VIDEO

Bono: “that song is about torment. sexual but also psychological, about how repressing desires makes them stronger." ()

Bono: (line "And you give yourself away") "It's about how I feel in U2 at times - exposed. I'm not going to do many interviews this year. Because there's a cost to my personal life, and a cost to the group as well." (1987)

Daniel Lanois: "'For 'With Or Without You' we had the rhythm and the chords then we were testing Michael Brook's Infinite Guitar Invention. I asked Edge just to play a little something with it. He did two takes and those are the ones in the ultimate mix of 'With Or Without You.' Beautiful sounds, stratospheric." (2008:Mojo)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums
Brian Eno – drum programming, synth programming

Produced: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Engineered/Mixed: Brian Eno
Recorded at: Danesmoate House, Dublin, Ireland, 1986
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VIDEO

Bono: "It is a song about coming together, but it's not the old hippie idea of 'Let's all live together.' It is, in fact, the opposite. It's saying, We are one, but we're not the same. It's not saying we even want to get along, but that we have to get along together in this world if it is to survive. It's a reminder that we have no choice"

Bono: "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." (2005:Rolling Stone)

The Edge: "It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions." (2005:Q magazine)

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While jamming on a song called "Sick Puppy"—an early version of "Mysterious Ways"—the band tried different chord progressions for the bridge. The jam stopped and The Edge tried playing them alone on an acoustic guitar, as "everyone was trying to decide if they were any good." At the suggestion of producer Daniel Lanois, The Edge played two separate sections sequentially. The band liked the way it flowed and decided to try and play it together. Speaking of the improvisation, The Edge said, "suddenly something very powerful [was] happening in the room." He added, "Everyone recognized it was a special piece. It was like we'd caught a glimpse of what the song could be."Soon afterwards, the band had developed the piece of music into "One". Bono recalls that "the melody, the structure—the whole thing was done in 15 minutes". He also stated that the lyrics "just fell out of the sky, a gift"; the concept was inspired by the band members' fracturing relationships, the German reunification, and Bono's scepticism of the hippie idea of "oneness". Bono later sent a note to the Dalai Lama declining an invitation to a festival called Oneness, incorporating a line from the song: "One—but not the same". The song's writing inspired the band and changed their outlook on the recording sessions. Mullen Jr. said the song reaffirmed the band's "blank page approach" to recording and reassured the band that all was not lost. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals
The Edge – guitar
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Brian Eno – keyboards
Daniel Lanois – guitar

Produced: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Engineered: Flood
Recorded at: Hansa Ton Studios, Berlin, Germany
... and Elsinore, Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland
... and Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland, all Oct. 1990 – Sep. 1991
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VIDEO

Bono: “The spirit of the people I met in Ethiopia was very strong. There's no doubt that, even in poverty, they had something that we didn't have. When I got back, I realized the extent to which people in the West were like spoiled children.......I can look at it now, and recognize that 'Where the Streets Have No Name' has one of the most banal couplets in the history of pop music. But it also contains some of the biggest ideas. In a curious way, that seems to work. If you get any way heavy about these things, you don't communicate. But if you're flip or throwaway about it, then you do. That's one of the paradoxes I've had to come to terms with." (1996:Into The Heart)

Bono: "...the guy in the song recognizes this contrast and thinks about a world where there aren't such divisions, a place where the streets have no name. To me, that's the way a great rock 'n' roll concert should be: a place where everyone comes together... Maybe that's the dream of all art: to break down the barriers and the divisions between people and touch upon the things that matter the most to us all." ()

: "" ()


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Lead vocalist Bono wrote the lyrics in response to the notion that it is possible to identify a person's religion and income based on the street on which they lived, particularly in Belfast. During the band's difficulties recording the song, producer Brian Eno considered erasing the song's tapes to have them start from scratch. ..... The lyrics were inspired by a story that Bono heard about the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where a person's religion and income are evident by the street they live on. Bono wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to Ethiopia with his wife, Ali Hewson; he first wrote them down on an airsickness bag while staying in a village.

The music for "Where the Streets Have No Name" originated from a demo that guitarist The Edge composed the night before the group resumed The Joshua Tree sessions. In an upstairs room at Melbeach House—his newly purchased home—The Edge used a four-track tape machine to record an arrangement of keyboards, bass, guitar, and a drum machine. Realising that the album sessions were approaching the end and that the band were short on exceptional live songs, The Edge wanted to "conjure up the ultimate U2 live-song", so he imagined what he would like to hear at a future U2 show if he were a fan.[2] After finishing the rough mix, he felt he had come up with "the most amazing guitar part and song of [his] life". With no one in the house to share the demo with, The Edge recalls dancing around and punching the air in celebration. ..... The studio version of the song was compiled from several different takes. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitars
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums
Brian Eno – synthesizers
Daniel Lanois – percussion

Produced: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Engineered: Flood, Pat McCarthy
Mixed: Steve Lillywhite
Recorded at: Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland, 1986
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VIDEO

Bono: "an anthem of doubt more than faith." (Rolling Stone)

The Edge: "We were listening to some Gospel during The Joshua Tree sessions - I remember The Mighty Clouds and the Reverend Cleveland and The Staple Singers. The original was more loose, almost Jamaican. Bono hit on the melody and I had the title in a notebook. At first, no one took it that seriously because it sounded so unlike anything we'd ever done and it didn't gel until the mix, but when it was finished we all realized that we had something special. The reviewers didn't like it though. One American said it was a pale imitation of the original form and that Foreigner song I Want To Know What Love Is was better." (1998:Q Magazine)

