I bought the Rattle and Hum album when it came out in 1988. This song became one of my favorites on the album. It wasn’t a hit or even a single but the song stood out and Bono’s voice cut through with the lyrics.
The song was written by Bono and Bob Dylan. This album made me a fan of U2. I started to get into their earlier music after this. The band had changed their sound with this album. They released a fantastic single Angel of Harlem and that immediately made me a fan.
On their Joshua Tree tour when Bono woke up with the song in his head. He thought for sure it was a Dylan song that he was remembering. He drove out to Dylan’s place and asked if it belonged to him. Dylan told him wasn’t, and he helped Bono finish the song. Dylan had two writer credits on Rattle And Hum because U2 also covered All Along The Watchtower.
The song was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis Tennessee in 1987. Bob Dylan sings backup vocals on this track. There is one morbid fact about this song. Bono was staying with the Edge in a Beverly Hills mansion where he started the song. That mansion would be where the Menendez brothers would later kill their parents.
Bono:“Part of the rock star disease is stewing in your own juices. All writers think their feelings are important but a great writer realizes that though his feelings may be important, they’re not all important enough to share. ‘The palace of your shame’ describes how people build their lives into a monument of self-pity. Irish people love the melancholy. It’s that bitter sweetness that we do better than anyone else. I always reckon it’s the rain.”
“Love Rescue Me” Love rescue me Come forth and speak to me Raise me up and don’t let me fall No man is my enemy My own hands imprison me Love rescue me
Many strangers have I met On the road to my regret Many lost who seek to find themselves in me They ask me to reveal The very thoughts they would conceal Love rescue me
And the sun in the sky Makes a shadow of you and I Stretching out as the sun sinks in the sea I’m here without a name In the palace of my shame Said, love rescue me
In the cold mirror of a glass I see my reflection pass See the dark shades of what I used to be See the purple of her eyes The scarlet of my lies Love rescue me
Yea, though I walk In the valley of shadow Yea, I will fear no evil I have cursed thy rod and staff They no longer comfort me Love rescue me
Sha la la…sha la la la Sha la la la…ha la la… Sha la la la…sha la la la Sha la la la…sha la la Sha la la la…sha la la la Sha la la… I said love, love rescue me
I said love Climb up the mountains, said love I said love, oh my love On the hill of the son I’m on the eve of a storm And my word you must believe in Oh, I said love, rescue me Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah…
Yeah I’m here without a name In the palace of my shame I said love rescue me
I’ve conquered my past The future is here at last I stand at the entrance To a new world I can see The ruins to the right of me Will soon have lost sight of me Love rescue me
I again took all of your suggestions and now we have a post that we made together. Thank you for all of the suggestions. I usually don’t repeat artists on one post but we had 3 Neil Young requests…I used two and the other one will be on the next.
Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free… Janis Joplin/Kris Kristofferson
Met myself a coming county welfare line,I was feeling strung out, Hung out on the line…Creedence Clearwater Revival
He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week / All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek…Kinks
Living is easy with eyes closed,misunderstanding all you see…The Beatles
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes. And say, Do you want to make a deal?…Bob Dylan
Set my compass north, I got winter in my blood… The Band
And the sign said, The words of the prophets, are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls… Simon and Garfunkel
They say that Cain caught Abel rolling loaded dice, ace of spades behind his ear and him not thinking twice…Grateful Dead
When I said that I was lying, I might have been lying…Elvis Costello
Though nothing will keep us together/We can be heroes/Just for one day…David Bowie
It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win…Bruce Springsteen
The motor cooled down, the heat went down, and that’s when I heard that highway sound…Chuck Berry
We were the first band to vomit at the bar, and find the distance to the stage too far…The Who
Shule, shule, shule-a-roo, Shule-a-rak-shak, shule-a-ba-ba-coo When I saw my Sally Babby Beal, Come bibble in the boo shy Lorey… Peter, Paul, and Mary
But then one night at the lobby of the Commodore Hotel,I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well, And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song, And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sing along…Little Feat
But me I’m not stopping there got my own row left to hoe; just another line in the field of time… Neil Young
You are like a hurricane there’s calm in your eye and I’m getting’ blown away…Neil Young
When I was young the radio played just for me, it saved me… Roddy Frame
This is a duet with blues legend B.B. King. American blues musicians were a big influence on U2, and the group had a great admiration for King. I bought Rattle and Hum when it came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. This song and Angel of Harlem sold it enough for me to get it.
In 1987, King played a show in Dublin and found out U2 would be in the audience. U2 had just released The Joshua Tree and were very popular, especially in their native Ireland. After the show, King was honored to meet the band and humbled to find out they were big fans. He asked Bono to think of him sometime when he was writing a song, and later on this was the result.
King performed “When Love Comes to Town” with the band for the first time during their Joshua Tree tour at a concert in Fort Worth, Texas on November 24, 1987. Parts of this show as well as the soundcheck were included in the U2 concert documentary Rattle And Hum, which contains a scene where Bono is rehearsing this with King.
