Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Music Lyrics Explained 17. All right. The song
we're covering today is by U2 and it's "Pride In the Name of Love. "
Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. This is a song written and performed by
U2 that is a tribute to. ... kind of like an
honor of. A tribute to Martin Luther King jr. the civil rights movement and the
support of his message of peaceful protest. Yeah. So this is the, at this
time of this video this is in January so Martin Luther King Day is coming soon.
So this is you know one way to honor him as well. All right. Now and I remember
that a Bono who's you know the the main singer of U2, I know they were visiting
the US. one time on one of the tours and they went to Memphis, and I think
they went and seen a display on you know a museum's
display that they had on on Martin Luther King. That, that inspired them that
inspired them to write this song. And , and you know, in U2 in their early days. They
used to be very ... they wrote a lot of songs that were political in nature,
usually about the protest in Northern Ireland. Just remember U2 is a group that
is from Ireland. Okay. And I think I've read somewhere that you know Bono I
think he kind of hoped that one day Northern Ireland will have someone like
a Martin Luther King, you know, to, to - - so that Northern Ireland were no longer you
know , could separate from the UK. I think that was part of the idea. Okay. Anyway
though, let's uh let's, let's get into it. and like usual I'll you know, read the
lyrics and I'll explain any, any words that need to be explained.
Okay. Let's let's start. All right this is how it begins. Of course the name of the song
is "Pride . In the Name of Love " and that's kind of how it begins.
All right. So here goes. This is the start. One man come in the name of love, one man
come and go. One man come he to justify. One man to overthrow. All right. So all
right . So one man come in the name of love. All right. So we should look at in the name of love.
That's, that's in the title itself. Any time, we say in the name of something,
it means like for the reason or the motivation of or for the sake of. You
know. you know, somebody did something in the name of peace or the name of justice
or in the name of love. You know for this purpose. For the sake of this. That's what
we mean by in the name of. If you do something in the name of something, you
do it for that reason. Well for that purpose. Okay. So one man
come in the name of love, one man come and go. All right. The part about come and
go. I think just basically means live and die. He was here. He lived and he's gone.
One man come he to justify. One man to overthrow. All right. So let's look at
that. Now normally when we hear the word justify, usually it means to prove, to
prove something to be just or to be valid or to show good reason for it. It
could kind of mean that. That you know, he was showing a good reason for the the
protest, but remember Martin Luther King jr. was a Baptist minister, and he was
Christian and that there is kind of a meaning in, in that. It would mean like to
change from sinfulness to righteousness. And that is right along the line of
Martin Luther King. So of course you know, his civil rights movement was against
any injustices or you know, prejudice against you know, African-Americans at
that time. And you know, due to his protest. The country came a long way from
that time. The problem was much greater in the southern states of the US, but
still a lot has improved drastically since the time that he came and gone. All
right. So let's go on. One man came he to justify. Okay. Well. it could mean also
just to make things right. You know, one man to overthrow. All right. Now normally
If we say to overthrow. it is to force the leader or government out of power. This
could mean a couple of things. Remember at the same time that Martin Luther King
jr. was around there was another political leader called Malcolm X . Who I think also
died before Martin Luther King , but he's his speech and his protest. Yeah it was
for the African-Americans, but it was more of a ... you know an aggressive one or
a violent one. And he could be comparing the two. He could be comparing the two. The two
different types of protests here. Where Martin Luther King came in a peaceful
manner, but Malcolm, X you know he was more serious. He looked like he wanted to
resort to violence and that probably would not have worked out very well at
that time to do that. So maybe it's better off that didn't end up happening,
but unfortunately both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King ended up losing their
lives. Most of them, probably both were assassinated and maybe they were
assassinated perhaps not by the people we think. Okay. Let's continue, and then it
goes into the the main, the main chorus. That gets repeated throughout the song.
In the name of love, what more in the name of love, in the name of love. What more in
the name of love, meaning well you know, this is the purpose. This was the reason
for it. Then he goes on. The next verse, goes this way. One man caught on a barbed
wire fence. One man he resist. One man washed up on an empty beach. One man
betrayed with a kiss. All right. A number things here. One man caught on a
barbed wire fence. Well this could just be , represent you know, protesting in
general. Or trying to stand out to those that are trying to suppress you.
Okay One man he resists. Well, that could be just directly in reference to
Martin Luther King standing up to very powerful people and very powerful men.
One man he resists or it could just mean in general, just man resisting against
you know, being suppressed, at being held down, injustice. One man he resist one man
washed up on an empty beach. Well a lot of times, when you stand up against very,
very powerful people. Sometimes you end up dead. Sometimes your body may end up
washed up on a beach. We've seen this happen with people that became
whistleblowers. You know, sometimes they make it look like suicide.
But sometimes you just might find their body might be found dead somewhere. So
and then of course the last line of this verse is one man betrayed with a kiss.
Well this is very obvious. This is very clear. Anyone who's Christian knows that
that is a reference to Jesus. You go back, going back to the Bible. The Apostle
Judas, when he you know, betrayed Jesus and supposedly you know sold him out for
think thirteen pieces of silver. And that's how he was going to identify
Jesus by by giving him a kiss. So he was betrayed with a kiss. And also yeah I
mean this could be also kind of a reference too, because Judas also thought
that you know also was an apostle. And he wanted Jesus to be like, like a military
leader that was going to have wars and take over and conquer back the land. But
that's not the way that he was. He was more you know, just like Martin Luther
King and Martin Luther King also I think took a lot of ideas from Gandhi too. If
you ever look at any of their quotes. They they have a lot of similar ideas in
their quotes. It was the peaceful one. Just like in the one that I covered that
the song about " We three kings. " Remember Herod also
that. That's why he had a lot of the little babies killed you know, to get rid
of Jesus. So that's what they thought. So he's making a comparison here. That you
know Martin Luther King kind of similar in a way. He came in the name of love,
Jesus came in the name of love. Sacrifice, they both were sacrificed as well as
Gandhi too. Okay. Let's continue. Then it says and then of course, It's the
chorus again. In the name of love. What more in the name of love.
In the name of and then finally we get to which is pretty much like the last
verse. Early morning, April 4 shot rings out in
the Memphis sky. Well this refers to the day that Martin Luther King gets killed.
It was on April 4th. Well that's another thing too, In songs the grammar is not always
perfect. You know, we mean normally we say April 4th, but in the song , you just says
April 4. A shot rings out. All right here. If we say , to ring out. It means to sound
loudly. When you shoot, it sounds loudly. A shot rings out. Yeah in the April sky. Yes.
All right. Free at last. They took your life. They
took your life means they killed you. But they could not take your pride. So even
though he may have died. He kept his pride and of course he was remembered
maybe now , maybe dying this way made his his movement stronger. Maybe it helped
the movement more than then another way. In some ways maybe the same idea with Jesus.
Sacrificing his life. It's the same way. It's similar. It makes it stronger and
made it last longer, it made it deeper.So that's what he means it both
in the same way. Okay. Anyway and then of course then it just goes into the chorus
again. You know, also in the name of love, What more in the name of love.
So again that's the message. That I guess you know, Jesus came in the name of love.
Martin Luther King came in the name of love. Gandhi came in the name of love. They all
did the peaceful protest. They didn't do the violent one and their way ended up
being more successful for that reason. Probably okay. Anyway, well I hope you got
it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was food for thought. Thank you for your time, Bye-bye.