Bono: "A kind of Gospel song with a restless spirit." (various introductions of song)

Daniel Lanois: "I've always liked gospel music and I encouraged Bono to take it to that place...It was a very non-U2 thing to do at the time, to go up the street of gospel. I think it opened a door for them, to experiment with that territory...[Bono]'s singing at the top of his range and there is something very compelling about somebody pushing themselves. It's like hearing Aretha Franklin almost. It jumps on you and you can't help but feel the feeling."
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The song originated from a demo the band recorded on which drummer Larry Mullen Jr. played a unique rhythm pattern. Like much of The Joshua Tree, the song was inspired by the group's interest in American music. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" exhibits influences from gospel music and its lyrics describe spiritual yearning. ..... After the Edge wrote a chord sequence and played it on acoustic guitar "with a lot of power in the strumming", the group attempted to compose a suitable vocal melody, trying out a variety of ideas. During a jam session, Bono began singing a "classic soul" melody, and it was this addition that made the Edge hear the song's potential. At that point, he remembered a phrase he had written in a notebook that morning as a possible song title, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for". He suggests it was influenced by a line from the Bob Dylan song "Idiot Wind": "You'll find out when you reach the top you're on the bottom". He wrote the phrase on a piece of paper and handed it to Bono while he was singing. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono - lead vocals
The Edge - guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton - bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. - drums
Brian Eno - backing vocals
Daniel Lanois - backing vocals

Produced: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Danesmoate House, Dublin, Ireland, 1986
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VIDEO

Bono: "It's a song about a man living on little or no romance. It's a song about women - or a woman - but it's addressed to him. I've always believed that the spirit is a feminine thing," he says. At times I do tend to idealize women. It's easy to fall into the trap of separating them into angels and devils for the sake of the drama. But there's no way that there's ever anything anti-women involved. Our songs are not politically correct. They are written from a man's point of view. He's wrestling with different things, there's a flash of anger and hurt here and there. But I don't think women come out badly." (Into The Heart)

Bono: "U2 at our funkiest... Sly and The Family Stone meets Madchester baggy. … a bass line in search of a song"

The Edge: "the key to the song was finding ways to mess around with chords on top without having to change the bass"
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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.[3] 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.

"Mysterious Ways" began as an improvised demo called "Sick Puppy" that the group recorded at STS Studios in Dublin, as vocalist Bono, guitarist The Edge, and bassist Adam Clayton jammed over a drum machine. The band liked Clayton's bassline, which originated during their recording of a cover version of "Night and Day" and for a while, consisted of little more than a "one-note groove". However, the band had difficulties completing the remainder of the song melodically.

As U2 continued to struggle with the song, the tense atmosphere of the recording sessions at Hansa Studios in Berlin took its toll. Producer Daniel Lanois arrived at the studios early one morning before the band to work on ideas he had for the song. When Bono arrived, he began singing and contributing vocal ideas, but this conflicted with what Lanois had in mind for the track. Bono and a frustrated Lanois proceeded to argue intensely for over two hours, worrying sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy that a physical altercation would ensue.

The band made progress on "Mysterious Ways" after The Edge began experimenting with the "Funk Wah" setting on a Korg A3 guitar effects unit and Bono told him to use it for the song. Drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. recorded a drum track near the end of the sessions, introducing a "much groovier beat" that "demonstrated the difference between a drum machine and a real drummer”

Several different verses were written, but The Edge advocated those with a "nursery rhyme feel", such as "Johnny, take a walk with your sister in the moon / Let her pale light in to fill up the room". He also composed the chorus' reassuring line, "It's all right / It's all right / It's all right", wanting to prove a point since no prior U2 song contained the line. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Daniel Lanois - additional percussion

Produced: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Engineered: Flood
Recorded at: STS, Dublin, Ireleand
... and Hansa Ton Studios Berlin, Germany
... and Elsinore, Dublin, Ireland
....and Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland, all 1990–1991
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VIDEO

Bono: "I remembered a wise old man who said to me, don't try and fight darkness with light, just make the light shine brighter. I was giving Reagan too much importance, then I thought Martin Luther King, there's a man. We build the positive rather than fighting with the finger." (NME)

Bono: I looked at how glorious that song was and thought: 'What the fuck is that all about?' It's just a load of vowel sounds ganging up on a great man. It is emotionally very articulate - if you didn't speak English language." (U2 by U2)

The Edge: "Because of the situation in our country nonviolent struggle was such an inspiring concept. Even so when Bono told me he wanted to write about King. At first I said, 'Woah, that's not what we're about.' Then he came in and sang the song and it felt right, it was great. When that happens there's no argument. It just was." (1998; Q magazine)

