Question was raised of where such a place was being sung about.
Mention of Belfast and knowing what class someone was by what side of the road they lived on )like our railroad tracks in places) . But that wasn't confirmed.
The writer had recently returned from Africa . (?)
Which was an alleged stronger hint.
Yet during a performance (lost to my memory) it was more a spiritual suggestion. As if heaven doesn't discriminate among classes.
[The lyrics were inspired by a story that Bono heard about Belfast, Northern Ireland, where a person's religion and income were evident by the street on which they lived.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-u2.com-13"><span><span>[</span>13<span>]</span></span></a> He contrasted this with the anonymity he felt when visiting
Ethiopia, saying: "the guy in the song recognizes this contrast and thinks about a world where there aren't such divisions, a place where the streets have no name. To me, that's the way a great rock 'n' roll concert should be: a place where everyone comes together... Maybe that's the dream of all art: to break down the barriers and the divisions between people and touch upon the things that matter the most to us all."<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-14"><span><span>[</span>14<span>]</span></span></a> Bono wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to Ethiopia with his wife,
Ali Hewson; he first wrote them down on an
airsickness bag while staying in a village.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-m337-15"><span><span>[</span>15<span>]</span></span></a>
According to him, the song is ostensibly about "Transcendence, elevation, whatever you want to call it."<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-interview1-16"><span><span>[</span>16<span>]</span></span></a> Bono, who compared many of his lyrics prior to
The Joshua Tree to "sketches", said that "'Where the Streets Have No Name' is more like the U2 of old than any of the other songs on the LP, because it's a sketch—I was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location, maybe a romantic location. I was trying to sketch a feeling."<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-u2.com-13"><span><span>[</span>13<span>]</span></span></a>
The open-ended nature of the lyrics has led to many interpretations. Journalist Michael Campbell believed the lyrics send "a message of hope" and wish for a "world that is not divided by class, wealth, race, or any other arbitrary criterion".<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-17"><span><span>[</span>17<span>]</span></span></a> With regard to the place Bono was referring to in the song, he said, "I'm not sure, really, about that. I used to think it was Belfast..."<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-interview1-16"><span><span>[</span>16<span>]</span></span></a> Journalist
Niall Stokes believes the title was influenced by Bono's and his wife Ali's visit to Ethiopia as volunteer aid-workers. Bono has expressed mixed opinions about the open-ended lyrics: "I can look at it now and recognize that [the song] has one of the most banal
couplets in the history of
pop music. But it also contains some of the biggest ideas. In a curious way, that seems to work. If you get any way heavy about these things, you don't communicate. But if you're flip or throwaway about it, then you do. That's one of the paradoxes I've come to terms with."<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-18"><span><span>[</span>18<span>]</span></span></a>
In a 2017 interview, Bono said he still felt that the song's lyrics were incomplete, stating "lyrically it's just a sketch and I was going to go back and write it out". He expressed regret for rhyming "hide" with "inside". However, the Edge disagreed with his comments, stating that he loves the song and that Bono is "very hard on himself". Eno responded by commending the "incomplete" lyrics because he feels "they allow the listener to finish them"]