The song peaked at #68 in the Billboard 100, #41 in Canada, and #6 in the UK, and #4 in New Zealand in 1989.
After King died on May 14, 2015, U2 paid tribute to him during a show in Vancouver the following night during the Innocence + Experience Tour by playing “When Love Comes to Town” for the first time in 23 years.
From Songfacts
B.B. King opened for U2 on their 1989 “Lovetown” tour, which went through New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Germany, and Holland. King joined U2 when they played this, which usually occurred near the end of their set.
The version used on Rattle And Hum was recorded with B.B. King at Sun Studios in Memphis, where King is royalty. This was one of several new songs on the album, which was a combination of live cuts from their 1987 tour and studio recordings.
This was a huge career boost for B.B. King. Although he was revered in the blues community, he wasn’t well known in the world of rock or pop. His association with U2 brought him a huge number of new fans and changed the dynamic of his audience, which became split between blues purists and rock fans who learned about him through U2. Many of King’s older fans did not appreciate the newcomers.
Admiration between King and Bono on this song was mutual; King was amazed that Bono could write such mature lyrics at such a young age, and Bono was blown away by King’s vocal. “I gave it my absolute everything I had in that howl at the start of the song,” Bono said. “Then B.B. opened his mouth, and I felt like a girl.”
This won the MTV Video Music Award for best video from a film in 1989. The video provided B.B. King with his first exposure to the MTV audience.
Near the beginning of their 1989 tour with B.B. King, U2 threw him a surprise birthday party. They invited King on a boat for what he thought was a fishing trip, but as soon as they left shore, they released balloons and sang Happy Birthday. That night, they had a fireworks display in his honor.
This was B.B. King’s biggest hit in the UK.
B.B. King got another career boost when he teamed up with Eric Clapton in 2000 to record an album called Riding With The King. Many blues legends remain in rock obscurity, but his collaborations with U2 and Clapton gave King a higher profile than any blues musician has achieved. After his recording with Clapton, King opened a series of nightclubs under his name. It helped that King remained a skilled guitarist and powerful vocalist into his 60s.
This was included on U2’s compilation, The Best Of 1980-1990.
BB King played his Gibson “Lucille” guitar probably through a Lab Series amp on this song.
Adam Clayton: “We discovered a common bond between us and some of these older artists like B.B. King. When we met him there was a whole world of understanding and nothing needed to be said. That has been the payoff of working ten years to get into this position. We no longer have to prove ourselves. It’s in the music and people can hear it.”
When Love Comes To Town
I was a sailor, I was lost at sea I was under the waves Before love rescued me I was a fighter, I could turn on a thread Now I stand accused of the things I’ve said
Love comes to town I’m gonna jump that train When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that flame Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down But I did what I did before love came to town
I used to make love under a red sunset I was making promises I was soon to forget She was pale as the lace of her wedding gown But I left her standing before love came to town
I ran into a juke joint when I heard a guitar scream The notes were turning blue, I was dazing in a dream As the music played I saw my life turn around That was the day before love came to town
When love comes to town I’m gonna jump that train When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that flame Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down But I did what I did before love came to town
When love comes to town I’m gonna jump that train When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that flame Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down But I did what I did before love came to town
I was there when they crucified my Lord I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword I threw the dice when they pierced his side But I’ve seen love conquer the great divide
When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that train When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that flame Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down But I did what I did before love came to town
I remember seeing this in commercials before I heard the song…I knew times were changing. It had been a little while at that time since I really liked a new U2 song…this one I really did.
The song peaked at #31 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and #5 in New Zealand in 2004. It was on the album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and it peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, Canada, The UK, and New Zealand.
This won three Grammy Awards: Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Short Form Music Video.
Adam Clayton: “Bono and Edge rewrote it when we started work with Steve Lillywhite. The bass and drums have a little bit of Echo & the Bunnymen in there – a nice wink to where we came from.”
From Songfacts
Vertigo is a sensation of dizziness or a feeling of disorientation. It can be a serious medical condition, but in the context of this song, it seems to be about opening your mind and looking at things in a different way.
This was used in commercials as part of a big promotional deal with Apple. The commercials, where many people first heard the song, promoted Apple’s iPod. Apple also released a special-edition iPod with the signatures of the band members engraved on the back, and made the entire U2 catalog along with special bonus tracks available for download at iTunes for $150.
U2 made many high-profile appearances to promote the album, including performances on Saturday Night Live and the Grammy Awards. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, U2 often stayed away from these kind of appearances to avoid the feeling of commercialism, but by the 2000s, it became clear that these appearances were crucial if U2 was going to continue selling millions of albums and fill arenas.
This song is notorious for its intro, in which Bono says “Uno, dos, tres, catorce,” which is “1, 2, 3, 14” in Spanish. One theory is that Bono was directing listeners to The Bible: 1st Testament, 2nd Book, 3rd Chapter, 14th verse – “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Another theory is that he did it because How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb was U2’s 14th album.