Bono: "The most successful pop song we've ever written. You can see there is a certain craft to the songwriting. I use the word "Pop" in the best possible sense; pop for me is an easily understood thing, you listen to it and you comprehend it almost immediately. You relate to it instinctively. A lot of the album isn't like that at all." (1980’s) (1980’s)
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Written about Martin Luther King, Jr. ….. The song had been intended to be based on Ronald Reagan's pride in America's military power but after the lyricist Bono had been influenced by Stephen B. Oates's book Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a biography of Malcolm X, these caused him to ponder the different sides of the civil rights campaigns, the violent and the non-violent.[1] In subsequent years, Bono has expressed his dissatisfaction with the lyrics, which he describes, along with another Unforgettable Fire song "Bad", as being "left as simple sketches". He says he was swayed by The Edge and producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who played down the need to develop the lyrics as they thought their impressionistic nature would give added forcefulness to the song's feeling, particularly when heard by non-English speakers. The song contains the erroneous reference to King's shooting as "Early morning, April 4", when it actually occurred after 6 p.m. Bono acknowledges the error and in live performances he occasionally changes the lyric to "Early evening...". (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums
Chrissie Hynde – backing vocals

Produced: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Slane Castle, County Meath, Ireland, 1984
..... and Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland, 1984

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VIDEO

Bono: "a man who has lost everything, but finds joy in what he still has."

The Edge: "As a straight rock song, it was pretty ho-hum."

The Edge: "(The song) had come through various different incarnations and though we'd always felt it had something it was kind of hard to see where it was going. Really, the moment it got exciting was when Bono hit on the lyric: 'It's a beautiful day.' It seems in some ways such a banal sort of lyric, but combined with the music something wild happened and we all recognized it. Then Brian (Eno) contribution was that fantastically Euro kick drum opening and keyboard line, and that gave us the clue as to where it should go next." (2010:Mojo)
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Lead singer Bono explained that the upbeat track is about losing everything but still finding joy in what one has. ..... "Beautiful Day" was written in several stages, originating from a composition called "Always" ..... "Beautiful Day" was written in several stages, originating from a composition called "Always" (later released as a B-side) that the band created in a small room at Hanover Quay Studio. However, they were initially unimpressed with it. After lead vocalist Bono came up with the "beautiful day" lyric, the song went in a different direction. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums
Brian Eno – synthesizers

Produced: Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: HQ in Dublin, Ireland, 2000

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VIDEO

Bono: "It was reflective of the times [the band] were living in, when people were no longer looking for the truth, [they] were all looking for instant gratification."”
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This song began with the title "The Real Thing" during the Rattle And Hum sessions. It's a play on the Coca-Cola slogan "It's The Real Thing," and the song was intended to make a statement about commercialism. (Songfacts)

"Even Better Than the Real Thing" originated from a chorus guitar riff that The Edge composed in Los Angeles during the Rattle and Hum sessions. A demo of the song, called "The Real Thing", was recorded at STS Studios during the same session in which "Desire" was recorded. The band remarked that the song's guitar riff reminded them of The Rolling Stones, but that it sounded "deeply traditional". Consequently, it was shelved until the Achtung Baby recording sessions, when the band took the multitrack recording of the demo to Hansa Studios in Berlin in late 1990. The band made little progress on the demo there, as the Berlin sessions were fraught with conflict and difficulty in completing songs.

The recording sessions, as well as the general mood, improved after the band returned to Dublin in 1991 to record at the "Elsinore" mansion on the Dalkey coastline. The song turned around after The Edge purchased a DigiTech Whammy effects pedal, which created a "double octave sweep" on the guitar riff. The band rediscovered their sense of fun and incorporated that into the writing of the song. Producer Brian Eno originally argued against the song's inclusion on the album when it contained the lyric "There ain't nothing like the real thing", claiming the song had to be "more ironic". After the lyric was revised to "Even better than the real thing", Eno changed his stance and supported the song's inclusion. Richard Branson requested to use the song in advertisements for his "Virgin Cola" to compete with Coca-Cola (who had been using the tagline "the real thing" for years), but the band declined. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums

Produced: Steve Lillywhite, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Engineered: Paul Barrett, Robbie Adams
Recorded at: Mansion, Dalkey coastline, Ireland
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VIDEO

Bono: "I found my voice through Joey Ramone, because I wasn't the obvious punk-rock singer, or even rock singer. I sang like a girl - which I'm into now, but when I was 17 or 18, I wasn't sure. And I heard Joey Ramone, who sang like a girl, and that was my way in." (2014: Rolling Stone)
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The song pays tribute to Joey Ramone, the lead singer of Ramones who had a strong influence on Bono. During their teenage years, U2 snuck into a Ramones concert, and the experience of watching Joey perform made Bono feel less self-conscious about his own singing.

"The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" originated from U2's recording sessions with Danger Mouse in 2010, initially consisting of a drum loop and acoustic guitar. Under the input of producers Ryan Tedder and Paul Epworth, it evolved into a rockier song called "Siren" , with one lyric comparing the music of the punk rock band Ramones to a siren song. The band settled on the final melody and lyrics with Epworth during the album's final two months of sessions. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals, keyboards
The Edge – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion
Brian Burton – keyboards
Ryan Tedder – keyboards
Paul Epworth – keyboards
Declan Gaffney – acoustic guitar
Choir - Greg Clark, Carlos Ricketts, Tabitha Fair, Kim Hill, Quiona McCollum, Nicki Richards, Everett Bradley, Bobby Harden, Ada Dyer

Produced: Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: ??

