I'm gonna paraphrase Bono:
He said it was unfair to lump all the negativity in that song and other songs on AB on Edge's divorce but it was a major infulence in the songwriting.
And the guitar riffs Bono has pretty much said was Edge expressing himself. That he was just letting it rip on his life or something. So much so that the strings are heard breaking at the end.

Someone will come along and post the exact quotes along shortly, I'm sure.

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Wow.

When you make a guitar string (s) break, there's something going on there for sure.

Thank you.

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I'd always heard it was about terrorism, specifically from the perspective of someone who is so desperate in their political situation that they are weighing the idea of actually becoming a terrorist: "In a parked car in a crowded street/You see your love made complete/Thread is ripping/The knot is slipping" "A dangerous idea/That almost makes sense".

But I wouldn't be at all surprised if Edge's divorce is in there, too. Achtung Baby deals a lot with betrayal and the dark side of love. So many of U2's songs have multiple meanings (and many more that the fans adopt, too).

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I've heard that theory before, and I like it. Maybe I just like the idea of a song about terrorism disguised as a love song.

A lot of the lyrics do fit though. With the "parked car in a crowded street" being where a bomb might be planted. And "clockworks and cold steel" referencing the makings of a bomb. And "a little death without mourning, no call, and no warning" referencing the actual act of like, a suicide bombing.

In the end, it fits both ways, as so many U2 song wonderfully do.

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I've always heard that it was about terrorism. But, as the others have said, it (and many other U2 songs) can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I love it!

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To me the one I always put with the pure heartache element is "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"..

The terrorism thing kinda sticks....I had not heard that before..

Tis a beautiful song though, and very moving.

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Strings are actually breaking in this song? I must go have a listen now!

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So Cruel is all about sex. Alllllllllllllllllll about sex.
Hint: Look up definition to "mire" and then read the lyrics with a dirty mind.
I don't think there can be any other interpretation of it.

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yup. sex. i've always liked that song. glorious. lol.

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there is a quote about it in the Michka book Bono in Conversation, and yes, the strings broke near the very end....and yes its about Edge and his divorce...i dont have time to look up the exact quote, but if anyone has the book, its near the first four chapters of the book.

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