Vertigo is the name of a popular 1958 movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
U2 played this when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
This song was ruthlessly parodied on the South Park episode “More Crap.” The plot of the episode revolved around the character Randy Marsh breaking the world record for largest piece of crap, which was previously held by Bono. Bono is featured throughout the episode trying to beat, and then preserve this record. Almost everywhere he goes (including poor nations in Africa) he sings run around pointing and singing his “yeah, yeah, yeah” outro of “Vertigo.” He also answers his cell phone with the “Hello, hello” part of the chorus. >>
This was originally called “Native Son” and had a very different feel. Adam Clayton explained to Q Magazine November 2004:
Adam Clayton said of this album: “It’s very much a guitar record, ‘Vertigo,’ ‘Love and Peace,’ ‘City of Blinding Lights,’ ‘All Because of You’ – all pretty up, rocky tunes. A lot of them are a kick-back to our very early days, so it’s like with each year we have gathered a little bit more and this is what we are now.”
Vertigo
Unos, dos, tres, catorce Turn it up loud, captain
Lights go down, it’s dark The jungle is your head, can’t rule your heart A feeling’s so much stronger than a thought Your eyes are wide and though your soul, it can’t be bought Your mind can wander
Hello, hello (hola) I’m at a place called Vertigo (¿dónde está?) It’s everything I wish I didn’t know Except you give me something I can feel, feel
The night is full of holes ‘Cause bullets rip the sky of ink with gold They twinkle as the boys play rock and roll They know that they can’t dance, at least they know I can’t stand the beat, I’m asking for the check Girl with crimson nails has Jesus around her neck Swinging to the music, swinging to the music (whoa, whoa) (Whoa, whoa, whoa)
Hello, hello (hola) I’m at a place called Vertigo (¿dónde está?) It’s everything I wish I didn’t know But you give me something I can feel, feel
Checkmate Jazz funk Show made it in, yeah
All of this, all of this can be yours All of this, all of this can be yours All of this, all of this can be yours Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt
Hello, hello (hola) We’re at a place called Vertigo (¿dónde está?) Lights go down, and all I know Is that you give me something I can feel your love teaching me how Your love is teaching me how How to kneel Kneel
Bono wrote this as a birthday present to his wife, Ali. On her birthday, he was working on recording The Joshua Tree, so he was trying to make up for it. It was originally released as a B-side on the “Where the Streets Have No Name” single in 1987. The song was later re-recorded and re-released as a single in October 1998 for the band’s compilation album The Best of 1980–1990.
The song peaked at #63 in the Billboard 100 in 1998.
All proceeds from the song were given to the charity “The Children of Chernobyl”, which was chosen by Ali as her chosen charity, an organization that brought children affected by the Chernobyl disaster to visit and stay with Irish families.
Bono about his wife: “I’m a bit of a stray dog. I would not have been in the queue to get married had I not met someone as extraordinary as Ali. I always felt more myself with her than with anybody.” He describes the first time he saw her: “I thought she looked Spanish, a rose for sure, dark with blood-red lips.”
From Songfacts
U2 recorded this for The Joshua Tree, but left it off because they felt it did not fit in on the album. It was originally released as the B-side to a 7″ single that also included “Where The Streets Have No Name” and “Silver And Gold.”
This was rerecorded and released on U2 The Best Of 1980-1990 in 1998.
In 1998, this was released as a single with proceeds going to Children Of Chernobyl, the favorite charity of Bono’s wife, Ali.
The video shows Bono orchestrating an elaborate apology to Ali, who appears at the beginning of the clip getting into a horse-drawn carriage. The camera then cuts to Bono, who is facing her, and stays on him as they go for a ride down a street in Dublin. Along the way, Bono makes various outlandish offerings to win her favor, starting with the Irish group Boyzone, who climb on board. Next comes a marching band, a fire engine (with firemen), a string section, Irish step dancers from Riverdance, and an elephant. It’s not clear if the apology works, but he sure made an effort.
It looks like the Bono section is all one shot, but there are actually several edits made where the light flares come in. Kevin Godley, who directed it, did something similar on U2’s video for “Numb,” where the camera stays on The Edge for almost the entire time.
U2 didn’t play this live until March 17, 2000, when they played it a ceremony in Dublin where they were being honored. The following year, it made the setlist for their Elevation tour, then was mothballed until 2015 for their Innocence + Experience tour.
Boyzone star Ronan Keating revealed to co-host Harriet Scott on the Magic Radio Breakfast Show that Bono initially offered the song to him, but he insisted that U2 take it instead. Keating said: “It was U2’s, they had to sing it, I knew they had to sing it.