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VIDEO

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" has its origins in the sessions for the band's 1993 album, Zooropa. Bono described it as being about "being in a rock band" and "being a star". The song's title comes from a play on the classic song "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" and it is actually visible (along with the titles of other discarded demos) on the album cover of Zooropa, written in purple text. (Wikipedia)

(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals
The Edge – guitar, string arrangement
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums

Produced: Nellee Hooper, Bono and the Edge
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: ??

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VIDEO

The Edge: "Music's become too scientific, it's lost that spunk and energy that it had in the '50s and '60s. When I listen to most modern records I hear a producer, I don't hear musicians interacting. And that quality, that missing quality is something we were trying to get back into our own music. What I like about Desire is that if there's ever been a cool #1 to have in the UK, that's it because it's totally not what people are listening to or what's in the charts at the moment. Instead it's going in exactly the opposite direction. It's a rock and roll record - in no way is it a pop song." (1988:Hot Press)
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The band cite The Stooges' song "1969" as the primary influence on "Desire", which is an interpolation of the Bo Diddley Beat. (Wikipedia)

This is about the ambition and dedication required to be a successful band. It also criticizes American preachers who swindle followers out of their money. … The song incorporates a blues style. U2 became interested in American forms of music - gospel, blues, folk - after touring there in the early and mid '80s. (Songfacts)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals, harmonica
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion

Produced: Jimmy Iovine
Engineered:
Recorded at: STS Studios, Dublin, Ireland

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VIDEO

Bono: "Love, in the highest sense of the word, is the only thing that you can always take with you, in your heart. At some point you are going to have to lose everything else anyway."

Bono: (about) "nobility and personal sacrifice, about doing what's right, even if your heart is telling you otherwise."
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The song was written about Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese academic who was chairperson of the National League for Democracy and was placed under house arrest from 1989 until 2010 for her pro-democracy activities. In March 2000, U2 were awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin at a ceremony where the Burmese academic Aung San Suu Kyi was honoured but absent. The band had never heard of Suu Kyi prior to that and soon developed an interest in learning about her. The group found out that her activism and fighting for freedom in Burma led to her being under house arrest since 1989 (a sentence that was later ended in 2010). "Walk On" was subsequently written about and dedicated to Suu Kyi. It was written in the form of a supporting, uplifting anthem, praising her for activism. He compares the subject of the song to a Biblical passage in Corinthians. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals, guitar
The Edge – guitar, piano, vocals
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Brian Eno – synthesisers, programming, backing vocals, string arrangement
Daniel Lanois – backing vocals, additional guitar

Produced: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Additional produced – Steve Lillywhite, Mike Hedges, Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher
Engineered: Richard Rainey, Chris Heaney, Alvin Sweeney, Jay Goin
Recorded at: HQ, Dublin, Ireland

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VIDEO

Written as a homage to Billie Holiday, it was released with two different B-sides; one was an original U2 song called "A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel", while the other was a live version of Rattle and Hum's "Love Rescue Me". The lyrical content of the song refers to various New York City-area landmarks, including JFK airport, WBLS radio and Harlem. It also refers to jazz-related history including John Coltrane and A Love Supreme, Birdland club, Miles Davis and Holiday herself ("Lady Day"). (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono — vocals, guitar
The Edge — guitar
Adam Clayton — bass
Larry Mullen Jr. — drums, percussion
The Memphis Horns — brass
Joey Miskulin — organ

Produced: Jimmy Iovine
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

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VIDEO

Bono: “This really is personal, very very personal, This man (Nelson Mandela) turned our life upside down, right side up. A man who refused to hate but he thought love would do a better job. We wrote a love song because its kind of what's extraordinary about the film. It's a dysfunctional love story."

Bono: "We had three or four goes at it to get it right. The lyrics changed course for me after reading his love letters to Winnie. Maybe the reason they asked us was to do a kind of 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' moment, but it just did not seem correct. The only place in his life he felt that he was the loser in the conflict, that his enemies had prevailed, was in his marriage. He just couldn't make that work, and the most important part of that film is the love story." (Billboard)

The Edge: "When we got the call from Harvey to say, 'It's happening, are you in?,' it was like, 'Oh man, really? Now?'. But we just had to do it, with the history that we have with the man and the cause." (Billboard)
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It was written to honour Nelson Mandela and is included in the biography film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The song was given a limited 10-inch vinyl release on Record Store Day, 29 November 2013, less than a week before Mandela died. U2 had been friends with Nelson Mandela for several years, having played concerts in South Africa. When movie producer Harvey Weinstein invited the band to write a song for the soundtrack of the Mandela biography film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, they responded with a quick "yes" according to Weinstein. After seeing early cuts of the film, the group were inspired to write a song reflecting upon Mandela. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton, Danger Mouse)

Bono – lead vocals, piano
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals, piano
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Danger Mouse – piano, additional synthesizers
Angel Deradoorian – additional backing vocals
Declan Gaffney – piano, additional synthesizers
Barry Gorey – synthesizers, Wurlitzer

Produced: Danger Mouse
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: ??
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VIDEO

Bono: "It would be stupid to start drawing up battle lines, but I think the fact that 'New Year's Day' made the Top Ten indicated a disillusionment among record buyers. I don't think 'New Year's Day' was a pop single, certainly not in the way that Mickie Most might define a pop single as something that lasts three minutes and three weeks in the chart. I don't think we could have written that kind of song." (1983)
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Written about the Polish Solidarity movement, "New Year's Day" is driven by Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and the Edge's piano and guitar playing. ..... The lyric had its origins in a love song from Bono to his wife, but was subsequently reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement. The bass part stemmed from bassist Adam Clayton trying to figure out what the chords to the Visage song "Fade to Grey" were. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals
The Edge – guitar, piano
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums

Produced: Steve Lillywhite
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, May 1982
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VIDEO

Bono: "It's a song I feel we didn't quite nail on the record because there was another whole set of lyrics that were dumped and I wrote those quickly and off we went."

