There is a general belief that this song was written about a band roadie’s girlfriend named Julie. This is hard to accept considering Bono didn’t even meet her until the US leg of the October tour. Bono himself has said his doesn’t remember who or what the song was about. It is conjectured that the lyrics reflect the universal Christian desire to strive for Christ-like perfection and continuously falling short. There is also the viewpoint that John and Julie are the equivalent to Adam and Eve.
Click here to download the guitar tab for I fall down
Julie says
John I’m getting nowhere
I wrote this letter
Hope to get to someplace soon
I want to get up
When I wake up
But when I get up
I fall down
Julie wake up
Julie tell the story
You wrote the letter
Said you were gonna get there someday
Gonna walk in the sun
And the wind and the rain
Never walk back again
Now you fall down
You’re falling down
You fall down
You fall down
Julie say something
Julie say you’re sorry
You’re gonna get better
You better not leave me here anyway
I want to get up
When you wake up
When I get up
I fall down
When I’m falling down
I fall down
I broke myself
I fall
I fall down
I’m falling down
I fall down
When you fall down
When I’m falling down
Is when you’re falling down
When you fall down
I fall down
I fall down…
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