New Year's Day

The Unforgettable Fire
New Year's Day
History of the Band
Three
Boy
October
War
Under a Blood Red Sky
The Unforgettable Fire
Wide Awake in America
The Joshua Tree
Rattle and Hum
Achtung Baby!
Zooropa
Melon
Original Soundtrack No. 1
Pop
PopHeart
The Best of 1980 - 1990
Hasta La Vista Baby!
All That You Can't Leave Behind
7
The Best of 1990-2000
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
U2.Communication
U218 Singles

the fourth album...

The title refers to a series of paintings made by survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The band saw the paintings at The Peace Museum in Chicago. The museum also had an exhibit on Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

It was recorded at Slane Castle and finished at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. Contrary to expectation, the castle depicted on the cover is not Slane but Moydrum Castle.

 

The album has an indistinct, atmospheric sound that emphasizes mood and ambiance over hooks and melody and explores the intricacies of The Edge's uniquely minimalist guitar sound. Its recording was rushed to meet the band's tour schedule, giving it an unfinished feel that complements its somewhat recondite songcraft. "The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan." --Bono, 1987

 

Thematically, the album began the band's fascination with America and centered around the "two kings", Martin Luther King, Jr. and Elvis Presley. The former was elegized with the rousing, anthemic "Pride (In the Name of Love)"--the first single from the album, which cracked the UK Top 5 and the US Top 50--and the sparse, dreamlike "MLK". The latter is acknowledged by the murky, bumbling "Elvis Presley and America", an improvised track that takes the album's emphasis on feeling over clarity to its furthest extreme.

 

The album was a success, initially on the strength of "Pride" as a single and later due to the band's attention-grabbing Live Aid performance. In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the 80s", saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 has become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters".

 

 

   1. "A Sort of Homecoming" (5:28)

   2. "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" (3:48)

   3. "Wire" (4:19)

   4. "The Unforgettable Fire" (4:55)

   5. "Promenade" (2:35)

   6. "4th of July" (2:12)

   7. "Bad" (6:09)

   8. "Indian Summer Sky" (4:17)

   9. "Elvis Presley and America" (6:23)

  10. "MLK" (2:31)

 

"A Sort of Homecoming"

And you know it's time to go

Through the sleet and driving snow

Across the fields of mourning

To a light that’s in the distance

And you hunger for the time

Time to heal, desire, time

And your earth moves beneath

Your own dream landscape

Oh, on borderland we run

I'll be there, I'll be there

A high road

A high road out from here

The city walls are all pulled down

The dust a smokescreen all around

See faces ploughed like fields

That once gave no resistance

And we live by the side of the road

On the side of a hill as the valley explodes

Dislocated, suffocated

The land grows weary of its own

Oh, on borderland we run and still we run

We run and don't look back

I'll be there, I'll be there

Tonight, tonight

I'll be there tonight

I'll believe

I’ll be there so hold on

I’ll be there tonight

Tonight

The wind will crack in wintertime

This bomb-blast lightning waltz

No spoken words, just a scream

Tonight we’ll build a bridge across the sea and land

See the sky, the burning rain

She will die and live again

Tonight

And your heart beats so slow

Through the rain and fallen snow

Across the fields of mourning

To a light that’s in the distance

Oh, don't sorrow,

No don't weep for tonight, at last

I am coming home

I am coming home

 

 

"Pride (In the Name of Love)"

One man come in the name of love

One man come and go

One man come he to justify

One man to overthrow

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence

One man he resist

One man washed up on an empty beach

One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

Early morning, April four

A shot rings out in the Memphis sky

Free at last, they took your life

They could not take your pride

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

In the name of love

What more in the name of love

 

 

"Wire"

Innocent and in a sense I am

Guilty of the crime that's now in hand

Such a nice day to throw your life away

Such a nice day to let it go

Cold in his eyes, I can't believe it

Cold in his heart and soul

Heart and soul

Cold man, such a cold heart

Such a cold man to watch you tear your self apart

So lay me down, my soul to keep

So lay me down, the longest sleep

Oh, the longest sleep

In I come and out you go you gets

Here we are again now, place your bets

Is this the time, the time to win or lose

Is this the time, the time to choose

Cold in his eyes, I can't believe it

So deep inside a cold fire

Cold, this heart and soul

Any time you are near, kiss it away

Wash it down now

That's right, just keep me up

In some white track you come right back

Cartoon cutout, cut throat let out

I'm on your side, be on the both side

I'm on the right track, you get off my back

I'm no dope, I give you hope

Here's the rope, here's the rope

Now swing on it

 

 

"The Unforgettable Fire"

Ice, your only rivers run cold

These city lights, they shine as silver and gold

Took from the night, your eyes as black as coal

Walk on by, walk on through

Walk till you run and don't look back for here I am

Carnival, the wheels fly and the colours spin

Through alcohol, red wine that punctures the skin

Face to face in a dry and waterless place

Walk on by, walk on through

So sad to beseach your love so head on

Stay in this night, stay tonight in a lie

I'm only asking but I think you know

Come on and take me away

Come on and take me away

Come on, take me home

Home again

Ever, ever, ever high

And here she comes

Yet she's so far

And if the mountains should crumble

Or disappear into the sea

Not a tear, no not I

Stay in this time

Stay tonight in a lie

Ever after this loving time

And if you save your love

Save your love, save it all

Don't push me too far

Don't push me too far tonight

Tonight, tonight

 

