U2 "Where the Streets Have No Name": Missing Signs No Comment

On April 30, 2009 at the Winfield Township Meeting, in Butler County, Pennsylvania, supervisor Glenn Nagle announced to those in attendance that every single sign in the township disappeared within a 48-hour time frame. The signs started missing in this township on April 6; this tiny township located 25 miles north of Pittsburgh. Since the disappearance of the signs the town has spent close to $4000 replacing the signage; the signs cost approximately $100 apiece. Per Nagle, it is assumed that the theft of the signs was a prank as the value of the metal contained within the signs to be sold as scrap metal is negligible. Nagle wanted to stress the importance of signage within the township which is important to emergency responders in getting to homes and businesses in a timely fashion. State Police are investigating this incident. With all the street signs vanishing, it is as if the U2 song, 'Where The Streets Have No Name' has come to life. Because of the association with U2's song, the Associated Press picked up the story on May 1, 2009 as a human interest piece.

Many have speculated about what Bono's intention was when he wrote the first track on the Joshua Tree album,'Where The Streets Have No Name'. To quell speculation this is what Bono himself had to say about the song's lyrics, "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. I often feel very claustrophobic in a city, a feeling of wanting to break out of that city and a feeling of wanting to go somewhere where the values of the city and the values of our society don't hold you down. An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they're making - literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become. That said something to me, and so I started writing about a place where the streets have no name."

This writer thought that it would be of interest to give U2 the opportunity to comment on the story, which the Associated Press broke, concerning the stolen signs from the Township of Winfield, Pennsylvania. Winfield Township is a socially conservative area, as evidenced by voting records. It is an area steeped in long held family traditions, where annual family reunions and gatherings have write-ups in local papers, family businesses remain in the family, and when a person tells you their name is Mr Carpenter, for example, it just may be both their name and profession. Bono was addressing an attempt to breaking away from the norms of society and values in his song, "Where the Streets Have No Name". It would be of interest as to what Bono would think of an area such as Winfield Township Pennsylvania and how it compares to Belfast. In light of the stolen signs and the area from which they were stolen, U2 was contacted, via e-mail. They were informed of the area involved and a comment relating to the song was sought. No comment has been forthcoming from them nor has one been issued by their publicist.

Source:
Pond, Steve (9 April 1987). "The Joshua Tree Album Review" Rolling Stone.
http://www.featured.890m.com/?title=Where_the_Streets_Have_No_Name#cite_note-u2.com-5
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/archive/peoplearchive.php/U2/biography/