. 135-164; Benjamin D. Sommer, 'Exegesis, Allusion and Intertextuality in the Hebrew Bible: A Response to Lyle Eslinger', Vetus Testamentum AG (1996), pp. 479-89; 'Allusions and Illusions: The Unity of the Book of Isaiah in Light of Deutero-Isaiah's Use of Prophetic Tradition', in Roy F. Melugin and Marvin A.
72) 71)
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D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222 an allusion is a figure which invites a knowledgeable reader to depart from her linear progression through the alluding text, by providing a marker to one or more evoked text(s)76usually implicidy, via imitation of verbal, formal, or pragmatic elements, and less frequendy by explicit citation77in a manner which guides but does not wholly specify the relevant relationships between the texts,78 foregrounding the interplay of alluding and evoked texts for the readers reconsideration of their meanings within the wider intertextual matrix.79
As Joseph Pucci argues, allusion furnishes a text with a meaning which is 'not a uniformly accessible meaning';foronly a 'full-knowing reader' can 'recognize and make coherent what isformerlyhidden' due to her 'unique competencies'.80 By the term 'foil-knowing reader' he certainly does not suggest that appreciation of an allusion requires complete
Sweeney (eds.), New Visions ofIsaiah (JSOTSup., 214; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1996), pp. 156-86; A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40-66 (Stanford: Stanford UP, 1998); Joseph Pucci, The Full-knowing Reader: Allusion and the Power ofthe Reader in the Western Literary Tradition (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1998); Stephen Hinds, Allusion and Intertext: Dynamics of Appropriation in Roman Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998); Susan Hylen, Allusion and Meaning in John 6 (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fr die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der lteren Kirche, 137; Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2005). 76) It is quite foreseeable, given an authors close familiarity with the language of a particular source (e.g. Bono's saturation in the language of the Bible), that allusive markers may unconsciously as well as consciously be encoded in the text. Matei Calinescu gives the example of Oscar Wilde's 'secret of the depth of his flesh', which was not intended as a secret signal of his homosexuality, but proceeded from 'his consciousness of the need to hide, dissemble, speak obliquely, allude, pretend, lie, play roles' {Rereading, pp. 243-244; cf. Jonathan Malesic, Secret Faith in the Public Square: An Argumentfor the Concealment of Christian Identity (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2009), p. 17). 77) Carmela Perri criticises an earlier understanding of allusion which sees it as necessarily an 'indirect or tacit reference', providing examples where the alluding text could make the reference quite explicit, yet still function as an allusion (Perri, 'On Alluding', p. 290, emphasis added-, cf. Ben-Porat, 'Poetics', pp. 107-108). As Perri argues, in allusion, while the identity of the evoked text may be explicitly denoted, the precise aspects evoked within that text must remain undefined (p. 293). 78) Perri, 'On Alluding', p. 291, and see below. 79) We may distinguish the specific device of allusion, which requests a reader's recognition and negotiation of a particular intertextual relationship, from the intertextuality which is a feature of all texts (cf. Hebel, 'Towards a Descriptive Poetics', p. 13). 80) Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, pp. xi, xv.
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knowledge of every possible meaning of the allusion, nor does he infer that such a reading is a superior one.81 Rather, a full-knowing reader is one who possesses sufficient insider knowledge to recognise the marker of an external source text, so as to enable her to consider some of the interrelations between the texts, and thereby contemplate how they affect the meaning of either the alluding or evoked texts. Pucci traces the origin of allusion as a recognised Western literary function to Cassiodorus' sixth century Expositio Psalmorum, in which allusio denotes 'a hidden level of reference'.82 Earlier Greek and Roman rhetoricians tended to discredit allusion due to its lack of precision or clarity; Quintilian does not deign to name the figure, indeed, he only alludes to it.83 Interestingly, for our purposes here, Pucci attributes the eventual acceptance of allusio to the Christian elevation of interior meditation with its privileging of the so-called spiritual levels of meaning.84 For Pucci, the hermeneutic imperative to find Jesus Christ at work in one's heart and within the Jewish scriptures greatly increased both the literary estimation of this covert rhetorical device and also the corresponding role of an inspired reader. In U2's 'Until the End of the World' (1991),85 the Christian insider is offered a level of hidden meaning which is only accessible through knowledge of the song's elaborate biblical allusions. The lyrics express the point of view of an unnamed protagonist addressing an unnamed lover:
81) 82)
Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. xi. Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 52. 83) Quintilian rejects literary borrowing as an obscure and unpredictable manner of oratory, which risks the audience's confusion (Quint. Institutio Oratoria 8 Praef. 24; in Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 53). In a later section of the Institutio, he discusses a class of figure to be used only in tightly circumscribed circumstancesalthough he acknowledges that its use is so 'frequent' that it would be remiss to pass over it in silence. He describes the figure as 'the one in which we excite some suspicion that we are not saying what we want the audience to receive; but our meaning is not in this case contrary to that which we express, as with irony, but rather a hidden [latens] meaning which is left to the hearer to discover' (9.2.65; trans. Pucci). Employment of such a figure may only be justified if open speech risks persecution or impropriety, or if the figure enhances the style and elegance of the speech (9.2.66). 84) Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, pp. 69-82. 85) Achtung Baby, Island U28 (October 1991).
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D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222 ... Last time we met it was a low-lit room We were as close together as a bride and groom. We ate the food, we drank the wine Everybody having a good time except you. You were talking about the end of the world...
