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Home U U2 Stay Faraway So Close Guitar Tab

Zooropa Tabs:

  1. Numb
  2. Lemon
  3. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) »
  4. Dirty Day
  5. The Wanderer
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U2 STAY (Faraway, So Close!)


As performed live by U2.

Transcribed by Javier Cayuela ( p0423@albeniz.eui.upm.es ).

Tune down half a step.

CHORDS:

There are two guitars:

Bono Edge
E 022100 main riff
F# 044300 244300
F#m 044200 044200
A 077600 577600
B 099800 799800
C#m 446654 046650


main riff

h h h
E --x-x------2---------x-x------2---------x-x-------2-4----------|
B --4-5----5----5------4-5----5----5------4-5-----5--------------|
G --4-4--4-------------4-4--4-------------4-4---4----------------|
D --2-2----------------2-2----------------2-2--------------------|
A ---------------------------------------------------------------|
E ---------------------------------------------------------------|
h = hammer on


(Bono plays chords)
E F#
Green light, Seven Eleven
A E
You stop in for a pack of cigarettes
F#
You don't smoke, don't even want to
A E
Hey now, check your change
F#
Dressed up like a car crash
A E
The wheels are turning but you're upside down


( Edge plays arpeggiated chords)
F#m E
You say when he hits you, you don't mind
F#m E
Because when he hurts you, you feel alive
F# A E
Is that what it is?


(Edge plays main riff)
Red lights, grey morning
You stumble out of a hole in the ground
A vampire or a victim
It depends on who's around
You used to stay in to watch the adverts
You could lip synch to the talk shows


(Edge plays arpeggiated chords)
F#m C#m
And if you look, you look through me
A
And when you talk it's not to me
B
And when I touch you, you don't feel a thing


F#m E
If I could stay... then the night would give you up
F#m E
Stay, and the day would keep its trust
F#m A E
Stay, and the night would be enough


(Edge plays main riff)
Faraway, so close
Up with the static and the radio
With satellite television
You can go anywhere
Miami, New Orleans, London, Belfast and Berlin


(Edge plays arpeggiated chords)
And if you listen I can't call
And if you jump, you just might fall
And if you shout I'll only hear you

F#m E
If I could stay... then the night would give you up
F#m E
Stay, and the day would keep its trust
F#m C#m
Stay with the demons you drowned
A B
Stay with the spirit I found
F#m A E
Stay and the night would be enough


(Bono stops, Edge plays main riff)
Three o'clock in the morning
It's quiet and there's no one around
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel runs to ground
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel hits the ground


Any comments?
p0423@albeniz.eui.upm.es
ZOOSPAIN

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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
 
 
No Picture

cody
Rhythm Player
#1 by cody watts at Mar 30, 1970 at 8:05 AM EST
such a good song, definitely one of U2's best. haunting lyrics, beautiful guitar, and, like with or without you, the song builds to a climax which reaches its peak when bono sings "stay" for the last time... this song has, for me, always been about a man who is deeply in love with a woman who's in an abusive relationship with another man. the angel who hits the ground at the song's conclusion is the woman who has fallen, not necessarily dead, but she has once again been thrown to the ground by her abusive lover and must pick herself up again. "And if you look, you look through me And when you talk, you talk at me And when I touch you, you don't feel a thing" here the man says that the woman he is desperately in love with doesn't know he's alive. no matter how much he tries to talk to her, she doesn't notice. (faraway, so close...) i have seen the filmclip aswell, and though i understand the song was written with the story of guardian angels in mind, when i hear the song its never about angels. to me, bono's voice has never been heavenly, but so genuinely human, so soulful, so comforting, and you know that he means every word he sings. the sound of the soul has been tragically neglected in a large majority of today'#######, yet in U2, it lives on...
 
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taris
Average
#2 by taris leoncho at Feb 24, 1976 at 12:32 AM EST
"just the bang.. and the clatter.. as an angel hits the ground." i love this part.
 
No Picture

Zac
Wanna Be
#3 by Zac Fielder at Nov 27, 1976 at 10:51 PM EST
it's about guardian angels looking after people...
 
