[Verse 1]
So you never knew love until you crossed the line of grace
And you never felt wanted till you'd someone slap your face
So you never felt alive until you'd almost wasted away
[Pre-Chorus]
You had to win, you couldn't just pass
The smartest ass at the top of the class
Your flying colours, your family tree
And all your lessons in history
[Chorus]
Please, please, please
Get up off your knees
Please, please, please
Please, oh yeah
[Verse 2]
So you never knew how low you'd stoop to make that call
And you never knew what was on the ground till they made you crawl
So you never knew that the heaven you keep you stole
[Pre-Chorus]
Your Catholic blues, your convent shoes
Your stick-on tattoos now they're making the news
Your holy war, your northern star
Your sermon on the mount from the boot of your car
[Chorus]
Please, please, please
Get up off your knees
Please, please, please
Leave me out of this, please
[Post-Chorus]
So love is hard
And love is tough
But love is not
What you're thinking of
[Bridge]
September, streets capsizing
Spilling over down the drains
Shards of glass splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain
October, talk getting nowhere
November, December, remember
We just started again
[Chorus]
Please, please, please
Get up off your knees, yeah
Please, please, please
Please, ah
[Post-Chorus]
So love is big
Is bigger than us
But love is not
What you're thinking of
[Outro]
It's what lovers deal
It's what lovers steal
You know I've found it hard to receive
'Cause you, my love
I could never believe
Please was written by Bono & The Edge (Guitarist) & Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen Jr..
Bono, Rolling Stone, 2001:
It’s essentially about fundamentalism, political or religious. Religious fundamentalism is where you get to shrink God; you remake God in your own image, as opposed to the other way around. It gave me a bit of a fright.