Steve Lillywhite: "They hated that song. I spent a month on it and I still don't think it was as realised as it could've been. The Americans had heard it and said, 'That's your radio song there', because they were having trouble with some of the more industrial elements [of the album]. It's almost like a covers band doing a U2 moment. Maybe we tried too hard."

Adam Clayton: "It's a great torch song, with melody and emotion, but I don't think we ever captured it again and we have never really been able to play the song live."
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"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" began as a demo that the band recorded at STS Studios in 1990. The band worked on it during the formal Achtung Baby sessions, including several failed attempts at Hansa Studios in Berlin. This produced several versions of the song and about a dozen mixes. However, the original demo remained their preferred version. Producer Jimmy Iovine, in particular, expressed his preference for the demo version when lead vocalist Bono played it for him. During the group's time recording in Dublin in 1991, producer Steve Lillywhite was brought on to provide a "fresh pair of ears" and mix the song. The album version most closely resembles the original demo. (Wikipedia)


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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals, guitar
The Edge – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion

Produced: Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Engineered: Robbie Adams, Paul Barrett, Flood, Joe O'Herlihy
Recorded at: Dublin, Ireland

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VIDEO

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. In 1987, King played a show in Dublin and found out U2 would be in the audience. This made him nervous, as U2 had just released The Joshua Tree and were wildly 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 this was the result. (Songfacts)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals, additional guitar, harmonica
B.B. King – guest vocals, lead guitar
The Edge – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Rebecca Evans Russell – backing vocals
Phyllis Duncan – backing vocals
Helen Duncan – backing vocals

Produced: Jimmy Iovine
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
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VIDEO

Bono: "In the case of 'Vertigo,' I was thinking about this awful nightclub we've all been to. You're supposed to be having a great time and everything's extraordinary around you and the drinks are the price of buying a bar in a Third World country. ...you're just looking around and you see big, fat Capitalism at the top of its mountain, just about to topple. It's that woozy, sick feeling of realizing that here we are, drinking, eating, polluting, robbing ourselves to death. And in the middle of the club, there's this girl. She has crimson nails. I don't even know if she's beautiful, it doesn't matter but she has a cross around her neck, and the character in this stares at the cross just to steady himself.[" (U2 by U2)

Bono: "the mother of all rock 'n' roll tunes. I don't know where it came from but it's a remarkable guitar thing. You want to hear it - it's a reason to make a record. The song is that good!" (webchat)
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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. (Songfacts)

During the Hot to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb recording sessions, "Vertigo" was originally recorded as a song called "Full Metal Jacket". The title was later changed to "Native Son". The lyrics in this iteration are about a native man who was against his country due to his lack of freedoms, an idea originally inspired by Leonard Peltier.[5][6] The song went through several different musical and lyrical arrangements, but the band struggled to find a version they liked. Steve Lillywhite was brought in to try to find a mix that worked while Bono took a break from the album sessions; on his return, Lillywhite asked him if he would be able to sing the "Native Son" lyrics in front of an audience, and Bono found the experience too uncomfortable. New lyrics were written and Lillywhite helped the band rearrange the song. It was at this point that the song was rewritten into "Vertigo."[7][8] At 3:08 long, "Native Son" is just a few seconds short of the run time of "Vertigo." (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals
The Edge – vocals, guitar
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums

Produced: Steve Lillywhite
Engineered:
Recorded at: HQ, Dublin, Ireland, and South of France, 2003-2004
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VIDEO

"I Will Follow" was written three weeks before U2 began recording Boy. U2 singer Bono has said that he wrote the song from his mother's perspective and that it was about the unconditional love a mother has for her child. His mother died following her own father's funeral when Bono was fourteen, which the singer says plunged him into emotional turmoil for the next few years. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals
The Edge – guitar
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums

Produced: Steve Lillywhite
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland

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VIDEO

Bono: "[My] lyric was really good, the tune is pretty good, and the hook is pretty average - thanks to The Edge"

Bono: "The desert was immensely inspirational to us as a mental image for this record. Most people would take the desert on face value and think it's some kind of barren place, which of course is true. But, in the right frame of mind it's also a very positive image., because you can actually do something with a blank canvas, which is effectively what the desert is."

Adam Clayton: "The desert was immensely inspirational to us as a mental image for this record. Most people would take the desert on face value and think it's some kind of barren place, which of course is true. But, in the right frame of mind it's also a very positive image., because you can actually do something with a blank canvas, which is effectively what the desert is."
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"In God's Country" was a difficult song for the band to record, which they put down to not being trained musicians, and they do not speak overly highly of it. During The Joshua Tree sessions, they knew it was not going be one of their best songs but they needed more up-tempo songs.[3] It was developed out of Bono's frustration at trying to get "...a bit of Rock'n'Roll out of [U2 guitarist], The Edge". Bono tried to inspire The Edge by teasing and playing on his competitive instincts by claiming to be a better guitarist. Of the song, Bono said "[My] lyric was really good, the tune is pretty good, and the hook is pretty average - thanks to The Edge". Played in the key of D, the verses of the studio version alternates between D and A minor chords. The first chorus repeats an Em-G-D-Em-G-D chord progression while the second chorus repeats a C-G-D-C-G-D progression.

