We all have them, songs that seem to touch a secret place in your soul — sometimes secret even from you. They can grow and occasionally fester like an open wound, or they can fill you up, inspire you, and occasionally even heal you. Sometimes they don't even reflect your musical tastes. They can be shameful secrets that you keep from family and friends. You feel like a drug addict craving your next fix. At times like those you thank the powers that be for MP3 players — the syringe of those suffering with this affliction.

This is the eighth installment of songs that touch my soul. And as always this edition is full of passion, desire and lust. This is a form of therapy, this sharing of my neuroses, my secret inner lunacy, the big ball of crazy that is me. Welcome to my musical schizophrenia.

“The Sweetest Thing” - U2

Okay, yes, I know I've been hard on U2 but only because these guys are seriously talented and it pains me to watch them curl up and accept sainthood like a nun in medieval times. Joshua Tree should have been the beginning of the amazing things to come. Instead... well history is its own witness. Just because I'm hard on them now doesn't mean I never liked them. In fact, it's just the opposite. I was a punk/goth girl who loved U2, despite their lack of black clothes, mohawks, eye-liner or tattoos depicting the face of evil; even the words "fuck you" tattooed across their knuckles would have made them more acceptable.

We all know the legendary story behind this song by now, written as an apology to Ali Hewson, a.k.a Mrs. Bono, after the rock star missed her birthday. To be fair he was in the middle of writing and recording his magnum opus, Joshua Tree. And to save himself, and possibly his marriage (although who would really divorce their husband over one missed birthday?), he wrote his beloved high school sweetheart a beautiful song.

The video is yet another tribute to his love. It features Bono clowning around a la Buster Keaton, numerous romantic trinkets to assuage the female temper, cameos from Boyzone (very successful Irish boy band), River Dance, Steve Collins (Irish middleweight boxing champion), and of course the rest of the band. Not to mention the numerous instances of the phrase “I'm sorry” that appearer throughout the video, on banners, cars, and even an elephant. Why does this song touch my soul? Its sincerity. It makes me smile a gosh-that's-sweet smile. And personally I would much rather get a personal gift and an honest apology than a bunch of fucking flowers. Wouldn't you?

“The Saddest Song I've Got” - Annie Lennox