At the most obvious level of interpretation, the two main characters are lovers, romantically, 'as close together as a bride and groom', feasting on food and wine together, and flirting together ('you led me on with those innocent eyes', while the garden I was playing the tart / I kissed your lips...'). The romance then goes through the inevitable complications to which pop song romances are susceptible. The song's protagonist admits '[I] broke your heart', regrets his actions, and then reaches out for his lover, his act of contrition apparently being accepted when the 'you' romantically promises to wait for him 'until the end of the world'. There are, however, certain indications within the song that this level of interpretation is inadequate. First, what seems like a romantic kiss has the unanticipated consequence of breaking 'your' heart. Second, later in the song, the kiss is even interpreted as an attempt to destroy the 'you', a consequence not only unusual for a romance, but challenging our initial construction of the song. Third, there is a continual difference in mood between the two main characters in the song. The is playful and experiences 'love', while the 'you' is the only one not having a good time at the party, somewhat morosely 'talking about the end of the world'. Fourth, on closer examination the appears judgmental concerning their lover's inappropriately sombre behaviour. And so, fifth, the spiking of'your' drink can no longer be dismissed as playful fun, but instead appears to convey hidden malice and betrayal. Consideration of these factors does not require any privileged or secret knowledge external to the song, for they can be derived from a closer reading of the song itself. However, the factors do raise many questions concerning the cause of the rift between the two lovers, about which the song reminisces with regret but shows no sign of resolving. But the significance of the song changes utterly for the biblically literate listener who has detected a long series of allusions to the Gospel stories about the Last Supper and Judas. The 'low-lit room' can then be understood as an allusion to the Upper Room during the evening
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Passover meal,86 during the celebration of which Judas was 'close' enough to Jesus that he could dip his bread in the same bowl.87 The lyric, 'We ate the food, we drank the wine' appears to indicate the institution of the Eucharist.88 The portrayal of the one who is not enjoying the feast probably alludes to Jesus, who displays noticeable despair concerning his impending death.89 Jesus' 'talking about the end of the world' might allude to his proclamation that he would only eat again in the kingdom of heaven.90 The phrase 'Until the end of the world' is taken from the final words of Matthew's gospel, where Jesus commands his disciples to go out and teach all the nations of the world to do what he commanded, promising to be with them 'unto the end of the world'. The lyric took the money' perhaps more clearly alludes to Judas' acceptance of the bribe-money to betray Jesus,91 and the couplet, 'In the garden I was playing the tart / I kissed your lips and broke your heart' constructs a ludic allusion to Judas' betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. 92 Also, the reference to Jesus' 'innocent eyes' plausibly echoes Judas' later realization that he had portrayed 'innocent blood'.93 The fact that all of these allusions are found in Matthew, and that the motifs of 'innocent blood' and of Judas' regret only appear in that Gospel, combined with Bono's tendency to meditate on specific biblical passages, makes it plausible to identify Matthew as Bono's particular source. These allusions are extensive, but the song also introduces a significant change, which ensures that 'Until the End of the World' does not merely function as a cipher or one-to-one allegory for the Gospel stories.94 For
86)
Upper room (Matt. 26:18; Mark 14:13-15; Luke 22:10-12); evening Passover meal (Matt. 26:20; Mark 14:17). 87) Matt. 26:23-25; Mark 14:20; cf. Luke 22:21. 88) Matt. 26:26-29; Luke 22:19-20. 89) Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:33-34; Luke 22:44. 90) Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:16, 30. 91) Matt. 26:15; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6. 92) Garden of Gethsemene (Matt. 26:36; cf. John 18:1); Judas' kiss (Matt 26:48-49; Mark 14:43-45; Luke 22:47-48). 93) Matt. 27:4. 94) Cf. Perri's distinction of allusion from allegory in terms of some difference or transformation ( O n Alluding', p. 299; 'Knowing and Playing', p. 122). On the other hand, as Craig Kallendorf observes, allusions tend to be 'systematic', that is 'one of a
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in the setting of the song, Judas speaks some time after the events he describes, while he is 'down the hold' (implicitly in Hades). The shift in setting therefore gives the listener pause to consider whether even Judas, who had attempted to destroy his Saviour, might receive forgiveness and salvation at the end of time. Yet allusion can go both ways. The listener is not confined to a reconsideration of the alluding text, but may reconstruct the evoked text in relation to the alluding text, and even engage in a dialogical reconsideration of the meanings of each.95 On the other hand, Stephen Hind's observation is also correct: in most cases there is ca basic interpretive imperative' for a reader of one text to freeze the other, so as to facilitate that text's point of view.96 And so, most readings of an allusion in a U2 song will tend to be 'tendentious', either construing a U2 song centrifugally, as a response to a biblical text, or centripetally, interpreting the biblical text as receiving its elucidation within the U2 song.97 The primary direction of interpretation will depend first and foremost on whether the reader/listener considers the Bible or U2 to be the more authoritative source.98
number of references that contribute substantially to meaning', rather than local or incidental (Craig Kallendorf, 'Allusion as Reception: Virgil, Milton and the Modern Reader', in Charles Martindale and Richard F. Thomas (eds.), Classics and the Uses of Reception (Maiden, Oxford and Carlton: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 67-79 (69). 95) Quoting Wolfgang E.H. Rudat ('Milton's Dido and Aeneas: The Fall in Paradise Lost and the Virgilian Tradition', Classical and Modern Literature 2 (1981), p. AG), Kallendorf likewise refers to a '"mutual commerce" between alluding and allusive contexts, an intense interaction that seems to go both ways' ('Allusion as Reception'; cf. David Quint ('The Virgilian Coordinates of Paradise Lost', Materiali e discussioni per l'analisi dei testi classici, 52 (Re-Presenting Virgil: Special Issue in Honor of Michael C. J. Putnam; 2004), pp. 177-197 (177)): 'We can read his [Milton's] Virgilian imitations not only to understand Paradise Lost, but for the way that they shed light retrospectively on the Aeneid itself; Buia Maddison, 'Liberation Story or Apocalypse? Reading Biblical Allusion and Bakhtin Theory in Toni Morrison's Beloved', in Roland Boer (ed.), Bakhtin and Genre Theory in Biblical Studies (Semeia Series, 63; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007), pp. 161-174.
96) 97) 98)
'Allusion and Intertext\ p. 103. Cf. 'Allusion and Intertext', p. 107. 'Allusion and Intertext', p. 122.