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jamie
Lead Player
#4 by jamie soad at Oct 16, 1978 at 8:00 AM EST
The song written from the perspective of someone in the spirit world (either a guardian angel or departed loved one) and says how they can watch and feel everything the living person does, but cannot help them.
 
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Brandon
Average
#5 by Brandon Weathers at Sep 19, 1980 at 3:22 AM EST
The song could not only be about a guardian angel but a figure in one's life that serves as a guardian, but is never truly recognized. A man may love and care for a woman, but she never acknowledges him or loves him in return.
 
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FrEAk!!!
Wanna Be
#6 by FrEAk!!! Matis at Jan 16, 1983 at 3:00 AM EST
I've been pondering the meaning of this song ever since I bought a copy of Zooropa back in 1995. I think it's about a guy that likes a girl who is unsure about herself and gets involved in alot of bad stuff/abusive relationships. But she doesn't even notice the guy who likes her, but he's sortof like her guardian angel. Which is why I also think the music video for this song has a lot of angels in it (does anyone else think the video strikes a resemblence to the movie 'City of Angels'?...only it came out like 4 years before the movie...U2 is amaaaazing)
 
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Matthew
Average
#7 by Matthew Spencer at Dec 11, 1985 at 6:16 AM EST
mmm otto sander... so awesome anyway, yeah, it's about guardian angels in the street of berlin... from wim wender's movie faraway, so close! if you have the best of 1990-2000 DVD listen to wender's commentary
 
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Eric
Average
#8 by Eric Boozer at Jul 8, 1986 at 6:46 AM EST
I love this song! It's what angels do from day-to-day yet they can't express themselves. And we take for granted what we can experience and feel yet for the angels its a still a mystery.
 
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Mark
Wanna Be
#9 by Mark masta at Jan 16, 1988 at 5:33 AM EST
No, Stay was NOT made for Win Wenderīs Wings of Desire, but for Win Wenderīs FARAWAY, SO CLOSE!, the continuation of Wings of Desire. City of Angels (with Nicolas Cage) itīs a kind of remake of Wings of Desire. The song is sang by an angel. Heīs watching everything, he is really there, but he canīt do nothing... he canīt appear and tell us what we gotta do... The angels are faraway... they canīt talk to us.. but theyīre also close to us. The last verse is when the angel turns into a human. Is not sang by an angel, but by a man. Watch the videoclip!
 
No Picture

GonnaKill
Average
#10 by GonnaKill YOU at Aug 28, 1989 at 4:41 AM EST
wim wenders directed this unbelievable movie in 1987 called wings of desire. that's what the song is about. wings of desire was remade as city of angels in like 1997 or somethingl like that... i've haven't had a chance to see it yet though.
 
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MelissA
Average
#11 by MelissA at May 25, 1990 at 7:17 AM EST
For me... it's about trying to help someone who can't be helped. You do your best, you try... but you're as invisble as an angel. Your intentions are good, but it doesn't matter... and afterall, you're just a person ("angel hits the ground")
 
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Tyler
Wanna Be
#12 by Tyler Swagar at Mar 12, 1991 at 2:59 PM EST
i think this is about a woman living on the streets. it shows 3 snips of her life and death. and the ending makes the point. its about being low, in the gutter, but not being able to escpae from the world around you.
 
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Rebecca
Average
#13 by Rebecca Lira at Aug 21, 1993 at 8:21 PM EST
I have seen a little of "wings of desire". Its more of a point-of-view from an angels perspective on what they do everyday. Peter Folk was there too. I hope I got his last name right.
 
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Gabe
Average
#14 by Gabe Hawkins at Jun 2, 1994 at 6:40 AM EST
This song has a very personal connection for me, because of a very, very dark period of my life several years ago. When I hear it now, it's like looking back at a really messed up girl. Anyway...Maybe it is an angel who's singing it. But for me I always felt that the line about when an angel hits the ground was talking about this woman he's singing about. She's the fallen angel...in a way. Ok..that's my interpretation.
 
