I've fallen in love with Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own from U2's latest album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. It's a beautifully emotional song. The first time I listened to it, I felt like crying. And despite having heard it many times now, it still has the same effect on me. As this song is a reflection on Bono's relation with his deceased father, it's not hard to see why this song packs such an emotional impact.

The song starts out quietly and simply with Bono singing Tough / You think you've got the stuff, going on to tell his father, Let me take some of the punches for you tonight. Then the melody builds up into an incredible falsetto, with the Edge's mournful guitar and Bono confesses, And it's you when I look in the mirror / And it's you when I don't pick up the phone / Sometimes you can't make it on your own.

The song is packed with love, gratitude and frustration. At one point, Bono says That if we weren't so alike / You'd like me a whole lot more, an emotion I certainly sympathise with. The climax of this song comes when Bono sings You're the reason why the opera is in me. As many reviewers have pointed out, while a direct reference to the fact that Bono's father was an opera singer, it could also be taken as an allusion to the dramatic quality of the song, perhaps as a direct reflection of Bono's relationship with his father.

It's a well-known fact that one of my favourite songs ever is With or Without You, which, to me, perfectly embodies the anger and frustration you feel when dealing with an impossible significant other. In the same vein, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own is the sweet melancholy you feel after everything's over and the helpless pent-up anger that goes along with it.

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
U2

Tough, you think you've got the stuff
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough

You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

We fight all the time
You and I...that's alright
We're the same soul
I don't need...I don't need to hear you say
That if we weren't so alike
You'd like me a whole lot more

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can - you - hear - me - when - I -
Sing, you're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me...

Where are we now?
I've got to let you know
A house still doesn't make a home
Don't leave me here alone...

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Sometimes you can't make it
The best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can't make it on your own