"The Morning After Innocence" (2014)
Demo Song
Background Information
“The Morning After Innocence” is a song that U2 was developing for the album Songs of Experience.
The song was first mentioned on October 12, 2014, when The Guardian published a piece by Dorian Lynskey where Bono is interviewed about the new album, Songs of Innocence.
Regarding the powerful people he’s dealt with, Bono says “the younger me wouldn’t have liked any of them”. I ask him if he misses certain aspects of that confused yet righteous youth and he replies by reciting the lyrics to The Morning After Innocence, a song from Songs of Experience, the work-in-progress sequel to Songs of Innocence.“The older protagonist is asking the younger one for help,” he explains. “The biggest problem that I face now is that I understand the dialectical nature of things. It can make you less clear about your response.” He sounds wistful. “When I was younger, I knew what my position was on everything.”
Later, in an appearance on BBC Radio on October 16, 2014, Bono discussed the new song and shared some of the lyrics of “The Morning After Innocence”:
The singer, the protagonist in it, is much closer to where we are at in our life than the younger character from Songs Of Innocence, they sometimes meet and one has a take on the other that is often a little aggressive. I often think about that, what would the younger me think of me now? Not much! In one song, there’s another song called “The Morning After Innocence” where the older me goes and asks the younger me for help. It’s a very tough one that goes:Is that your fountain pen, navy with a nib of gold?
You never could write so well or do anything you were told on 10 Cedarwood Road,
I’m your older self, the song of experience,
I’ve come to ask for some help from your song of innocence.Lead me in the way I should go.
I’m running out of chances to blow, that’s what you told me and you should know.
Lead me in the way I should be.
Unravel the mystery of the heart and its defense, the morning after innocence.
Based on the lyrics above it is likely that the demo Bono had been working on in 2003 called “Lead Me in the Way I Should Go“ has become “The Morning After Innocence”.
Bono again shared some of those lyrics in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in May 2015, offering to give a lyric from the upcoming album, Songs of Experience and some of those earlier lyrics have already changed slightly:
I was living a lie.
I was calling it compromise.
I was making bad deals in front of everyone’s eyes.
Deals now everyone denies.I was giving evidence in the court of hearts desire,
falsifying documents, virtue thrown in the fire.
Sometimes I wish that I was stupid and you were not so smart.
Overcome the head, will always overcome the heart.Lead me in the way I should go.
I’m running out of chances to blow.
That’s what you told me and you should know.Lead me in the way I should be.
Unravel the mystery of the heart and its defense.
The morning after innocence.Is that your fountain pen?
Navy with a nib of gold.
Could you write your name again
And do anything you were told in 10 Cedarwood Road.
I’m your older self,
the song of experience.
I’ve come to ask for help from your song of innocence.Lead me in the way I should go.
I’m running out of chances to blow.
That’s what you told me and you should know.
On September 20, 2016, Bono appeared on the Charlie Rose show, and they spoke about a song called “The Little Things That Give You Away.” During the interview Bono speaks about writing letters to Ali, to his kids, and to the U2 audience, inspired by the poet Brendan Kennelly who one advised him to write as if he were dead. Bono said he realized he was writing one of those letters to himself, and that song is “The Little Things That Give You Away.” Rose follows that discussion with a question about another U2 title he has heard, asking “ There’s one called, The Morning After Innocence?” Bono’s reply ties that song back to “The Morning After Innocence”:
Ah, yes. That’s kind of the theme of it. It’s changed. Funny that you should — that’s odd. I told you about that and I shouldn’t have. And that song, “The Morning After Innocence,” turns into “The Little Things That Give You Away” which I’ve just told you there.
Although perhaps a bit vague, from that statement, it appears that the song “The Morning After Innocence” has become “The Little Things That Give You Away”. If so the lyrics have undergone a big rewrite, as the lyrics between the two songs are quite different. Perhaps the release of Songs of Experience will clear up some of those details.