Composition
"Mysterious Ways" is played in a 4/4 time signature at a tempo of 99 beats per minute. The introduction to the song, which features the song's well-known guitar hook, consists of "one seventh-fret barre chord, a couple of rhythmic scratches and two notes" played in a key of B♭. The verses follow a chord progression of B♭–E♭–B♭–F.
The song's lyrics are addressed to a man living without romance, which was in line with a proposed title for the album, Fear of Women. The lyrics describe how women often entrance and dominate men; Bono said, "At times, I do tend to idealize women," explaining that his wife Ali sometimes complains that he puts her on a pedestal. Some have found religious interpretations for the song. Scholar Atara Stein, in an essay analysing U2 songs, describes "Mysterious Ways" as one of several Achtung Baby tracks that idealizes women and creates a false illusion of them. Stein found religious meaning in the line "She moves in mysterious ways" and Bono's request to the woman to "Lift my days, light up my nights". According to her, "Paradoxically, this process of idealization simultaneously elevates the woman as an idol to be worshipped while presenting her as a potentially dangerous force the singer must control".
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