 

"Promenade"

Earth, sky, scenery

Here she comes back again

Men of straw, snooker hall

Words that build or destroy

Dirt, dry bones, sand and stone

Barbed wire fence cut me down

I'd like to be around

In a spiral staircase to the higher ground

And I, like a firework, explode

Roman candle lightening lights up the sky

In cracked streets trampled underfoot

Side step, sidewalk

I see you stare into the space

Have I got closer now behind the face

Oh, tell me, cherry you dance with me

Turn me around tonight

Up through the spiral staircase

To the higher ground

Slideshow of a seaside town

Coca-cola, football

Radio, radio, radio, radio, radio, radio

 

 

"4th of July"

(instrumental)

 

 

"Bad"

If you twist and turn away

If you tear yourself in two again

If I could, yes I would

If I could, I would let it go

Surrender, dislocate

If I could throw this lifeless

Lifeline to the wind

Leave this heart of clay

See you walk, walk away

Into the night

And through the rain

Into the half-light

And through the flame

If I could through myself

Set your spirit free

I'd lead your heart away

See you break, break away

Into the light

And to the day

To let it go

And so to fade away

To let it go

And so fade away

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

I'm not sleeping

Oh, no, no

If you should ask then maybe

They'd tell you what I would say

True colors fly in blue and black

Bruised silken skies and burning flack

Colors crash, collide in blood shot eyes

If I could, you know I would

If I could, I would let it go

This desparation

Dislocation

Separation

Condemnation

Revelation

In temptation

Isolation

Desolation

Let it go

And so to fade away

To let it go

And so fade away

Oh, no

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

I'm not sleeping

Oh, no no

 

 

"Indian Summer Sky"

In the ocean cuts ring deep, the sky

Like there, I don't know why

In the forest there's a clearing

I run there towards the light

Sky, it's a blue sky

In the earth a hole dig deep, decide

If I could I would

Up for air to swim against the tide

Up towards the sky

It's a blue sky

To lose along the way the spark that set the flame

To flicker and to fade on this, the longest day

So wind go through to my heart

So wind blow through my soul

So wind go through to my heart

So wind blow through my soul

So wind go through to my heart

So wind blow through my soul

You give yourself to this the longest day

You give yourself, you give it all away

Two rivers run too deep, the seasons change and so do I

The light that strikes the tallest trees

The light away for I

The light away, up toward the sky

It's a blue sky

To lose along the way the spark that set the flame

To flicker and to fade on this, the longest day

So wind go through to my heart

So wind blow through my soul

So wind go through to my heart

So wind blow through my soul

So wind go through my heart

So wind blow through my soul

So wind go through to my heart

So wind blow through my soul

You give yourself to this the longest day

You give yourself, you give it all away

 

 

"Elvis Presley and America"

Black flash

Black flash over my own love, tell me of my eyes

Black flash come though my own life, telling these things

And I believe them and I believe in you

White flash sees the sky and it turns its side from you

She won't turn my back and I know you turn so blue

And you know and your sky is feeling blue

And your heart, so cold when I'm with you

And you feel like no one told you to

And your time is your side and your time with me

Ah, don't talk to me

Ah, don't talk to me

Don't talk to me

You know like no one told you how

But you know though the king that howls has howled

But you feel like sentimental but you don't care

If I just share it in your heart

Heart

Hopelessly, so hopelessly

I'm breaking through for you and me

And you don't though no one told you to

And you found out where you were going

Where to

You're through with me

But I know that you will be back for more

You know and though no one told you so

And you know, blue sky like a harder shade of blue

And you walk when you want to let go

Me, I'm the outside, tell me fade away

Drop me down but don't break me in your sleep

In your sleep, inside it's in your heart and mine

Whole sea is dark, it's in your heart and mine

Sweetly, those will come

Loving is on your side walking through

So let me in your heart

Your beat is like something

They run

See say you're sad and reach by

So say you're sad above beside

Oh stay you're sad over midnight

So stay sad above we said

You know I don't, no one told you how

And you don't and you wipe sweat off your white brow

And you care and no one told you tried

And your heart is left out from the side

And the rain beats down and the shame goes down

And this rain keeps on coming down

And this sky tonight

You know "S" "O" "N" "G", why

You're going go join to God

You know "S" "O" "N" "G", why

Give away some him no lie

Give away some my de day no

You know and though no one told you sky

And you feel like you pretend you can

You say go, you live, go live outside of me

Don't you leave, don't leave out part of me

Then can feel like I feel before

Like I hurt now and I see the floor

If you pick me up, bits and pieces on this floor

 

  

"MLK"

Sleep, sleep tonight

And may your dreams be realised

If the thunder cloud passes rain

So let it rain, rain down on he

So let it be

So let it be

Sleep, sleep tonight

And may your dreams be realised

If the thunder cloud passes rain

So let it rain, let it rain

Rain down on he

 

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