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One of the major dialogical transformations which occurs in the Simultaneous activation'99 of 'Until the End of the World' and the Gospel of Matthew concerns Judas' one-dimensional portrayal as 'the one who betrayed him', a portrayal which ossifies into downright caricature in much later Christian tradition. U2's song has much more in common with an alternative literary tradition which seeks to recuperate the character of Judasincluding Ibn Kathr's fourteenth-century explanation that Judas selflessly attempted to protect Jesus and was crucified in his stead, Jorge Luis Borges' story of the three Judases, and Brendan Kennelly's poem, The Book of Judas.100 The last of these, by the Irish poet, in fact provides the immediate inspiration for Bono's lyrics, in which he reconfigures Judas as a multidimensional subject, forcing our reckoning of him as a person capable of both evil and good, no less or more deserving of divine forgiveness than any of the song's potential listeners. Moreover, the biblical allusions achieve this representation of Judas not by eradicating the manifest level of the song, but rather by enriching it. The conception of Judas as Jesus' betrayer continues to playfully engage with the image of Judas and Jesus as duelling lovers. Judas is alternatively light-hearted and emotional, a victim 'led on' by Jesus, and only one of the parties in a failed relationship, the outcome of which was caused by the interactions of both. In the ongoing play between song and Gospel, the caricature of Judas as hostile betrayeran ex-disciple whom Luke simply replaces with the roll of a dieis recuperated by refiguring Judas as disciple and apostle. In the song, the promise of Jesus to his disciples which comes at the end of Matthew (, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world') is reformulated as an offer to Judas. The song thereby reincorporates Judas into Jesus' inner circle of disciples, eradicating the initial irony which might have been detected in the description of Judas and Jesus
99)
Ben-Porat, 'Poetics', 107; cf. Conte, Rhetoric of Imitation, 27 ('the simultaneous presence of two different realities whose competition with one another produces a single more complex reality'). 100) f a f s r 5al-Qur5n 'al-'Azm of Ibn Kathr, in Gregory A. Barker and Stephen E. Gregg {tas.), Jesus Beyond Christianity: The Classic Texts (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010), pp. 119ff; Borges, 'Three Versions ofJudas', in idem., Ficciones (trans, and ed. Anthony Kerrigan; New York: Grove, 1962); Brendan Kennelly, The Book ofJudas: A Poem (Highgreen: Bloodaxe, 1991).
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as 'bride and groom'. 101 The bridal description of Judas is transformed as the song progresses, a candid although scandalous evocation of the affectionate and intimate relationship existing between Christ and his Church, as it is expected to be realised at the end of the world.102 Moreover, the new frame offered by 'Until the End of the World' demands that we pity rather than condemn Judas. After 2000 years 'down the hold' in Hades, it is not only Judas who has betrayed Jesus; Judas has aho become a victima challenge to the dehumanizing disdain he has received in most traditional Christian interpretations of the gospels. In the song's final verse, Judas' actions refuse classification as wholly good or evil; he has become more humanlike, more like each one of us, and like all humans, no more deserving of eternal condemnation than any other penitent. We feel Judas' ambivalence when he fluctuates between 'waves of regret and waves of joy' in his relationship with Jesus. The song lyric, reached out for the one...' momentarily offers the possibility of good in Judas. But with the completion ofthat phrase with the words, '... I tried to destroy', this hope is immediately dashed, reflecting U2's Protestant belief in the insidiousness of human sin that corrupts every good intention. But due to the preoccupation of the final verse with Judas' grief, we also view in Judas' actions genuine repentance, enhancing the motif which also appears in Matt. 27:3. And when Matthew is read in dialogue with the song's sorry image of Judas after 2000 years 'down the hold', it emphasises the wide ambit of divine forgiveness stressed elsewhere in that Gospel, extending its possible application even to the much-maligned yet also repentant figure of Judas. 103 For although God's forgiveness is left unstated in the song, anything less would now be viewed as a grave injustice to Judas to the shame of Jesus' vengeftd declaration that it would have been better if Judas had not been born (26:24). Allusion Cannot Constrain the Reader In order to function qua allusion, an allusion must refuse to fully stipulate the meanings which should derive from the reader's consideration
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Cf. Stockman, Walk On, p. 95. Rev. 21:2, 9. Compare Matt 27.3-4 and 1:21; 6:12-15; 9:1-6; 18:21-35; 26:28.
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of the alluding and evoked texts.104 For if the meaning of the evoked text is overdetermined by the alluding text, the device is reduced to an example, commentary, or exegesis; and conversely, if the meaning of the alluding text is overdetermined by the evoked text, what results is a cipher, typology, or allegory.105 In the ordinary case, an alluding text will provide guidance for constructing the allusive level of meaning, by leading the reader's mind to reflect on certain aspects of the evoked text in dialogue with the alluding text. But even if this guidance is taken up and accepted by the reader, allusion must still leave something for the imagination. Joseph Pucci argues that the allusive level of meaning depends in part on an extra-semantic element; on the creative action of a reader who is able to connect two texts in her mind:106
[T]he connection of the two phrases that compose the allusion can only occur in the mind of the reader, who is reminded by virtue of shared language of a connection between a later set of words and an earlier set, and who configures on his own terms the interpretive outcomes of this connection. This claim is of fundamental importance in my conception of allusion, not least because it means that the language of the allusion makes possible but does not determine the creation, function, or conceivable interpretations of the allusion.107
Pucci makes an important contribution to the function of allusion by identifying the manner in which allusion necessitates the role of the reader in constructing its meaning. Allusion requests a reader to consider 'specific images, themes, symbols contained in both [texts]'.108 In doing so, the reader not only considers the particular words which mark the allusion, but 'turns her attention away from the language of the allusion in order to consider a panoply of potential meanings for it, some of them grounded in the language of the allusion, some of them grounded more liberally in an interpretive free-for-all occasioned, but not controlled, by the allusion's language'.109 Pucci makes the astute point that
Cf. Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 40; Perri, O n Alluding, pp. 291, 293; cf. Hinds, Allusion and Intertext, p. 25. 105) Cf. Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 39. 106) j>ucc[f Full-knowing Reader, p. 36. 107) Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 36. ios) PUCQ^ Full-knowing Reader, p. 41. 109) Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 42.
