The First Time
U2
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I have a lover
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing
Shows me colors when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time
I feel love
I have a brother
When I'm a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his runnin' after me
When I feel myself going down
I just call and he comes around
But for the first time
I feel love
My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold
He said I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
And I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key
For the first time
For the first time
For the first time
I feel love
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For me, this incredible song resonates as one of rebellion,
of nonconformity, and of subversion.
There is biblical imagery here,
but at the beginning you think that this song
is going to be the standard one of love,
romantic or brotherly.
His father has many mansions, he sings.
His father gave him a cup of gold
and the keys to his kingdom coming.
But our rebellious friend threw away the key.
And for the first time, he feels love.
My feeling is that this song is written backwards,
in that we should first be hearing about his father
and the many mansions the man has,
of throwing away the key,
and then about his lover,
and then about his brother.
We don't.
We get instead a non-linear telling of this
man's tale, which begs the question--why?
Throwing away the key brought this man not just love,
but the understanding of love,
which leads to the realization that he feels love,
and that it's the first time he has ever felt love.
He rejected, at least partly, his father's wealth.
I will leave it to you, the listener of this beautiful song,
to consider what he did with the other key or keys
(there was more than one),
and what he did with the cup of gold.
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Photography: The Shore I Walk by yours truly
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