The Sweetest Thing
My love she throws me like a rubber ball Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing She won’t catch me or break my fall Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing Baby’s got blue skies up ahead But in this I’m a rain cloud You know she likes a dry kind of love Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
I’m losing you I’m losing you Ain’t love the sweetest thing
I wanted to run but she made me crawl Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing Eternal fire, she turned me to straw Oh oh, the sweetest thing You know I got black eyes But they burn so brightly for her This is a blind kind of love Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
I’m losing you Oh oh oh, I’m losing you yeah Ain’t love the sweetest thing Ain’t love the sweetest thing Oh oh, yeah, oh
Blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing You can sew it up but you still see the tear Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing Baby’s got blue skies up ahead And in this I’m a rain cloud Oh this is a stormy kind of love Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
Oh oh, the sweetest thing Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
Of all the U2 songs this one is probably on the top of my list. The drum pattern sounds like they are marching off to battle. It’s raw and you can hear the conviction in what Bono is singing. The Edge’s guitar is crunchy and perfect.
The drum-beat was composed by Larry Mullen Jr., which was recorded in a staircase of their Dublin recording studio because producer Steve Lillywhite was trying to get a full sound with natural reverb.
“Bloody Sunday” was a term given to an incident, which took place on 30th January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland where British Soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians who were peacefully protesting against Operation Demetrius. Thirteen were killed outright, while another man lost his life four months later due to injuries. It was reported that many of the victims who were fleeing the scene were shot at point-blank range.
The first person to have addressed these events musically was John Lennon who composed “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and released it on his third Solo album “Sometime In New York City”. His version of the song directly expresses his anger towards the massacre
The song peaked at #7 in the US Billboard Top Tracks Chart.
From Songfacts
There are two Bloody Sundays in Irish history. The first was in 1920 when British troops fired into the crowd at a football match in Dublin in retaliation for the killing of British undercover agents. The second was on January 30, 1972, when British paratroopers killed 13 Irish citizens at a civil rights protest in Derry, Northern Ireland. The song is more about the second Bloody Sunday.
The lyrics are a nonpartisan condemnation of the historic bloodshed in Ireland – politics is not something you want to discuss in Ireland. Bono’s lyrics in the song are more about interpersonal struggles than about the actual Bloody Sunday events.
Bono used to introduce this at concerts by saying: “This is not a rebel song.”
U2 has played several times at Croke Park, the site of the 1920 Bloody Sunday in Dublin. They first performed there in 1985 on the Unforgettable Fire tour.
Bono started writing this with political lyrics condemning the Irish Republican Army (the IRA), a militant group dedicated to getting British troops out of Northern Ireland. He changed them to point out the atrocities of war without taking sides.
While performing this, Bono would wave a white flag as a call for peace.
Bono was trying to contrast the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre with Easter Sunday, a peaceful day Protestants and Catholics both celebrate.
The music video for this song was taken from a live performance that’s part of their Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky concert film. The concert took place June 5, 1983 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Directed by Gavin Taylor, it captures the live energy of the band as they fight through the wind and rain to deliver a high-energy performance. At this time, U2 liked their videos shot outdoors in a natural setting.
Larry Mullen’s drums were recorded in a staircase of their Dublin recording studio. Producer Steve Lillywhite was trying to get a full sound with a natural echo.
Steve Wickham, who went on to join The Waterboys, played the electric fiddle on this track.
This took on new meaning as the conflict in Northern Ireland continued through the ’90s.
U2 recorded this in Denver for their Rattle And Hum movie on November 8, 1987. It was the same day as the Enniskillen massacre, where 13 people in Northern Ireland were killed by a bomb detonated by the Irish Republican Army (the IRA). Angered by these events, U2 gave a very emotional performance.
The version on U2’s live album Under A Blood Red Sky was recorded at a show in Sankt Goarshausen, Germany on August 20, 1983.
In 2003, The Edge inducted The Clash into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In his speech, he said, “There is no doubt in my mind that “Sunday Bloody Sunday” wouldn’t – and couldn’t – have been written if not for The Clash.”
A live version of this song plays during the end credits of the 2002 movie Bloody Sunday, which is a documentary-style drama recreating the events of January 30,1972 in Derry, Ireland. It stars James Nesbitt (you may remember him as “Pig Finn” from Waking Ned Devine) as a local Member of Parliament who is involved with the Civil Rights Movement.
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Yeah Hmm hmm
I can’t believe the news today Oh, I can’t close my eyes And make it go away How long How long must we sing this song? How long? How long
’cause tonight we can be as one Tonight
Broken bottles under children’s feet Bodies strewn across the dead end street But I won’t heed the battle call It puts my back up Puts my back up against the wall
And the battle’s just begun There’s many lost, but tell me who has won? The trench is dug within our hearts And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Sunday, bloody Sunday Sunday, bloody Sunday
How long How long must we sing this song? How long? How long
’cause tonight we can be as one Tonight tonight
Sunday, bloody Sunday Sunday, bloody Sunday
(Yeah, let’s go)
Wipe the tears from your eyes Wipe your tears away Oh, wipe your tears away I wipe your tears away (Sunday, bloody Sunday) I wipe your blood shot eyes (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
This is one of my top U2 songs… it was on the album Achtung Baby released in 1991. the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1992. Johnny Cash covered it on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man,..the video is at the bottom of the post.
