According to him , the song is ostensibly about " Transcendence , elevation , whatever you want to call it . " Bono , who compared many of his lyrics prior to The Joshua Tree to " sketches " , said that " ' 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 . "