In God's Country - Live From Paris

One of the songs on The Joshua Tree that explores American culture and politics, Bono's lyrics were inspired by the Statue Of Liberty in New York City. He was concerned that the American Dream was being threatened by shady politics. In 1987 radio interview, Bono explained he was also addressing Americans' tendency to align themselves with old political ideologies instead of coming up with new ideas. "I thought, put off the old, put on the new," he said. "Where are the new dreams - where's the new dreamers? And, 'we need new dreams tonight' is the line. I wonder where they are. I want to see them."

The lyric, "I stand with the sons of Cain," refers to the biblical Cain in the Book of Genesis. One of the descendants of Cain, Jubal, was the first ever musician. According to the Genesis account, he was the "father of all who play the harp and lute."

In the book Into The Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song by Niall Stokes, U2 bassist Adam Clayton explained the significance of the song's desert setting: "The desert was immensely inspirational to us as a mental image for this record. Most people would take the desert on face value and think it's some kind of barren place, which of course is true. But, in the right frame of mind it's also a very positive image, because you can actually do something with a blank canvas, which is effectively what the desert is."