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there can be no resolution of the allusion which is semantically inherent to either text, because the language of the text itself causes the dissonance between the texts which makes allusion possible. So resolution must come from somewhere else, from 'beyond the level of interpreting a discrete body of words'.110 As a result, Pucci's observation challenges the firm distinction made by Carmela Perri and Ziva BenPorat between so-called 'primary' and 'secondary' functions of allusion, in which allusion is said to first produce an allusive level of meaning and then generate further intertextual possibilities.111 For while the marker of an allusion may frequently guide the reader towards certain meanings, it cannot clearly delineate a 'primary level of meaning' without threatening to dissolve the allusion by overdetermination. The major weakness of Pucci's construction, however, is that he romanticizes the creativity of the reader's mind, in which, for Pucci, the construction of meaning seems to begin and end. In so doing, Pucci pays insufficient attention to the specific cultural, historical, social, and psychological circumstances which already construct that readerly mind.112 For it is those factors, rather than any so-called primary meaning of allusion that might exist within the text (Ben-Porat, Perri), or any so-called 'pure' moment of readerly creativity (Pucci) that ultimately determine what a reader does with an allusion. As Matei Clinescu observes, 'the reader's interpretive assumptions... differ unpredictably in terms of the reader's background, situation, historical circumstances and, last but not least, mood.'113
Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 44. Ben-Porat, 'Poetics', pp. 109-110; Perri, O n Alluding, p. 293. 112) p o r p u c c i j allusion seems to begin and end 'in the clearing of a special space in the mind of the reader' (Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 42). The construction of meaning is made by a free-standing individual, seemingly disengaged from her 'interpretive community' or cultural context, in an ultimately inexplicable moment of readerly creativity (Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 43 n. 25; contra Kallendorf, 'Allusion as Reception', p. 69). So Pucci resorts to speaking in quasi-mystical terms of the moment as one of'gusto', 'power' and 'purity' (Pucci, Full-knowing Reader, p. 43). 113) 'Secrecy in Fiction', p. 454; cf. Eco, 'Intertextual Irony', pp. 228-229; Peter J. Martin, Music and the Sociological Gaze: Art Worlds and Cultural Production (Manchester and New York: Manchester University, 2006), p. 22; 'Music, Identity, and Social Control' in Steven Brown and Ulrik Volgsten (eds.) Music and Manipulation: On the
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For example, in the line cIs it true that perfect love drives out all fear?' in U2's song Til Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight' (2009), there is a biblical allusion which would be clear to many biblically literate listeners. But despite the fact that the marker provides a verbatim quotation of 1 John 4:18, we might imagine a range of responses among even biblically literate listeners. One listener might, for instance, have a strong theological bent, with a special interest in the redemptive, Christocentric import of 'perfect love'. She would then presumably tend to endow the song's allusion primarily with connotations of Christ's atonement. By contrast, another biblically literate listener might have a strong interest in the social gospel, and for her, 'perfect love' might primarily connote the eradication of hatred and inequality in the world.114 The salient point is that either of these meanings can be determined as the primary meaning of the allusion, even here where the same elements of the evoked text are being considered by different listeners. What makes the meaning primary is not anything intrinsic to the allusion, but the primacy accorded to certain elements in the mind of the listener which were 'occasioned, but not controlled' by the allusion. Moreover, these are but two possibilities among many others possible meanings for the allusion, which need not be limited to these particular elements or even to these two texts. Radiating from the starting point provided by the marker is an infinite array of intertextual spirals, in which the reader considers and reconsiders the allusive meaning generated in her mind by the initial dialogue of the two texts. In so doing, the reader's consideration might expand to the evoked text or alluding text as a whole, or to any other text in the reader's textual competency. For example, the contrast of light and darkness in the song's chorus ('Shouting to the darkness / Squeeze out sparks of light') would usually be seen as a very general commonplace within both U2's oeuvre
Social Uses and Social Control of Music (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2006), p. 57. 114) This meaning also corresponds with the political situation on which Bono was reflecting during his composition of this verse, that is, the Utopian expectations surrounding the commencement of the Barack Obama presidency (cf. Morandi, U2> p. 615).
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and Christian writings.115 But following on from the allusion to 1 John 4, the contrast might have a particular resonance with 1 John 1:5-8 and 2:8-11, intertexts which would thereby imbue the commonplace with the specific connotation of the passing of an old order; which might in turn cause the reader's thought to spiral back to the song lyric 'a chance to change the world', and so interconnect the opposition of light and darkness with a series of cosmic oppositions found throughout both 1 John and U2's music, such as God versus the devil, life versus death, truth versus lies, and believers versus the world.116 If these Johannine themes are swimming around in the head of a biblically literate listener, it would be an easy further step to understand the words 'stand' and 'truth' and 'not see' (cf. 'not hear') in the song's line, 'How can you stand next to the truth and not see it?', as markers to John 8:44-47, where Jesusinfamouslytells the Jews who do not believe in him that like their father the devil they do not 'stand in the truth' or 'hear' the word of God. If this series of biblical intertexts is under consideration, Bono's lyric, 'The right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear' might also resonate with Paul's elevation of the holy fool in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 1. The otherwise enigmatic figure mentioned in the first line ('She's a rainbow and she loves the peaceful life') might then more easily be identified with God or Christa further example of U2's covert yet prevalent references to God as a woman. The identification would result in a contrast between the peaceloving God and the crazy chaos within the life of the song's human
E.g. 'From the brightest star / Comes the blackest hole' ('Crumbs From Your Table', How To Dismantk An Atomic Bomb, Island 986 782-9 (November 2004)); '...he's gonna kick the darkness / Till it bleeds daylight' ('God Part , Rattle and Hum, Island U27 (October 1988)). 116) E.g. 'Don't believe the devil / I don't believe his book / But the truth is not the same / Without the lies he made up' ('God Part , Rattle and Hum, Island U27 (October 1988)); 'She sees the truth behind the lies /... Angel in devil's shoes ('Angel of Harlem', Rattle and Hum); 'He lives on a star that's dying in the night' ('In A Little While', All That You Cant Leave Behind, Island CIDU212 (October 2000)). Cf. Hinds {Allusion and Intertext, p. 32), who observes that the initial use of a term may colour its later uses, no matter how commonplace the term. He gives the example of the 'many mouths' topos, which in Ovid's Tristia, coming at the point where the text explicitly compares Ovid and Ulysses, is 'invoked not just as topos, but in its own (inter)textual particularity' in relation to Homer (pp. 43-44).
