I must admit that when Achtung Baby was released in November of 1991, I did not like it. It was such a departure from The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum, and actually from all of their previous albums. I had to listen to it several times before I fell in love with it, and then AB was the only thing I listened to for the next several months. It had a completely different sound from any of U2’s previous albums, but the lyrics were still amazing. And for me, music is all about lyrics – and drums. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses is my favorite song off AB and one of my top five favorite U2 songs. It is a very emotional and angry song. In fact, I made my first love sit down and listen to the lyrics as I read them to him after he had broken up with me. If I could have written a song about us, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses would have been it. Other favorites of mine off AB are One, So Cruel, Acrobat, and Tryin to Throw Your Arms Around the World - but really all the songs are my favorites. AB has become my second favorite U2 album (since I consider The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum one album).
Achtung Baby
Besides being a great album, AB is significant to me because the ZooTv tour (in support of AB) was my first U2 tour and it was during this time between the release of AB and the ZooTv tour, that I was transformed from a U2 fan into a U2 fanatic. This was the start of my ‘On the Road with U2.’ I was almost 20 and drove around the East Coast going to eight shows on the ZooTv tour: Hampton VA, Philadelphia, Hershey PA, two shows at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, two shows in Washginton DC, and back to Philadelphia again. AB was also the start of “it’s all about drums” – one of my favorite quotes that I have repeated constantly over the past 20 years. The first time I ever heard it was on the Achtung Baby documentary when Larry said, “I don’t think the lyrics are worth a shit to be honest if you ask me, I think it’s all about drums.”
Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
You’re dangerous, ‘cos you’re honest.
You’re dangerous, you don’t know what you want.
Well you left my heart empty as a vacant lot
For any spirit to haunt.
You’re an accident waiting to happen
You’re a piece of glass left there on a beach.
Well you tell me things
I know you’re not supposed to
Then you leave me just out of reach.
Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?
Who’s gonna drown in your blue sea?
Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?
Who’s gonna fall at the foot of thee?
Well you stole it ‘cos I needed the cash
And you killed it ‘cos I needed revenge.
Well you lied to me ‘cos I asked you to.
Baby, can we still be friends?
Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?
Who’s gonna drown in your blue sea?
Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?
Who’s gonna fall at the foot of thee?
Ah, the deeper I spin
Ah, the hunter will sin for your ivory skin.
Took a drive in the dirty rain
To a place where the wind calls your name
Under the trees, the river laughing at you and me.
Hallelujah! Heaven’s white rose
The doors you open I just can’t close.
Don’t turn around, don’t turn around again.
Don’t turn around your gypsy heart.
Don’t turn around, don’t turn around again.
Don’t turn around, and don’t look back.
Come on now love, don’t you look back.
Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?
Who’s gonna drown in your blue sea?
Who’s gonna taste your saltwater kisses?
Who’s gonna take the place of me?
Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?
Who’s gonna tame the heart of thee?