No Picture

slapslappopslap
Badass
#15 by slapslappopslap at Dec 12, 1994 at 8:10 PM EST
no idea about its meaning but i think it is a fantastic song it is the kind of song you can listen 100 times in a row without being tired of it!!
 
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Tommy
Wanna Be
#16 by Tommy Tang at Jun 11, 1997 at 4:17 AM EST
This is one of my favourite u2 songs. It is definately about an angle or some sort of spirt. to answer atthedrive-in: the lines about 7/11 and cigarettes is just telling the story of the things the person does to seem alive and is more clarified in - "You say when he hits you, you don't mind Because when he hurts you, you feel alive Is that what it is? " then in the lines "A vampire or a victim It depends on who's around " is just saying some people choose to stay in an abusive relationship (vampire) and others can't escape (victim) its a matter of opinion. To me what really gets the point across that this is a spirtual being watching is the lines "And if you look, you look through me And when you talk it's not to me And when I touch you, you don't feel a thing "
 
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Fatty [eats chi
Average
#17 by Fatty [eats children] kid at Mar 25, 1998 at 11:51 AM EST
Yet another phenomenal song by U2. It's one of their songs that are so beautifully vague, it could really be about anything that has meaning to you. Other examples are With or Without You or Where the Streets Have No Name. They're so deep, and poetic. God, Bono's a genius!
 
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Phillip
Average
#18 by Phillip Nguyen at Nov 2, 1998 at 5:09 AM EST
I don't know what this song means... But I love this song. I can't belive no one has commented on it yet. :tear:tear:
 
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Ĵǿ
Wanna Be
#19 by Ĵǿħŋ Ĝęřđěŋĭţš at Mar 15, 1999 at 2:06 AM EST
I love this song! To me it is about abuse. When he sings "you say when he hits you, you don't mind" Like the women who "stay" with abusive husbands because of the hope of true love.
 
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ryan
Average
#20 by ryan oh at Aug 3, 2000 at 7:18 PM EST
The video shows much resemblance to City of Angels with Nicolas Cage. Like when in the end Bono jumps of the angel statue and hits the ground. In the movie Nicolas Cage has to jump of a building to become human and so being able to stay with the woman he fell in love with when he was her guardian angel. I think Bono also becomes human after he's hit the ground in the video, because he looks rather smug.
 
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RoBsN
Average
#21 by RoBsN Stalder at Nov 16, 2001 at 4:26 AM EST
Umm, it has something to do with a movie... not sure which one. That's what the snippets are from. One of the best u2 songs though. It's up at the top with Bad, Exit, All I want is you, and In God's Country...
 
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pat
Wanna Be
#22 by pat smear at Aug 16, 2002 at 6:05 AM EST
this is *possibly* U2's best ever song. and i say that very undecisevely. but it is put simply, brilliant. the repitition of edge's riff underneath the ambient chord changes, helped by adams bass, the LYRICS are incredible, and the sense of hopelessness and possibly love in bono's voice. i really dont know what exactly this song refers to, but it seems to be about a girl who is lost - she doesnt know why shes alive, what her purpose is "...for a pack of cigarettes, you dont smoke, dont even want to"..... "a vampire or a victim - it depends on who's around". my favourite part of the song is ironically when it ends - "as an angel hits the ground"... BANG.
 
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Bloody Mess All
Musical Thunder
#23 by Bloody Mess All Over My Clothes at May 29, 2003 at 5:23 PM EST
I love this, too eMotionSickness, I think it is really nice. All the songs of U2 are very beautiful, but specially this song.
 
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Christina
Average
#24 by Christina Anderson at Mar 25, 2006 at 12:06 AM EST
I think this is what Bono thinks his guardian angel would sing to him,or what his guardian angel would have sung to him as a teenager "You used to stay in to watch the adverts You could lip synch to the talk shows " Bono used to mock the people who would go out and drink etc.
 
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the white hendr
Badass
#25 by the white hendrix at Jun 14, 2007 at 9:38 PM EST
The first time I heard this song was when I was watching the 'Live in Boston' dvd. It's so beautiful! Just Bono and Edge and an acoustic guitar. I like that version better than the album-version.