Boston Live DVD: Bullet

[CVH3]

I got a question about the Boston Live DVD: does anyone know what Bono was referencing in Bullet the Blue Sky when he said, "Pull the Trigger, rock and roll ni**er, biger than Jesus on a bumper sticker!"? I assume it is from another artist. My friends and I are stumpted!


Grace and Peace!
CVH3

[Bono]

It's a reference to the murder of John Lennon.

Bono plays the part of Mark Chapman, the insane murderer. "Pull the trigger on the rock and roll nigger, bigger then Jesus on a bumper stick" is a reference to his deranged state.

"What's my name, Mark Chapman?"

[steelwater]

Why did he say that? and does he mean he is Chapmen?
I love the beatles(:

[Bono]

I don't quite know why he's playing the part of Chapman.

I know U2 have a lot of respect for the Beatles so I'm pretty sure there's some kind of good meaning in there.

If you listen carefully there are some other hints in the passage about the Lennon murder as well ("Where John and Yoko live in love and peace and love and peace" etc.)

I think everyone has their own interpretation on why he says it though!

[CVH3]

OK, here's an interesting 'spiritual' twist to the dialogue about Mark Chapman. I went to the courttv website to read up on Mark Chapman and why Bono would use his persona in Bullet. This exerpt was taken verbatim from a June 28, 1991 interview with Mark David Chapman. Chapman is discribing his experience on the day of his court date. (it's a little lenghty, but I included it all (it sounds similar to the things that Bono says in concert))

MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

But there was one thing in that courtroom ... one entity in that courtroom that I did know. And that was God. And the way He let His presence be known was like this. Or through this. At that terribly desperate moment, all alone in that courtroom, after committing that heinous crime ... (NOISE IN BACKGROUND)

MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

... as I looked up to the judge, as she, or someone else was speaking, behind her ... was a paneled wall that had ... one, two ...

(SOUND OF AIRPLANE? IN BACKGROUND)

MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

... 12 letters in ... some type of metal mounted on that wall. And I was standing there, completely alone, I looked beyond her head ... beyond the judge ... beyond the courtroom ... beyond what was happening ... not from a denial of responsibility, or from a wishing to escape the circumstance, but out of desperation ... out of loneliness ... I looked beyond her hair and I saw the words "In God We Trust" ... and it was at that point that I knew that I was no longer alone in that courtroom. God was there with me ... letting me know of His presence, giving me His peace and assurance that I could trust in Him when I could trust in no other at this horrible pit in ... in my life ... at this horrible place in my life ... not pit but place. In this horrible place in my life. (LOUD VOICES IN BACKGROUND)

MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

There is only one person that you can trust totally when you're in a situation like what I was in. And that is to trust in God. To think about Him ... to lean upon Him ... and let Him ... take you up and pull you through this storm.

(VOICES IN THE BACKGROUND)

MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

I want to make clear God didn't like what I did. He wasn't condoning my action.

(NOISE IN BACKGROUND)

MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

He wasn't saying, I'm going to get you out of this. He was saying, "Trust me."

(LOUD VOICES IN BACKGROUND)

MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

And there's a tremendous difference in that. So I left that courtroom knowing that even though I had done something horrible, God in His great mercy and compassion reached out and told me He was there in the courtroom, and that He was with me.

(CUT)

I don't have any idea if Bono was making reference to being Mark Chapmanin the killing sense or in the spiritual "relying on God sense" or both.

Do you think there is any corrilation between what Mark Chapman said in court and the reference Bono makes in Bullet?

[Bono]

I really don't know. All I can say is that Chapman is obviously deranged.

To be honest I don't really understand the "bodybags in Vietnam" part of Bono's speech. It might be unrelated as the next line is about the death toll from guns in America over the next twenty years. Or he could be tying in the Chapman gun/murder theme with the American gun problem.