I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2
Artist: U2 Weeks at #1: 2 weeks Chart dates: August 8, 1987 – August 15, 1987
About
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” is the second single taken from U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree. It’s written in the writing style of King David, specifically from the poems recorded in the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament. The lyricism also emulates Charles Bukowski’s poetry, who Bono was reading at the time. The subject Bono is searching for is left without description – he doesn’t tell us what he’s pursuing, just that he is searching with a single-minded focus and great longing. This section is written in a nearly identical style to the writings of David. There are many allusions in the later stanzas Christian and romantic, sensual and in the last stanza a declaration of the narrator’s worldview and personal beliefs, but he also tells his audience that he has not reached his destination and is still looking to be with ‘the you’ he mentions in the beginning of the song.
