The First Time: My father is a rich man

The first two verses of The First Time seem pretty straightforward to me.

A lover teaches him to "sing" and shows him love in the way of eros.

A brother shows him love in another way, helping him when he needs it. A brother does not, of course, need to be a relative.

The third verse is quite a bit different, though.

My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold

He said, "I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see"
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key

Ok, first, we're not talking about Bob here.

The first two relationships (lover, brother) were embraced. But his Father was rejected. Why?

This verse comes from John 14, when Jesus tells his disciples that he will be leaving (crucified). They tell him they will follow him anywhere, but he explains they cannot go where he is going - not yet, anyway. But he will prepare a place for them. This place is heaven, of course.

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Okay, so the Father here is God, and his mansions and rooms are heaven, and heaven is infinite so that any of us could go there if we follow the word.

But why does the verse refer to the trappings of wealth?

My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man's cloak
...
Gave me a cup of gold

Jesus was born in a sty to a pair of "nobodys" rather than in a palace to a king and queen, on purpose. Jesus spent his life elevating the poor and cautioning against the false promise of wealth - easier to pass a camel through the eye of a needle for a rich man to get into heaven and allathat.

So why does this verse use such terms? Why is it a mansion and not a house, as in the NIV translation?

And why does he chuck the key away? In a song about love, where does that leave us?

i thought it was a reference to the prodigal son from the Bible

Its about the love you have becoming a parent for the first time, hes the father, and he's the rich man doesn't want it to corrupt his kids, and yes it also biblical references 

^Yeah, I've noticed many references about having children in the album.

I had no idea what this song was about when it came out, and I swear to you I had an ah ha moment when I had my first kid, my daughter I was like OMG thats what this song is about!


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I think that, although his brother (Jesus) took on an incarnate form which was in a state of poverty, his actual nature is rich beyond all imagining.  He possesses the keys to the kingdom and immortality, which he can share with whomever he chooses.  So the rich man imagery seems apt if you consider it in that light.

prodigal son is the best interpretation.

this was my fav zooropa song forever. i even put it on a friends mix cd i made her, randomly. she liked it.

Lots of really interesting ideas.

As a parent myself, yeah, it's something new, things change, there's nothing like it, it changes you as a person.

The prodigal son angle is interesting. The prodigal son's father indeed gave him wealth - a cup of gold, shall we say. And he left and squandered it, then came crawling back home.

I always heard the "but I left by the back door, and I threw away the key," immediately after the recitation of his father's wealth, as a rejection of his father's worldly things (as well as the father himself, of course). Like, "I don't want any of this."

But framed as the prodigal son narrative, he took the cup of gold and other stuff out the back door. The only thing he threw away was the key.

Of course, either way, the father is God because this is a parable from Jesus to help us understand the ways of God better.

So the key was to heaven (kingdom coming), he threw it away, and carted off the worldly goods.

In the song, we don't hear the part about how he comes back.

So this third verse, a confession of sorts.

Another thought that struck me is the nature of the three verses. Got two ideas about that.

First is the holy trinity. The father, son, and holy spirit. You could read each verse in that lens. Bono has referred to the holy spirit as being feminine, and she seems to be a lover in his songs. So the first verse can be a typical Bono mashing of sex and God.

Second verse is his brother - like him, a son to God. Could be a fellow human or Jesus.

Third is the father.

The other frame is in the three Greek words for love, which occured to me yeaterday as I watched Bono's Meaning of Life interview with Gay Byrne (and there is a LOT to unoack in there, wow). But he mentioned thise three Greek words fir love, and they are:

Eros (and I wrote that in my OP but before I watched that part of the interview). First verse.

Philias, brotherly or friendship love, between equals. Second verse.

Agape, a pure and unconditional love that is often used to describe God's love for us. Third verse doesn't complete the story, but the prodigal son returns in shame to his father's open and joyful arms.

^Nice in-depth analysis.

laoghaire always amazes me

you know Bono writes something deep, or you know just writes a mole digging in a hole...whatever lol

Even at his most ridiculous, that song's lyrics still runs on two cohesive tracks.

And the song's purpose is basically "I wanna rock!" but it kicks the ass of:

I WANNA ROCK
(Rock) / riff
I WANNA ROCK
(Rock) / riff
I WANNA ROCK
(Rock) / riff
I WAAAANT TO ROOOOOOOCK

Even the "mole digging in a hole" song has "Love lift me out of these blues; won't you tell me something true, I believe in you."   Which is a lovely sentiment, you have to admit.

Even the "mole digging in a hole" song has "Love lift me out of these blues; won't you tell me something true, I believe in you."   Which is a lovely sentiment, you have to admit.

Yep!

Even the "mole digging in a hole" song has "Love lift me out of these blues; won't you tell me something true, I believe in you."   Which is a lovely sentiment, you have to admit.

oh absolutely!  He can shift gears in the same thought he doesn't even need a chorus in between