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protagonist, a contrast also reflected within the human protagonist: 'There's a part of me in the chaos that's quiet'. The contrast might then evoke the primeval chaos God which overcomes in Genesis 1even though the song ambivalently also praises the protagonist's chaotic inclination to riot as a charismatic energy that God can utilize for good, perhaps evoking God's own uncontrollable and dangerous Spirit which hovered over those primeval waters, and thereby pointing to the mixture of peace and chaos within God also. The divine figure's description as a 'rainbow' might then connect her to the Johannine figures in Revelation, where the rainbow hovers above both Christ and his Father (10:1; 4:3; cf. Ezek. 1:28) and to Yahweh, who lays down his bow in declaration of peace (Gen. 9:13; Ps. 46:9; 75:3; Hos. 2:18). If we seem to be getting a long way from the clear and verbatim allusive marker to 1 John 4:18 and have arbitrarily followed some paths of interpretation rather than others, it should be mentioned that once a reader is directed to a consideration of a biblical allusion, there is no obvious procedure for ending or even limiting the imaginative interaction of texts which allusion inaugurates.117 Secret Allusions: Secret is Something You Tell One Other Person Although all allusions are in some sense hidden, it is still possible to distinguish a secret allusion from a more general allusion. As discussed above, it is a feature o every allusion to restrict its invitation to a certain group of knowledgeable readers. Therefore, the distinguishing characteristic of a secret allusion cannot be found in the device's generic targeting of a certain in-group. Instead, what distinguishes a secret allusion from a general allusion is its use to exclude an out-group. This is not, as it might seem, merely the converse of targeting an in-group. To provide an example which is common to most writing, an author may know full well that not every reader will be able to appreciate her allusion, but may still desire that every reader might do so. This contrasts with U2's deliberate attempt to hide their Christianity from perceived hostile elements within the popular music culture, because U2 did not ever wish for this sector to gain sufficient biblical literacy to understand
Cf. Kermode, Genesis of Secrecy', p. 10.
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their biblical allusions. To be clear, U2 definitely wished their message to reach non-Christians who were sympathetic to Christianity or who were potential converts to Christianity.118 But U2 were not so unrealistic as to imagine they could change the world, as opposed to changing the world within some of their fans.119 The difference between a generic and a secret allusion rests therefore on pragmatic rather than semantic grounds: on the desire for exclusive community. Likewise, Matei Clinescu contends that the essential element in secrecy is not Calculated or intentional concealed information\ but the 'selective communication ^concealed information'.120 What tends to matter most about a secret shared by members of a subculture is not its content, but the mere fact that the secret is being shared.121 So to the extent an allusion is successfully hidden, it is necessarily undetectable by textual analysis alone. The most we can do to satisfy evidential concerns is to point to the possible socio-historical reasons that may plausibly have provoked an author to veil her language, as we did for U2 in the first section of this paper. The spectre of a hidden allusion therefore renders impotent one of the most frequently invoked constraints of interpretation, that is, corroboration with the author's socio-cultural context. For under conditions of persecution it is this very context that the author only pretends to adopt, in order to disseminate a secret message written between the lines, one that will frequently oppose that very context.122
Indeed, Bono identifies U2 , s early music primarily as an Outreach mission' to non-Christians, in contrast to the praise music for Christians generated in Christian Contemporary Music (Ghettout Music Conference). 119) Note that U2 coverdy allude to the command to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19-20) in the tide to 'Until the End of the World'. Cf. Matei Clinescu {Rereading, p. 241), discussing forbidden, heretical or persecuted groups of believers: 'the secret communication, even in such cases, is not totally impenetrable to the intelligent and sensitive outsider, since it aims, however prudendy and obscurely, at attracting new believers from among those readers who may be already intellectually and spiritually prepared to be instructed in the secret truth.' 120) Clinescu, Rereading, p. 244; emphasis added, cf. p. 227; 121) Cf. Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel (trans. Kurt H. Wolff; New York: Free Press; London: Collier-MacMillan, 1950), p. 354; Jean Baudrillard, Seduction (trans. Brian Singer; New York: St. Martin's, 1990), pp. 79,132; Jacques Derrida, Literature in Secret (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2008), pp. 120, 129. 122) Strauss, Persecution, pp. 27-30.
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The allusions, or possible allusions, in U2's 'Breathe' (2009) illustrate the distinction between a generic and a secret allusion.123 The opening words of the song ('16th of June5) allude to the major work of U2's fellow Dubliner, James Joycean allusion which is strengthened by being combined with the song's obtuse and playful lyrical style.124 While this allusion is only apparent to those who know Ulysses, the allusion cannot be considered a secret allusion, because no plausible social context would prompt such secrecy. It would be quite unreasonable, for instance, to treat this allusion as a secret communication to a persecuted cabal of Ulysses devotees. 'Breathe' continues by introducing the comical scene of a travelling salesman answering the door to a travelling evangelist:125
16 th of June, nine-oh-five, door bell rings Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer There's a few things I need you to know Three Coming from a long line of Travelling sales people on my mother s side I wasn't gonna buy just anyone's cockatoo...
Later in the song there is a reference to 'nine-oh-nine, St. John the Divine', which a biblically literate U2 fan might quite reasonably suspect contains a secret allusion to the Revelation of John. At the surface level of the song, 'St. John the Divine' is probably only a hospital, to which the travelling salesperson is confined after coming down with 'some new Asian virus'. A number of fans writing on U2 internet fan
No Line On The Horizon (Universal-Island 1796037 (February 2009)). Cf. Morandi, U2, pp. 630-631. The music to 'Breathe' originally had a quite different set of lyrics, composed for Nelson Mandela's ninetieth birthday on 18 July 2008, but Bono rewrote the lyrics because they 'didn't... fit the music' (Catherine Owens, No Line on the Horizon (New York: Spontaneous, 2009)). 125) This is one of Bono's favourite comparisons; e.g. in a Rolling Stone interview, he talks about switching channels from a 'raving lunatic' televangelist to 'another secondhand-car salesman', whose 'words sound so similar' (Wenner, 'Bono'; cf. Assayas, Bono on Bono, p. 167). Yet there is also an irony to his satirical portrayal of salesmen, because Bono also refers to himself as an 'activist traveling salesman of ideas' who is thereby plying an old family trade (Assayas, Bono on Bono, p. 43).
