A member of Bono’s family was approached at an airport by someone and explained the existence of some old home movies and in one of them his mother was wearing a yellow dress. A lemon yellow dress. It was eerie to watch. The song started off about his mother, then became something else entirely: a thought about cinema and voyeurism. “We get to look into people lives with out them minding,” Bono says about film. “In my position, I don’t get to stare at people much so film is important for me, in that it allows me to do that.”
Many meanings flicker throughout the song, depending on how you view it. Reflection of self through the eyes of someone else, imagination, the muse, the female spirit, etc. In the end, it’s a series of images that are made all the more poignant knowing where the starting point came from.
Interesting note: The squeak of a rocking chair was sampled and looped throughout the entire song.
Click here to download the guitar tab for Lemon
Lemon
See through in the sunlight
She wore lemon
Never in the daylight
She’s gonna make you cry
She’s gonna make you whisper and moan
But when you’re dry
She draws water from a stone
I feel like I’m slowly, slowly,
Slowly slipping under
I feel like I’m holding onto nothing
She wore lemon
To colour in the cold grey night
She had heaven
And she held on so tight
A man makes a picture
A moving picture
Through light projected
He can see himself up close
A man captures colour
A man likes to stare
He turns his money into light
To look for her
And I feel like I’m drifting, drifting,
Drifting from the shore
And I feel like I’m swimming out to her
Midnight is where the day begins
Midnight is where the day begins
Midnight is where the day begins
Lemon
See through in the sunlight
A man builds a city
With banks and cathedrals
A man melts the sand so he can
See the world outside
You’re gonna meet her there
A man makes a car
She’s your destination
And builds roads to run (them) on
You gotta get to her
A man dreams of leaving
She’s imagination
But he always stays behind
And these are the days when our work has come assunder
And these are the days when we look for something other
Midnight is where the day begins
Midnight is where the day begins
Midnight is where the day begins
A man makes a picture
A moving picture
Through light projected
He can see himself up close (Gotta meet her there)
A man captures colour (She’s your destination)
A man likes to stare (There’s no sleeping there)
He turns his money into light (She’s imagination)
To look for her
She is the dreamer
She’s imagination
Through the light projected
He can see himself up close
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