The Edge talks about when they came up with it: Suddenly something very powerful happening in the room. Everyone recognized it was a special piece. It was like we’d caught a glimpse of what the song could be. It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions.
The band wrote this song in Berlin after being there for months trying to record Achtung Baby. The Berlin Wall had just fallen, so the band was hoping to find inspiration from the struggle and change. Instead, they found themselves at odds with each other and unable to do much productive work.
Most of the song was written in about 30 minutes and it rejuvenated the band creatively. When they left Berlin, they had little to show for it except for this song, but they were able to complete the album back home in Ireland with this song as the centerpiece of the album.
Achtung Baby peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1991.
This was voted best single in the 1992 Rolling Stone reader’s poll. U2 also won for best album, band, and comeback of the year. In 2003, it was voted the best song ever by Q magazine.
From Songfacts
This song can be interpreted in many ways. Bono, who wrote the lyrics, has always been a bit vague, saying it is “about relationships.” Here are some interpretations:
1) The song could relate to the reunification of Germany, where the band recorded it.
2) It could be about the dissolution of The Edge’s marriage to Aislinn O’Sullivan. The couple was having problems in their relationship and split soon after the sessions. Bono was the best man at their wedding.
3) It could be about the band putting their differences aside and coming together to make the album.
4) Bono may have been writing about his good friend, the Irish painter Guggi, who was having girl trouble.
5) The song could represent a conversation between an AIDS victim and his father.
Proceeds from the single were donated to AIDS research, which was stated on the liner notes of the single. Also printed on the notes was this statement: “The image on the cover is a photograph by the American artist David Wojnarowicz, depicting how Indians hunted buffalo by causing them to run off cliffs. Wojnarowicz identifies himself and ourselves with the buffalo, pushed into the unknown by forces we cannot control or even understand. Wojnarowicz is an activist artist and writer whose work has created controversy recently through its uncompromising depiction of the artist’s homosexuality, his infection by the H.I.V. virus and the political crisis surrounding AIDS.”
The Edge came up with the guitar track while working on “Mysterious Ways.” Once he came up with this guitar part, they quickly started writing “One.”
Three different videos were made, each interpreting the song differently. The first, directed by Mark Pellington, shows a buffalo running in a field. The second, which was mostly seen in Europe, featured U2 in drag. The third, shown mostly in the US, is built around Bono reflecting over a cigarette.
Director and photographer Anton Corbijn was at the helm for the video that featured the band in drag. He told The Guardian September 24, 2005: “I had been working with U2 as a photographer for 10 years at this stage and we’d had our ups and downs. I’d done one video for them in 1984 for ‘Pride.’ It was a disaster and no one ever saw it. It took them eight years to give me another chance. I really wanted to put a lot of effort into it to prove myself to them as a director. I even hand-painted the cars that appear in the video myself. I themed the whole thing around the notion of ‘one’ although I don’t think that’s what Bono was actually singing about. That’s why I filmed it in Berlin because the wall had just come down. And I filmed the band performing in a circle like a single unit. I showed Bono’s dad at one end of a seesaw to suggest that on your own you are not always balanced. I liked Bono’s father very much but they had a very complex relationship.
I think it meant a lot for them to appear together. These were all my own ideas but U2 are very much a band who like to meet up and talk about things. There are always a lot of meetings with them! But they cleared all the ideas, including the one about them appearing in drag. Later though, they decided that some of the proceeds from the single would go to Aids charities. They became nervous that the drag element in the video might link Aids to the homosexual community in a negative way. So they dropped the video and got someone else to film something.
It was so painful for me at the time. They replaced it with a video of Bono in a bar surrounded by models, which I particularly didn’t like. But once the song had died in the charts a few months later they got MTV to start running my video instead. That’s why I like working with U2: they have stayed very loyal to me, which is rare in music.”
According to The Guardian, Bono’s father, Robert Hewson, appeared in the song’s video. He later complained to his son that he hadn’t been paid.
In 2005, Bono got involved in the “One” campaign, which tried to convince the US government to give an additional 1% of its budget to help poor regions in Africa. On the Vertigo tour, fans who signed up had their names displayed on video screens when U2 played this.
Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen performed this at the “MTV Rock n Roll Inaugural Ball” for Bill Clinton in 1993 with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills from R.E.M. The impromptu group became known as “Automatic Baby,” a combination of album titles Automatic For The People and Achtung Baby.
The “buffalo” video directed by Mark Pellington was comprised of projections he made for the Zoo TV tour. In a Songfacts interview with Pellington, he explained: “They had made a video for the song already – that Anton Corbijn had done – of them in drag, and they weren’t really crazy about it. So, they released mine, and it was out there for a while. It was a very ‘anti-video’: no band, a slow art piece. And they made a third version of the video with Bono singing in a bar.
It always was interesting to me to have more than one video for a song. I don’t know why bands don’t do that more.”
Pellington later worked on the 2007 film U2 3D.
