Here's a good final version of "She's a Mystery to Me", one of U2's most
enigmatic songs. Thanks to whoever did the first Amsterdam post. This is
an update with a few corrections/additions. If anyone finds errors,
please e-mail me at [email protected] Thanks!
Written by Bono and The Edge for the late, great Roy Orbison. Orbison
released the song on his "Mystery Girl" CD release in 1989, on which Bono
was a producer. Rarely played by U2, but usually acoustically. Never
released in studio, it was first played by U2 on their Lovetown tour in
1989.
Bono tends to change the words around, but here is the master layout, as
written for Roy Orbison.
It's a very simple song with alternating |C F| |C G| progression with
an |F||G| preChorus.
Intro: |C F| |C G|
(repeat)
Verse 1:
C F C G C
Darkness falls and she, will take me by the hand,
F C G
take me to some twilight land
C F C G C
Where my all my love is green, where I can't find my way,
F C G
without her as my guide.
PreChorus 1:
F G
Night falls, I'm cast beneath her spell
F G C
Daylight comes, our heaven turns to Hell
F C G C
Am I left to burn? To burn eternally?
F C G
She's a mystery to me
C F C G
She's a mystery girl
(repeat)
Verse 2:
C F C G C
In the night of love, words tangled in her hair,
F C G
Words soon to disappear
C F C G C
A love so sharp it cut, like a switchblade to my heart
F C G
Words tearing my apart
PreChorus 2:
F G
She's tears, again my bleeding heart,
F G
I wanna run, she pulling me apart,
C F C
Fallen angel cries,
G C
And I just melt away
F C G
She's a mystery to me
(Repeat Chorus) x 4
Musical interlude:
|C F| |C G|
Verse 3:
C F C G C
Haunted by her side it's the darkness in her eyes,
F C G
That so enslaves me,
C F C
But if my love is blind,
G C
Then I don't want to see,
F C G
She's a mystery to me
PreChorus 1 repeated:
F G
Night falls, I'm cast beneath her spell
F G C
Daylight comes, our heaven turns to Hell
F C G C
Am I left to burn? To burn eternally?
F C G
She's a mystery to me
(Repeat Chorus ad nauseum) till end
End of a C chord