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forums have speculated on a hidden allusion to Rev. 9:9, a possibility which is strengthened by the earlier mention of 'nine-oh-five' in the song (Rev 9:5?).126 There is more than enough justification to seek an allusion to Rev. 9:5-9, if we recall that U2 obliquely used the name '40' for their adaptation of Psalm 40, and have also inserted a hidden reference to Jer. 33:3 on the album cover oAll That You Can yt Leave Behind (2000), the conclusion strengthened by the song's reference to Joyce, that master of obscure allusions.127 Moreover, the lyrics make little sense at the purely literal level, which would require a four-minute timeframe during which the travelling salesperson answers their doorbell at home and wakes up in hospital. Yet the significance of any such allusion is baffling: Rev. 9:5-9 comes in the middle of the description of hellish, long-haired locusts busily torturing non-Christians, the latter longing for death but being unable to die. So although the name cSt. John the Divine' is a credible trigger to a biblically literate reader, most are soon lost in a speculative maze of possible but unverifiable allusions and echoes which offer no clear solution. But what if we consider that, with the release of every new U2 album, fans quickly engage in the game of detecting biblical allusions contained in their songs, even compiling extensive lists of such allusions?128 The interpretive process, for U2's biblically literate in-group, involves a highly suspicious hermeneutic, bordering on the conspiratorialor as Cathleen Falsani puts it, 'a cross between exegesis and Where's Waldo?'.129 We can further assume that U2 are quite aware that their Christian fans engage in this type of interpretive activity when confronted by an apparent biblical allusion. It can hardly be a coincidence (and there are none anyway in the type of hermetic interpretation I am currently indulging) that the song deals just with this topic: conspiracies,
126) E.g. RobertWiscy, Interference.com (25 February 2009), http://u2.interference. com/220/nloth-biblical-references-194100.html#post5922337. 127) Bono interprets Jer. 33:3 as 'God's phone number' (Michael J. Gilmour, 'The Prophet Jeremiah, Aung San Suu Kyi, and U2's All That You Cant Leave Behind: On Listening to Bono's Jeremiad', in idem (ed.), Call Me The Seeker: Listening to Religion in Popular Music (New York: Continuum, 2005), pp. 34A3). 128) E.g. esp., Panceila, 'Bible References'. 129) 'Bono's American Prayer'; the original British version is called 'Where's Wally?'.
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charlatans, preachers stealing money from the sick and the old, outright lies, media-sensationalised fears and panicsfrom a door-knocking evangelist's 'cock and bull', to stock market volatility, to the latest pandemic which is claimed to originate in the Orient, to the panic attack that causes the travelling salesman to run outside so he can breathe. Moreover, in addition to this disorientating content, the song's style has a potentially disorienting effect on listenersvia the song's Joycean stream of consciousness, disjointed phrasing, word-play, and lyrical content featuring strange visitors at the door and a sudden appearance in a hospital only four minutes later. So both the content and effect of 'Breathe' coincide with the disorienting effect on any biblically literate U2 fan who is prone to speculate on a possible allusion to the Revelation of John. And precisely herein may lie this allusion's central conceit. The song admonishes the listener to stop and 'breathe', to ignore the fear-mongers whose manufactured panics have provoked their fair share of hatred, deadly violence, and wars at the beginning of the twenty-first century.130 But along the way, the song plays with the biblically literate listener. The mention of cSt. John the Divine', together with the apparent chapter-and-verse references, potentially induces a frantic search for an apocalyptic significance to the song, creating within the biblically literate fan a replica of the paranoid fear-mongering portrayed within the song. If so, the device recollects The Beatles' song, am the Walrus', in which John Lennon intentionally penned the most confusing lyrics he could write, so as to deliberately foil avid Beatles fans and even school pupils who had been studiously analysing and over-interpreting their lyrics.131 If apocalyptic panic is one intended effect of the song, as I argue, it is significant that U2's allusion to Rev. 9:5-9 was the same reference Charles Manson used in order to interpret Revelation as a
A recurrent theme on No Line On The Horizon (Universal-Island 1796037 (February 2009)): 'Satan loves a bomb scare / But he won't scare you' ('Put on Your Boots'); 'Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear?' ('I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight'). 131) Chris Ingham, The Rough Guide to the Beatles (London: Rough Guides, 2003), p. 251. Lennon reputedly commented after composing the song, 'Let the fuckers work that ont out.'
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prophecy of the Beatles (who, indeed, had 'hair like women's hair'!).132 Significantly (within this hermetic maze, at least) U2 open their 1988 album Rattle and Hum with the words 'This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles; we're stealing it back', before launching into a cover version of 'Heiter Skelter'.133 Manson's esoteric system of interpretation connected 'Heiter Skelter' and other songs from The Beatles ('the White Album'; 1968)including 'Revolution 9'with Revelation 9, justifying the Tate-LaBianca murders as the work of the second coming of Jesus Christ (i.e. Manson himself), events which he proclaimed would usher in the end times.134 Furthermore, in a 2005 interview, Bono contrasts Charles Manson, whom he figures as a representative of religious violence and terrorism, with Christ, whom he pictures as a peaceful martyr and representative of true spirituality.135 If there is a biblical allusion to Rev. 9:5-9, it is activated only because of its earlier reception by Manson, who stamped it with his particular brand of conspiratorial biblical and pop lyrical interpretation. Unlike the allusion to Joyce, the content of this allusion is hidden even from most avid and biblically literate U2 fans; moreover, it is discoverable only in its potential effect rather than its content. Or perhaps not, of course. Does my interpretation go ludicrously too far and construct allusions where there are none? The problem with such a question is that it assumes that U2's songs can regulate interpretation of their possible hidden biblical allusions. Whereas, after decades of manufacturing secret allusions for their in-group Christian community, U2's biblical echoes are now completely out of control. All U2 can now do is creatively play along with this situation, which I suggest is exactly what they do in the lyrics to 'Breathe'. Matei Clinescu observes that over-interpretation is a 'danger' inherent to any covert text, because the initiate may 'discover esoteric communication where there is little or none, and exaggerate the importance of perhaps some marginally plausible allusions, imagining that they
132) V i n c e n t Bugliosi with Curt Gentry, Heiter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (London and New York: W.W. Norton, 1974), pp. 283-340. 133) Island U27 (October 1988). 134) Bugliosi, Heiter Skelter, pp. 232-239. 135) Assayas, Bono on Bono, p. 205.