On the Popmart tour in Mexico City, while the Edge played the intro Bono said, “This one goes out to a mate of ours, a great mate, a great singer, we’re sorry, we’re sorry, for Michael Hutchence.”
On their 2001-2002 tour, a list of victims of the September 11 attacks was projected on a screen while they performed this.
In 2006, after Bank of America merged with MBNA, BoA held a corporate conference where Ethan Chandler, who managed a New York branch, performed a new version of this song celebrating the merger. Sample lyric: “And we’ve got Bank One on the run. What’s in your wallet? It’s not Capital One.” Thankfully, someone leaked the video and it ended up on YouTube, where you can see it in all its glory. Watch for the standing ovation at the end.
Mary J. Blige sang this with Bono in 2006 for a benefit for victims of hurricane Katrina. Blige then recorded it with Bono and U2 for her album Reminisce.
In a March 2007 poll carried out by The Tony Fenton Show on the Irish radio station Today FM, this was voted the Best Irish Single Ever.
Bono explained the meaning of this song to Rolling Stone in 2005: “It’s a father-and-son story. I tried to write about someone I knew who was coming out and was afraid to tell his father. It’s a religious father and son… I have a lot of gay friends, and I’ve seen them screwed up from unloving family situations, which just are completely anti-Christian. If we know anything about God, it’s that God is love. That’s part of the song. And then it’s also about people struggling to be together, and how difficult it is to stay together in this world, whether you’re in a band or a relationship.” >>
The line “One life, with each other, sisters, brothers” was voted the UK’s favorite song lyric in a 2006 poll by music channel VH1.
Anyone thinking of using this at their wedding might want to reconsider. “‘One’ is not about oneness, it’s about difference,” Bono points out in the book U2 by U2. “It is not the old hippie idea of ‘Let’s all live together.’ It is a much more punk rock concept. It’s anti-romantic: ‘We are one, but we’re not the same. We get to carry each other.’ It’s a reminder that we have no choice. I’m still disappointed when people hear the chorus line as ‘we’ve got to’ rather than ‘we get to carry each other.’ Because it is resigned, really. It’s not: ‘Come on everybody, let’s vault over the wall.’ Like it or not, the only way out of here is if I give you a leg up the wall and you pull me after you. There’s something very unromantic about that. The song is a bit twisted, which is why I could never figure out why people want it at their weddings. I have certainly met a hundred people who’ve had it at their weddings. I tell them, ‘Are you mad? It’s about splitting up!'”
The Edge offers his take: “The lyric was the first in a new, more intimate style. It’s two ideas, essentially. On one level it’s a bitter, twisted, vitriolic conversation between two people who’ve been through some nasty, heavy stuff: ‘We hurt each other, then we do it again.’ But on another level there’s the idea that ‘we get to carry each other.’ ‘Get to’ is the key. ‘Got to’ would be too obvious and platitudinous. ‘Get to’ suggests it is our privilege to carry one another. It puts everything in perspective and introduces the idea of grace. Still, I wouldn’t have played it at any wedding of mine.”
This was featured in the trailer for the 2000 Nicolas Cage movie The Family Man. It was not used in the movie itself.
One
Is it getting better Or do you feel the same? Will it make it easier on you now? You got someone to blame
You say one love, one life (One life) It’s one need in the night One love (one love), get to share it Leaves you darling, if you don’t care for it
Did I disappoint you? Or leave a bad taste in your mouth? You act like you never had love And you want me to go without
Well it’s too late, tonight To drag the past out into the light We’re one, but we’re not the same We get to carry each other Carry each other
One, one One, one One, one One, one
Have you come here for forgiveness? Have you come to raise the dead? Have you come here to play Jesus? To the lepers in your head Well, did I ask too much, more than a lot? You gave me nothing, now it’s all I got We’re one, but we’re not the same See we hurt each other, then we do it again You say love is a temple, love is a higher law Love is a temple, love is a higher law You ask me of me to enter, but then you make me crawl And I can’t keep holding on to what you got, ’cause all you got is hurt
One love One blood One life You got to do what you should One life With each other Sisters and my brothers One life But we’re not the same We get to carry each other, carry each other
I did Part 1 over a year ago and it was a fun post. I’ve been meaning to do this again. I remembered some of the lyrics suggested by my friends hanspostcard and allthingsthriller on the last post…I have added those to list. Thanks to both of you.
