During the 3 December 1984 concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Bono said the song was about heroin and that he wrote it for a friend and also for himself; in discussing this comment during a 17 December 1984 radio interview, Bono said, "Well, I think I said I wrote the song for a friend of mine; I also wrote it for myself because you can be addicted to anything. And, you know, that song's not just about heroin: it's about a lot of things. None of our songs, really, are just about one thing."