Bono has stated that he originally didn't know whether the song was about Ireland or America, but eventually dedicated it to the Statue of Liberty. The song characterises the United States as a desert rose, a siren whose dress is torn in "ribbons and bows". The lyric speaks of a lack of political ideas in The West which Bono later contrasted to the revolution in Nicaragua where he had travelled during the recording of The Joshua Tree. Along with "Where The Streets Have No Name", "In God's Country"'s "cinematic" lyrics and sound reference the desert in accordance with the band's wish for The Joshua Tree to have a sense of location. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono - lead vocals
The Edge - guitar, piano, backing vocals
Adam Clayton - bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. - drums
Brian Eno - backing vocals
Daniel Lanois - backing vocals

Produced: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland, 1986
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VIDEO

Larry Mullen, Jr.: "We're into the politics of people, we're not into politics. Like you talk about Northern Ireland, 'Sunday Bloody Sunday,' people sort of think, 'Oh, that time when 13 Catholics were shot by British soldiers'; that's not what the song is about. That's an incident, the most famous incident in Northern Ireland and it's the strongest way of saying, 'How long? How long do we have to put up with this?' I don't care who's who – Catholics, Protestants, whatever. You know people are dying every single day through bitterness and hate, and we're saying why? What's the point? And you can move that into places like El Salvador and other similar situations – people dying. Let's forget the politics, let's stop shooting each other and sit around the table and talk about it... There are a lot of bands taking sides saying politics is crap, etc. Well, so what! The real battle is people dying, that's the real battle." ()

Bono: "it was a song whose eloquence lay in its harmonic power rather than its verbal strength."
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"Sunday Bloody Sunday" grew from a guitar riff and lyric written by the Edge in 1982. While newlyweds Bono and Ali Hewson honeymooned in Jamaica, the Edge worked in Ireland on music for the band's upcoming album. Following an argument with his girlfriend, and a period of doubt in his own song-writing abilities, the Edge—"feeling depressed... channelled [his] fear and frustration and self-loathing into a piece of music." This early draft did not yet have a title or chorus melody, but did contain a structural outline and theme. After Bono had reworked the lyrics, the band recorded the song at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin.

The direct impetus for the lyrics was an encounter with IRA supporters in New York City. As a promotional gimmick, U2 manager Paul McGuinness had made arrangements for the band to appear in the 1982 St. Patrick's Day parade. However, he later found that there was a possibility that Bobby Sands, an IRA hunger striker who had starved to death the previous year, would be the parade's honorary marshal. As they felt that the IRA's tactics were prolonging the fighting in Northern Ireland, McGuinness and the band members mutually decided they should withdraw from the parade. McGuinness met with one of the parade's organizers in a New York bar to arrange the cancellation, and ended up in a heated debate about the IRA.

The band have said the lyrics refer to the events of both Bloody Sunday and Bloody Sunday (in 1972 and 1920, respectively), but are not specifically about either event. The song takes the standpoint of someone horrified by the cycle of violence in the province. Bono rewrote the Edge's initial lyrics, attempting to contrast the two events with Easter Sunday, but he has said that the band were too inexperienced at the time to fully realise that goal, (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums
Steve Wickham – electric violin

Produced: Steve Lillywhite
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, July 1982
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VIDEO

Bono: "Unlike happiness, joy is one of the hardest human emotions to contrive for an artist but it is the mark of my favorite artists whether that be the Beatles, Prince, Beethoven, Oasis. It is life force itself. And I think something to do with the spilling over of gratitude for just being alive. Indeed as I think of it, Beethoven has his 'Ode To Joy.' The Supremes singing 'Stop! In the Name of Love' to me is one of the great anti-war songs. Although think it's about a lover's betrayal, the highness of the melody, the simplicity of the statement could be Ramones, could be Coldplay but I don't think there's anything more defiant than joy in difficult times. And the essence of romance is defiance. This is where rock & roll came in, this is what makes us useful. We must resist surrendering to melancholy for only the most special moments. That's a long way to say check our new single out, 'You're the Best Thing About Me,' it's kind of like punk Supremes." (Rolling Stones)
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Guitarist the Edge said that "You're the Best Thing About Me" originated from an attempt to write a song in the spirit of Motown, combining rhythmic music with a joyful mood, although he said there was nothing "obviously Motown" about the end result. Lead vocalist Bono referred to the song as "defiant joy", something that he and the Edge said was more important than ever in the "difficult times" in which they were living. The song first emerged in August 2016 as an electronic dance remix by Norwegian DJ Kygo, which he played during his performance at the Cloud 9 Festival. The song was mentioned in an April 2017 issue of Mojo as a potential contender for Songs of Experience, albeit with a slightly different title.