I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back, And started walkin toward a coffee colored Cadillac… Chuck Berry
Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free… Janis Joplin/Kris Kristofferson
And I need you more than want you, And I want you for all time… Jimmy Webb
Doesn’t have a point of view / Knows not where he’s going to / Isn’t he a bit like you and me…The Beatles
Met myself a coming county welfare line,I was feeling strung out, Hung out on the line…Creedence Clearwater Revival
And you’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above…Bruce Springsteen
He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week / All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek…Kinks
Well it’s too late, tonight, To drag the past out into the light, We’re one, but we’re not the same, We get to carry each other, Carry each other…U2
You can blow out a candle but you can’t blow out a fire…Peter Gabriel
Living is easy with eyes closed,misunderstanding all you see…The Beatles
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola, C-O-L-A Cola…Kinks
It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart…Bob Dylan
A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one… The Band
And the sign said, The words of the prophets, are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls… Simon and Garfunkel
I lit up from Reno, I was trailed by twenty hounds, Didn’t get to sleep that night Till the morning came around…Grateful Dead
When I said that I was lying, I might have been lying…Elvis Costello
Though nothing will keep us together/We can be heroes/Just for one day…David Bowie
Lose your dreams and you. Will lose your mind…Rolling Stones
It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win…Bruce Springsteen
The motor cooled down, the heat went down, and that’s when I heard that highway sound…Chuck Berry
We were the first band to vomit at the bar, and find the distance to the stage too far…The Who
This song has an old feel and a lot of power. It was on the Rattle and Hum album. I’ve talked to many U2 fans who don’t like the album a lot but it was a favorite of mine at the time. It broke a little from their previous albums. The Edge backed off the reverb some on this album.
The “Angel of Harlem” is Billie Holiday, a Jazz singer who moved to Harlem as a teenager in 1928. She played a variety of nightclubs and became famous for her spectacular voice and ability to move her audience to tears. She dealt with racism, drug problems, and bad relationships for most of her life, and her sadness was often revealed in her songs. She died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1959 at age 44.
The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 and #9 in the UK in 1989. Rattle and Hum peaked at #1 in the Billboard 200 in 1988. The album had live and studio cuts included and a film.
Angel of Harlem was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis.
From Songfacts
Billy Holiday’s nickname was “Lady Day.” That’s where they got the line, “Lady Day got diamond eyes, she sees the truth behind the lies.”
This is a tribute to the blues, jazz and gospel music U2 heard while touring America.
U2 recorded this at Sun Studios in Memphis while the band was touring the US in 1987. It features the Memphis Horns, who recorded on many of the blues and soul classics recorded there.
This was produced by “Cowboy” Jack Clement, who worked with Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in the ’50s before moving to Nashville and working with a variety of Country singers. When U2 asked him to work on this album, he had never even heard of them, but fortunately some of his friends were familiar with U2 and made it clear to Clement that working with them would be a good career move. By using Clement, U2 was able to recreate the famous Sun Studios’ sound they were looking for.
The line “On BLS I heard the sound…” refers to New York radio station WBLS, where U2 heard the blues and soul music that influenced this track.
This was used in the U2 documentary Rattle And Hum, which followed the band on their 1987-1988 tour of North America.
U2 played this live for the first time at the Smile Jamaica concert on October 16, 1988 in London, a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Gilbert. >>
The band was inspired by their first trip to New York City. “I wrote about it in a song. ‘Angel of Harlem,'” Bono explains in the book U2 by U2. “We landed in JFK and we were picked up in a limousine. We had never been in a limousine before, and with the din of punk rock not yet faded from our ears, there was a sort of guilty pleasure as we stepped into the limousine. Followed by a sly grin, as you admit to yourself this is fun. We crossed Triborough Bridge and saw the Manhattan skyline. The limo driver was black and he had the radio tuned to WBLS, a black music station. Billie Holiday was singing. And there it was, city of blinding lights, neon hearts. They were advertising in the skies for people like us, as London had the year before.”
During the recording session, Bono learned the important lesson that alcohol and horn players do not mix. “I thought I would lighten the session up, so I sent out for a case of Absolut Vodka. I was giving it to the horn players and we were all having a little laugh and Cowboy came up to me. Cowboy was a guy who knew how to get into trouble but he also knew when not to get into trouble. He said, ‘Bono, how long you been doing this?’ I said, ‘Ten years, nearly.’ He said, ‘Ten years and you don’t know not to give the horn section Absolut Vodka? You can give it to anybody else but you can’t give a horn section Absolut.’ I asked, ‘Why, particularly, the horn section?’ Cowboy said, ‘Listen, stupid, you try playing a horn when your lips won’t work.’
