How do celebrities do it? How do they put on this mask for the public, go out, perform, smile prettily for the cameras then go home, strip themselves of that artifice and proceed to have a normal life? That is the primary theme to this song. Niall Stokes, in his book Into the Heart has a wonderful interpretation and this is what he says:
“At its heart is an awareness of the ravages of time, and what it does to people and to relationships. But beyond that, there is the self-awareness that, itself, comes only with experience. Not for the first time, Bono acknowledges his own weakness and inadequacy. He is more conscious now than ever before of the contradictions in his own position. It was as far from righteousness that U2 has so often been accused of as you could get.”
Click here to download the guitar tab for Acrobat
Don’t believe what you hear
Don’t believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
When I first met you girl
You had fire in your soul
What happened your face
Of melting snow?
Now it looks like this!
And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
You know that your time is coming ’round
… So don’t let the bastards grind you down
No nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you’d hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I’d join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I’d break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
‘Cause I need it now
To take thecup to fill it up
To drink it slow I can’t let you go
And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
… Don’t let the bastards grind you down
What are we doing to do now it’s all been said?
No new idea in the house, and every book has been read
And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And you can find
Your own way out
You can build
And I can will
And you can call
I can’t wait until
You can stash
And you can seize
In dreams begin
Responsibilities
And I can love
And I can love
I know that the tide is turning ’round
… Don’t let the bastards grind you down
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