According to the Edge, the song was one of several from the album for which Bono wrote lyrics to his friends and family after having a "major scare where he really wasn't sure he would be around very much in the future". Bono composed the lyrics after having a dream that he "had destroyed something that's most important to [him] – [his] relationship" with his wife Ali. The Edge described "You're the Best Thing About Me" as a love song but with another layer, as it raises the "cosmic question... why when everything is perfect do we have a tendency to mess it up?" Anticipating a reaction to the song, Bono joked, "You're putting out a song about your girlfriend when the world is on fire?" The song title was inspired by a comment that Irish media personality Eamon Dunphy made to Bono in a Dublin bar, telling him the best thing about him was Ali.

"You're the Best Thing About Me" was completed one week prior to its release as a single. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Jacknife Lee – additional keyboards, programming
Ryan Tedder – programming
Brent Kutzle – additional programming
Davide Rossi – strings

Produced: Jacknife Lee, Ryan Tedder, Steve Lillywhite, Brent Kutzle
Engineered: Jacknife Lee, Matt Bishop, Tyler Spry, Rich Rich, Matty Green
Recorded:

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VIDEO

Bono: "It was written like a phone call from Hell, but the guy liked it there. People thought we were just mocking rock'n'roll stardom and all that, but actually I was just owning up to it." (Rolling Stone)

Bono: "The sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree."

Bono: "The song hasn't stood the test of time." (2001)

Bono: "One day, [engineer] Flood had a different look in his eye. It started to feel good. We recorded 'The Fly'. Edge's guitar sound was literally like a fly had broken into your brain and was buzzing around."

Bono: "I became very interested in these single-line aphorisms. I had been writing them, so I got this character who could say them all, from 'A liar won't believe anybody else' to 'A friend is someone who lets you down,' and that's where 'The Fly' was coming from."

The Edge: "….make studio professionals laugh… (and believes) part of the reason why [the song] sounds so dynamic is because it was a real hands-on performance mix. …. really crazy natural phasing effect"

Adam Clayton: "at that time, it was impossible to know whether U2 fans would follow Bono down this particular path, so [the song] was a real leap of faith. The whole track is a high-energy sonic barrage but with an angelic chorus. It's a classic example of U2 and Eno interfacing."
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The writing of "The Fly" began during recording sessions for Achtung Baby at Berlin's Hansa Studios in 1990. The song's origins can be traced to a demo recorded there, which eventually evolved into the B-side "Lady With the Spinning Head". The demo was among the material that was bootlegged from the Berlin sessions and released as Salome: The Axtung Beibi Sessions. In 1991, the album's recording sessions moved to the seaside mansion "Elsinore" in Dalkey, where the group continued to work on the demo. It was troublesome, but it inspired portions of three separate songs, "The Fly" being one of them, and "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" and "Zoo Station" the other two.

While recording the song, Bono devised a persona he called "The Fly", and it is from this character's perspective that Bono wrote the lyrics. He recalls that during the recording sessions, Fintan Fitzgerald, in charge of the band's wardrobe, found a 1970s pair of wraparound blaxploitation sunglasses. Bono would put them on and make everyone laugh whenever they faced a problem or disagreement. Towards the end of the sessions, the band decided that they were unhappy with the mix to "The Fly", which was selected well in advance of the album's release to be the first single. The band ended up taking the song's mix, placing it on a two-inch multi-track tape, and adding additional vocals and guitars. The Edge and producer Daniel Lanois mixed on top of the previous mix live in the studio, an unusual practice. . (above 2: Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals, guitar
The Edge – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion

Produced: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Engineered: Flood
Recorded at: Hansa Ton Studios, Berlin, Germany
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VIDEO

This was U2's first experiment with Electronica. Disc Jockey Howie B put together the backing track. It was a popular song in dance clubs, but alienated many of U2's fans. (Songfacts)

"Discothθque", the lead single, begins with a distorted acoustic guitar that is passed through a loud amplifier and a filter pedal, along with being processed through an ARP 2600 synthesizer. The song's riff and techno dance rhythm are then introduced. The break in the song's rhythm section features guitar sounds utilizing "Big Cheese", an effects pedal made by Lovetone. Writer John D. Luerssen noted that the song is "often cited as U2's first experiment with electronica," calling it "a continuation of the experimentation the band had done on Zooropa." (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Produced: Flood
Engineered: Steve Osborne , Howie B, Mark "Spike" Stent, Alan Moulder
Recorded at: ??
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VIDEO

The Edge: "I was playing around on piano with some old-school chord progressions trying to summon up the spirit of Frank Sinatra. It's definitely not from a rock and roll tradition."

Adam Clayton: "it was hard to figure out how we would do it. I mean, no one is going to mistake us for Frank Sinatra's backing band. A very humble little combo sound is what we ended up with and that really worked."[

The Edge: "it came to us in installments ..... we heard Wim Wenders was looking for a song... so I had a go at finishing it."

Bono: "the film was about angels who want to be human and who want to be on Earth. But to do so they have to become mortal. That was a great image to play with - the impossibility of wanting something like this, and then the cost of having it."