Angel of Harlem
It was a cold and wet December day When we touched the ground at JFK Snow was melting on the ground On BLS I heard the sound Of an angel
New York, like a Christmas tree Tonight this city belongs to me Angel
Soul love, this love won’t let me go So long, angel of Harlem
Birdland on fifty three The street sounds like a symphony We got John Coltrane and a love supreme Miles, and she’s got to be an angel
Lady Day got diamond eyes She sees the truth behind the lies Angel
Soul love this love won’t let me go So long angel of Harlem Angel of Harlem
She says it’s heart, heart and soul Yeah yeah (yeah) Yeah yeah (right now)
Blue light on the avenue God knows they got to you An empty glass, the lady sings Eyes swollen like a bee sting Blinded you lost your way Through the side streets and the alleyway Like a star exploding in the night Falling to the city in broad daylight An angel in Devil’s shoes Salvation in the blues You never looked like an angel Yeah yeah angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem Angel angel of Harlem Angel angel of Harlem Angel angel of Harlem
Bono once said before playing the song “This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles, well we’re stealin’ it back.” Charles Manson did, in fact, hijack the song from the Beatles. The song is about an amusement park attraction (not a coded message to Charlie). A “Helter Skelter” is an amusement ride popularized mostly in the U.K. with a slide built in a spiral around a high tower. Paul McCartney read an interview with Pete Townshend saying that the Who just recorded the loudest, rawest and dirtiest song ever…it was “I Can See For Miles.” A great song… but not what Townshend described it as exactly…
Paul then started to write a song that fit that description and went above it. Helter Skelter was recorded with all four Beatles in studio two with their amps on 11. It’s a great brutal hard rock song. It was one of the rawest songs ever released by a well-known band at that time. If I hear someone call the Beatles only a pop band…I just point them to this song. Covers of this song range from Motley Crue who despite their image their version sounds light compared to this, Pat Benatar version is not up to this one…U2’s version tries but no version gets close to the Beatles version in rawness. Some credit this song as one of the inspirations of Heavy Metal…
This song fits great on the White Album. The album is the most diverse the Beatles ever made. On the same album, you have Helter Skelter, Rocky Racoon, Sexy Sadie, Honey Pie, Back In The USSR, Blackbird, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Revolution Nine and many more.
Helter Skelter
When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride Till I get to the bottom and I see you again
Yeah, yeah, yeah, heh, heh, heh, heh But do you, don’t you want me to love you? I’m (Ahhh) coming down fast but I’m miles above you (Ahhh) Tell me, tell me, tell me, come on tell me the answer
Well, you may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer Now Helter skelter
Helter skelter Helter skelter Yeah! Woo!, hoo!
A Will you, won’t you want me to make you? (Ahhh) I’m coming down fast but don’t let me break you (Ahhh)
Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer You may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer
I’d heard guitar delay before but U2 took it to a new level. New Year’s Day peaked at #53 in the Billboard 100, #10 in the UK and #41 in Canada in 1983. This song was on their third album War. This is about the time I started to notice them.
The lyrics refer to the movement for solidarity lead by Lech Walesa in Poland. After this was recorded, Poland announced they would abolish martial law, coincidentally, on New Year’s Day, 1983.
This was U2’s first UK Top 10 and their first single to chart in America.
This almost didn’t make the album because Bono was having fits writing the lyrics.
The Edge played piano on this as well as guitar. In concert, he played the song on the piano with his guitar in his lap. For his guitar solo, he would get up and go to the front of the stage as the crowd cheered wildly.
This was the first U2 video to get heavy airplay on MTV, and it was by far their most ambitious video to that point. It was directed by Meiert Avis, who worked on U2’s previous videos, including “Gloria” and “I Will Follow.” They planned to shoot the video in Sweden, but when the mountains and snow they hoped for didn’t materialize, they tried Norway. They got the majestic mountains and tight shots of the band performing the song, which was more than adequate for MTV in 1983.
We also see what is supposed to be the band riding horses, which were actually four teenaged girls covered in winter clothes. The guys in U2 weren’t experienced riders, and since they were in the middle of a tour during the shoot, it wasn’t worth the risk.
The themes of understanding in a time of global unrest were a focal point for the album War, whose title was inspired by the various worldwide conflicts of 1982.
The line “Under a blood red sky” was used as the title for a video and live album U2 released in 1983. The video was recorded at Red Rocks, Colorado, June 5, 1982. The album contains performances from that show as well as two others.
Bono considers this a love song. While it is about war, it deals with “The struggle for love.”
Bono wrote this shortly after he married his childhood sweetheart, Ali.
This song was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, which is where U2 recorded their first three albums. The studio had a stone stairway where Larry Mullen played his drums for this track.
This is commonly played at bars every New Year’s Day for lack of something more appropriate.
This is a popular song for other artists to sample or cover. With It Guys used the piano line as a sample in the song “Let The Music Take Control,” Manchester rappers Kiss AMC sampled the intro for their song “A Bit Of U2,” the group Dynamic Base used the sample on their “Africa” single and Bacon Popper did the same on “Free.” Hyper Logic also used a sample in “Only Me.” >>
Producer Steve Lillywhite remembers mixing this song in ten minutes while Bono cranked out “40” at the last minute while another band was waiting outside of the studio for their turn.
New Year’s Day
Yeah!
All is quiet on New Year’s Day A world in white gets underway I want to be with you, be with you night and day Nothing changes on New Year’s Day On New Year’s Day
I will be with you again I will be with you again
Under a blood red sky A crowd has gathered, black and white Arms entwined, the chosen few The newspapers says, says
Say it’s true, it’s true We can break through Though torn in two We can be one
I, I will begin again I, I will begin again
Oh, maybe the time is right Oh, maybe tonight
I will be with you again I will be with you again
And so we are told this is the Golden Age And gold is the reason for the wars we wage Though I want to be with you, be with you night and day Nothing changes on New Year’s Day On New Year’s Day On New Year’s Day
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