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imply a full-fledged secret doctrine'.136 But this is not so much a 'danger' of secrecy, as it is its unavoidable condition, because secrecy inevitably obscures any line between interpretation and over-interpretation. Clinescu suggests that we might be able to gauge when the limits have been crossed if the esoteric interpretations 'look farfetched, cranky, and perhaps slightly paranoid'. But if this criterion is of any practical use, it is not for songs such as 'Breathe', where farfetched, cranky paranoia is, arguably, their central message and intended effect. Where an allusive space is opened up between any two texts for a reader to play within, there is no sure basis for closing it down again. But when this space involves a secret allusion, the indeterminacy of meaning can grow exponentially. 'We're One, But We're Not The Same': Hearing Different Things from 'Magnificent' The polarized responses to U2's 2009 song, 'Magnificent' demonstrate the effectiveness with which U2's biblical allusions create two largely discrete groups of listeners. Moving from implied to actual listeners, what stands out is the bifurcation of U2's audience into two largely non-overlapping camps and the tendency of each to defend vigorously one interpretation or the other but only rarely to recognize both. In addition to these two dominant and broad categories of response, we can also observe something of the uncategorizable variety of listener responses, differentiated according to their socio-cultural and psychological peculiarities. While Bono has acknowledged that he based 'Magnificent' on the Magnificat in Luke 1, depending on the song's particular audience, it is usually received either as a neo-romantic paean to life and art, or as a hymn of praise to God:137
Clinescu, Rereading, p. 247; cf. Kermode, Genesis of Secrecy, pp. 10, 19. Bono acknowledges U2's intention to write a modernized Magnificat in the tradition of Bach and choral music (Brian Hiatt, 'U2 in Their Own Words: Bono and Co. on the band's lifespan, their aborted Rick Rubin sessions and the legacy of "Pop"', Rolling Stone (13 March 2009), http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/26692262/ u2_in_their_own_words). As Bono also explains, 'This one is about two lovers holding on to each other and trying to turn their life into worship. Not of each other, but of being alive, of God... of spirit.' Bono's explanation appears in the limited edition
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D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222 ... I was born to sing for you I didn't have a choice But to lift you up And sing whatever song you wanted me to I give you back my voice From the womb my first cry It was a joyful noise... Justified till we die You and I will magnify Oh, the magnificent...
In two 2009 Salon.com columns, literary critic Camille Paglia interprets 'Magnificent' as both a love song and 'a manifesto of artistic mission', but denies that the song possesses any biblical or religious significance.138 She maintains this position, even after a Christian correspondent had written in to 'correct' what he viewed as her 'misapprehension' of the song, which was in his estimation clearly a song of praise to God.139
album liner notes to No Line On The Horizon (Owens, No Line), which would be purchased predominandy by the more dedicated U2 fans. Calinescu similarly notes that John Updike's secret allusions to Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter in his 'Hawthorne Trilogy' was made explicit in the 1986 preface to the limited, signed edition of Roger s Version, 'an edition that few people can see', and in 'a small, specialized periodical' ('Secrecy in Fiction', p. 447). 138) Camille Paglia, Obama's hitand big miss', Salon.com (10 June 2009), http:// www.salon.com/news/opinion/camille_paglia/2009/06/10/waterloo/index.html (between her discussions of Sonia Sotomayor and Depeche Mode); 'Can Palin ever come back?', Salon.com (8 July 2009), http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2009/ 07/08/reader_letters/index3.html (between her discussions of Depeche Mode and 'why straight actresses make the best lesbo porn'). Cf. U2 producer Daniel Lanois, who describes the song as addressing the theme of the 'sacrifice that one makes for one's medium or one's art' and represents a celebration of life (Brad Frenette with Daniel Lanois, 'U2's No Line On The Horizon: A track-by-track exclusive with producer/ co-writer Daniel Lanois', National Post (10 March 2009), http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/03/10/behind-the-scenes-on-u2-sno-line-on-the-horizon-a-track-by-track-exclusive-with-producer-co-writer-daniellanois.aspx). 139) The correspondent considers that the song's references to 'time and space' and the 'ever after' imply a Creator and afterlife, and the 'love' of the chorus evokes John's proclamation that 'God is love' (1 John 4:8, 16). He understands the song's reference to 'a joyful noise' as 'a unique expression, characteristically used' in the Psalms, and
219
Paglia appeals to her 'classroom experience as a teacher of poetry', arguing 'there are several key details suggesting that it is not God but the audience who is being addressed'. Paglia first argues that the lyric didn't have a choice but to lift you up' cannot possibly apply to God, explaining, 'Surely Bono is not telling God that He needs lifting!' But her reasoning is blind to the operative yet covert biblical idiom of exaltation (e.g. Exod. 15:2), which is very much applied to God. Paglia secondly argues that, as God is clearly not the 'you' within the lyric 'you and I will magnify the magnificent', God cannot be the 'you' in any other line of the song. But if we are aware of U2's regular covert use of this ambiguous second person pronoun to refer to either God or a woman, then we might well expect a more ambiguous use of persondeixis here. 140 Paglia's final argument is that the lyric was born to be with you in this space and time' cannot apply to God, who exists outside space and time, arguing that the human 'soul had to leave God to come to earth'. But here she imposes a Platonic conception of God which actively conflicts with the Christian incarnational view of God as a child born 'in shit and straw', as Bono robustly phrases it elsewhere.141 Indeed, such an incarnational meaning is central to 'Magnificent's' images of childbirth ( was born...'; 'From the womb my first cry / It was a joyful noise'), which in turn echo the imagery employed in Luke 1. Therefore, despite the fact that Paglia possesses a formidable knowledge of poetry, the covert level of U2's lyrics completely passes her by; and this is the case even after the possibility of such an interpretation has been brought directly to her attention. This sharply contrasts with an interpretation offered by Greg J. Clarke, Director of The Centre for Public Christianity, Australia, who maintains,
interprets the lyric 'Justified till we die' as 'unique to a Judeo-Christian worldview', quoting the King James Version of Gal 2:16 in support. 140) See John Lyons, Semantics (2 Vols.; Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge UP, 1977), vol. 2, pp. 636-646 . 141) Assayas, Bono on Bono, pp. 124-125.