Bono: "This is from the period where we got art-y, we went to Berlin, and started out on two extraordinary albums by our point of view (Achtung Baby and Zooropa). Then we thought we were genius. Pop we just floated out there.. this song was kind of a diary of the float.. you find some extraordinary things while you are out there." (2001:Elevation tour)
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The earliest incarnation of "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" was developed during the recording sessions for Achtung Baby. While working in Hansa Ton Studios in Berlin, guitarist The Edge and lead singer Bono created the verse. The track was given the working title "Sinatra" in reference to the artist whose music inspired it. The group reworked it in preparation of Zooropa. ..... As the recording sessions progressed, Wim Wenders approached the band and asked them for a song for his next film, Faraway, So Close! ..... . Close to the completion of the recording Bono renamed the song "Stay." Wanting to further reference the Wenders film he then changed it once more, to "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)"(Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion

Produced: Flood
Engineered: Flood, Robbie Adams
Recorded at: Dublin, Ireland, Feb.–May 1993
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VIDEO

The song was written with the line "Stuck together with God's glue," which was taken directly from the title of the album by the Irish band Something Happens, who are good friends with U2. (Wikipedia)


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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals, additional guitar
The Edge – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion, programming

Produced: Flood
Engineered: Steve Osborne , Howie B, Mark "Spike" Stent, Alan Moulder
Recorded at: ??

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VIDEO

The Edge: "started just with me playing and Larry drumming. And we took it from there." (Rolling Stone)

Daniel Lanois: "Edge came up with that at home. That riff. He had a pretty solid demo of that. Some things were born - that 'Let me in the sound' - that section came quite late. It was a little chant thing we all loved. Bono was batting lyrics around on that. It always had that great energy. Everyone worked real hard on that. I did my bit with that simple - it may seem simple - that little dub 'love' - was compliments Danny Lanois." (The National Post)
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Originally known as "Four Letter Word" and later as "Sexy Boots," "Get On Your Boots" originated as a demo that guitarist the Edge recorded at his home with the software GarageBand. The song went through many iterations, and at one point the main guitar riff was dropped, leading producer Steve Lillywhite to describe it as "a Beck B side" that could have been cut from the album. ..... Thematically, the song is about Bono taking his family on vacation to France and witnessing warplanes flying overhead at the start of the Iraq War; some of the lyrics are from the perspective of a man writing a letter to his first love as he relates witnessing the same event. The "let me in the sound" chant was developed comparatively late in the recording sessions. It was also used in the opening section of "Fez – Being Born." (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals, guitar
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals, piano
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion
Caroline Dale – cello
Brian Eno – rhythm loop, programming, synthesizers, vocals
Daniel Lanois – guitar, vocals
Terry Lawless – piano, Fender Rhodes, keyboards
Sam O'Sullivan – percussion
Cathy Thompson – violin
Louis Watkins – boy soprano
Richard Watkins – French horn
will.i.am – keyboards, vocals

Produced: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Declan Gaffney
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: ??

(band credits refer to album)
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VIDEO

Bono described the song as being about the difficulty of "giv[ing] yourself completely to another person", with lyrical characters who are "addicted to sort of failure and rebirth". He referred to the chorus lines "Every dog on the street / Knows we're in love with defeat / Are we ready to be swept off our feet / And stop chasing every breaking wave" as a chance for the characters of two lovers to "make a break for it".

Every Breaking Wave" was originally intended to be included on U2's 2009 studio album No Line on the Horizon. However, the track was ultimately left off the album. Bono mentioned tentative plans for the group to release a follow-up record, Songs of Ascent, comprising songs from No Line's recording sessions, and said that the first single was intended to be "Every Breaking Wave". However, the project was continually delayed, as U2 struggled to complete an album to their satisfaction and were limited by other commitments. As the band continued recording for their next studio album, the song was altered; after Ryan Tedder was brought on as a co-producer in 2013, the song was one of the tracks that he changed most, as he introduced a new chorus melody and moved the old one to the song's bridge. (Wikipedia)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals, dulcimer
The Edge – guitar, keyboards
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion
Ryan Tedder – keyboards
Brian Burton – keyboards
Declan Gaffney – keyboards

Produced: Danger Mouse, Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney
Engineered: Declan Gaffney, Kennie Takahashi
Recorded at: California and New York, USA, 2010–2014
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VIDEO

Bono: "It's about a couple in a room feeling a storm brewing in the sky outside and equating that to the pressure they feel in their relationship. I think it captures a sense of unease I feel around the world, especially in America, an air of nervous anticipation. It's not an overtly political song, but I don't think we could have written it before what happened in New York."
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums

Produced: William Orbit

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VIDEO

U2's lead singer Bono wrote the song about the suicide of his close friend Michael Hutchence, lead singer of the band INXS. The song is written in the form of an argument about suicide in which Bono tries to convince Hutchence of the act's foolishness. Bono characterized the song as a fight between friends, which he felt guilty for never having with Hutchence. ..... "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" emerged while The Edge was working on a gospel-influenced chord progression on the piano. (Wikipedia)
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Bono: "It's a row between mates. You're kinda trying to wake them up out of an idea. In my case it's a row I didn't have while he was alive. I feel the biggest respect I could pay to him was not to write some stupid soppy song, so I wrote a really tough, nasty little number, slapping him around the head. And I'm sorry, but that's how it came out of me." (2005)

Bono: "We discussed suicide a few times and we both agreed how pathetic it was." (Rolling Stone)
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(Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton)

Bono – vocals, guitar, synthesisers
The Edge – guitar, piano, vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Brian Eno – synthesisers, programming, backing vocals, string arrangement
Daniel Lanois – backing vocals, additional guitar
Paul Barrett – brass

Produced: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Engineered: Richard Rainey
Recorded at: ??

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