Love vs. Romance

During my nearly 2 hour commute every day I listen to a lot of music. (It's either that or talk to myself and I'm not planning on starting that for at least a few years.) Anyway, I've been listening to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2. One of the things that strikes me as both profound and a little surprising, given the state of todays music, is the distinction that Bono makes between love and romance. Although Bono is no stranger to recurring lyrical themes, I think it's interesting that he goes to the same well, so to speak, at least twice on this record.

In "Miracle Drug" (my favorite song on the album) he says:

"...I’ve had enough of romantic love
I’d give it up, yeah, I’d give it up
For a miracle, miracle drug"

In "A Man and a Woman" he says:

"You can run from love
And if it’s really love it will find you
Catch you by the heel
But you can’t be numb for love
The only pain is to feel nothing at all
How can I hurt when I’m holding you?

No I could never take a chance
On losing love to find romance
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman"

Like any good song, these will mean different things to different people, but for me they speak to the temporary nature of romance in general. Unless we fight to keep it alive in our relationships it will naturally fade over time. That isn't to say the romance isn't an important part of love, but it's not all there is. It can't be. I think that what Bono is saying is that romance on it's own without anything behind it or beneath it is really quite empty and unsatisfying. That's not a perspective you hear much in today's popular music. I think it speaks volumes about the maturity and depth that U2 exhibits in their songs.