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D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222 like all U2 albums, this one really needs to be understood through a Christian framework in order to be fully enjoyed... This God is Magnificentand that s the tide of Track Twoworthy of being magnified and celebrated and adored.142
Alluding to the lyrics of U2's 'The Fly', Clarke also contends that '[tit's no secret that U2's lyrics are Christ-soaked, from the early days of teenage devotion to their current album, where Bono sings the song of Mary, the Magnificat, in praise of God and his Son, on the track "Magnificent"'.143 Clarke not only interprets 'Magnificent' as a hymn to God, and as a version of Mary's Magnificat, but also insists that this is the deeper spiritual meaning, and not only that, but this meaning is required to 'fully enjoy'nit song, and furthermore, that this meaning is not at all secret, but is transparent and available for any observant U2 listener. In a similar vein, Greg Garrett opines:
'Magnificent'... reveah itself so clearly as a Christian song of praise... that to ignore the spiritual dimension of the song is to badly mishear it.... Admittedly many people will listen to 'Magnificent* thinking it is joyful noise that has nothing formally religious to it.... But... it seems a bit wrong-headed to ignore those things when they are self evidently presentivi these songs.... I'd suggest, don't imagine that you're really understanding the songs without considering the Christian components in them.144
By contrast, music journalist Laura Barnett, writing on The Guardians music blog, disdainfully dismisses the suggestion that there is any biblical allusion whatsoever in 'Magnificent'.145 Her article is written in response to a. L'Osservatore Romano article which had recognized many biblical allusions in U2's music. In particular, the Vatican newspaper article unproblematically connects 'Magnificent' with Mary's Magni-
Greg J. Clarke, 'Christianity in the new album', Centre for Public Christianity (April 2009), http://www.publicchristianity.com/Videos/GodU2.html, emphasis added. 143) Greg J. Clarke, 'Bono vs. Nick Cave on Jesus', Centrefor Public Christianity (October 2009), http://www.publicchristianity.com/bonocave.html, emphasis added. 144) Garrett, We Get to Carry, p. 124. 145) Laura Barnett, '112: Rock 'n' roll's answer to the Book of Common Prayer?' Guardian, co. uk (6 January 2010), http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/ jan/06/u2-book-common-prayer.
142)
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ficat.146 Although Barnett is a specialized music journalist, it seems that the Vatican newspaper's report of biblical allusions in U2 songs came as a surprise to her. She even questions whether atheist readers of the Guardian should steer clear of listening to them for fear of religious conversion by stealth'. The overall purpose of Barnett's article is to draw attention to her newly discovered finding that biblical allusions can be found everywhere in U2's songs, that they are 'a veritable treasure trove of Biblical references and allusions'. However, despite her mission to uncover the truth for the Guardian s liberal readership, it is evident that she cannot fathom how some of the allusions identified by L'Osservatore Romano are in fact allusions. This is Imost evident in her brief comments on 'Magnificent'. Barnett concludes that any relationship of U2's song to Luke 1 is tenuous, and to leap to such a conclusion 'just because its title sounds a bit like the Magnificat... feels like an extrapolation too far'. Likewise, on the online U2 fan forums, the covert language of'Magnificent' facilitates quite opposing interpretations.147 Fans alternatively interpret 'Magnificent' as the Christian God, or as a non-specific spirituality, or in an entirely non-religious way, but less frequently as some deliberately ambiguous combination of those options. 'Magnificent' for Kev Mc 'has a strong Christian message' and for AtomicBono 'is definitely about God'.148 Jphelmet considers the song 'is loaded with biblical themes and references', that '[t]here really isn't a single verse that is not loaded with biblical ideas', and proceeds to correlate ten lines from the song with ten biblical passages.149 Fortitude contends, 'While long time U2 fans (and I guess Christians) will understand the
146)
Gaetano Vallini, 'Bono Vox e il gruppo rock U2 : Re Davide? Una pop star', L'Osservatore Romano (4-5 January 2010), http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/ or_quo/cultura/2010/003q04b 1 .html. 147) Fan forums reviewed were those on U2.com (http://community.u2.com/), Interference.com (http://u2.interference.com/), and @U2.com (http://forum.atu2.com/). 148) Kev Mc, U2.com (14 April 2009), http://community.u2.eom/reply/130706/t/ Christianity-in-the-new-album.html#reply-130706; AtomicBono, Interference, com (21 February 2009), http://u2.interference.com/f220/religious-meanings-in-nloth193990.html#post5907843. 149) Jphelmet, Interference.com (5 March 2009), http://u2.interference.com/f220/mag nificent-194787.html#post5961139.
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references in this song... the bulk of the masses just won't get it.' 150 Lisa U2 360 concedes during a discussion that '"Magnificent"... really could be any deity, depending on your religion, I suppose', but insists, 'For Christians, it would clearly be "God'". 1 5 1 At the other extreme, Unos is dismayed that some fans 'keep reading Jesus into everyfucking thing U2 do', maintaining that 'Magnificent is about [Bono's wife] Ali and the relationships between a man & a woman', adding with reference to the U2 song 'Get On Your Boots' that he had 'scanned the bible for any reference to sexy boots, kinky boots, any type of high heel boot and fuck me there isn't any'. 152 Yet there are some fans who are more sensitive to the multivalent nature of U2's lyrics. Last Unicorn acknowledges that the song admits different possible referents: 'Magnificent can be about God, about a woman, or about the band'. 153 UAME notes some biblical allusions in 'Magnificent' and discerningly explains, see those things because I'm familiar with the Bible and with Bono's quotes about his spirituality. The beauty of the songwriting is that someone who doesn't know the background can still hear a love song.'154
Fortitude, U2.com (4 June 2009), http://community.u2.eom/reply/175703/t/ Not-so-Magnificent-.html#reply-175703. 151) Lisa U2 360, U2.com (8 April 2009), http://community.u2.eom/reply/122976/t/ Christianity-in-the-new-album.html#reply-122976. 152) Unos, U2.com (6 June 2009), http://community.u2.com/reply/176885/t/Not-soMagnificent-.html#reply-17688 5. 153) Last Unicorn, Interference.com (24 February 2009), http://u2.interference.com/ f220/religious-meanings-in-nloth-193990-2.html#post5920065. 154) UAME, Interference.com (25 February 2009), http://u2.interference.com/f220/ religious-meanings-in-nloth-193990-2.html#post5920275.
150)
^ s
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Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

Deane Galbraith University ofOtago

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

Cf. Kermode, Genesis of Secrecy', p. 10.

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith / Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

D. Galbraith I Biblical Interpretation 19 (2011) 181-222

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