Track 6 on Achtung Baby, “So Cruel” has only been played live four times, all during the Zoo TV tour.
Robert Hillburn, one of U2’s early backers and a critic for the Los Angeles Times, believed the track to be one of the band’s best ever, describing it as “pulsating and accusatory”.
According to t...
[Verse 1]
We crossed the line
Who pushed who over?
It doesn't matter to you
It matters to me
We're cut adrift
But still floating
I'm only hanging on
To watch you go down, my love
[Verse 2]
I disappeared in you
You disappeared from me
I gave you everything you ever wanted
It wasn't what you wanted
The men who love you, you hate the most
They pass right through you like a ghost
They look for you, but your spirit is in the air
Baby, you're nowhere
[Chorus]
Oh, love
You say in love there are no rules
Oh, love
Sweetheart, you're so cruel
[Verse 3]
Desperation is a tender trap
It gets you every time
You put your lips to her lips
To stop the lie
Her skin is pale like God's only dove
Screams like an angel for your love
Then she makes you watch her from above
And you need her like a drug
[Chorus]
Oh, love
You say in love there are no rules
Oh, love
Sweetheart, you're so cruel
[Bridge]
She wears my love like a see-through dress
Her lips say one thing, her movements something else
Oh love, like a screaming flower
Love dying every hour
[Verse 4]
Ah, you don't know if it's fear or desire
Danger the drug that takes you higher?
Head of heaven
Fingers in the mire
Her heart is racing you can't keep up
The night is bleeding like a cut
Between the horses of love and lust
We are trampled underfoot
[Chorus]
Oh, love
You say in love there are no rules
Oh, love
Sweetheart, you're so cruel
Oh, love
To stay with you I'd be a fool
Oh
Sweetheart, you’re so cruel
So Cruel was written by Larry Mullen Jr. & Adam Clayton & The Edge (Guitarist) & Bono.
So Cruel was produced by Daniel Lanois.