Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2 song)
| Sunday Bloody Sunday | |
|---|---|
| U2 | |
| publication | March 11, 1983 |
| length | 4:40 |
| Genre (s) | skirt |
| Author (s) | U2 |
Sunday Bloody Sunday is a song by the Irish rock band U2 . It is the first track from their 1983 album War and was released as the third single on the album on March 11, 1983 in Germany and the Netherlands. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is known for its military drumming, heavy guitars and melodic harmonies. The piece is one of U2's open political songs. His text describes the horrors of the unrest in Northern Ireland, especially the Bloody Sunday incident in Derry , in which British troops shot and killed unarmed demonstrators and others. Together with the track “New Year's Day”, U2 reached a very wide audience with their music for the first time with “Sunday Bloody Sunday”.
The song is featured in almost every U2 concert to this day. Critics consider it one of the best political protest songs, and it has been covered by more than a dozen artists. Rolling Stone magazine voted the piece 272 on their list of " 500 Best Songs of All Time ".
Composition and recording
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" was created from a guitar riff and lyrics by The Edge in 1982. While Bono and his wife Ali Hewson were on their honeymoon in Jamaica , The Edge was working on the music for their next album in Ireland. After an argument with his girlfriend and doubts about his own abilities as a composer, The Edge felt depressed and channeled his frustration and self-loathing into the piece. This early version did not yet have a title or a chorus melody, but it contained the most important structural elements of the piece. After Bono had revised the lyrics, the band recorded the song at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. During the recording the producer Steve Lillywhite encouraged the drummer Larry Mullen junior to use a click track , which Mullen declined. A chance encounter with Andy Newmark from Sly & the Family Stone , a drummer who used a click track constantly, changed Mullen's mind. The introduction to the song with the drums eventually became the hook of the piece. Violinist Steve Wickham approached The Edge at a bus stop one morning and wanted to know if U2 couldn't use a violin on their next album. So it was recorded in the studio for half a day and the violin was the last instrument that rounded off the song before completion.
Music video
At that time, no music video was produced for the piece, but the band used the recording of the live performance on June 5, 1983 from their concert film Under a Blood Red Sky . The concert film was directed by Gavin Taylor.
In the music video, Bono can be seen performing with a white flag during the piece. This scene reflects the often felt emotionality of the audience at the U2 concerts. In 2004, the American magazine Rolling Stone named the video of the piece as one of the "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll".
reception
A large number of different artists took up “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in their work. There were cover versions published, among others, Phil Coulter (1993), Eläkeläiset (1999), The Electric Hellfire Club (1999), Evergreen Terrace (2001), Ignite (2001), Richard Cheese (2005), Massiv in Mensch (2006) , Paramore (2007), Saul Williams (2007), Funeral for a Friend (2009), Nolwenn Leroy (2010) and Veil of Maya (2011). Furthermore, were samples of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in pieces of DJ Shadow (1994), Smith & Mighty (1995) and Red Hot Chili Peppers used (2004).
Others
The song ended up on a radio censorship list from Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) after the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ VH1 Editors. (2004). VH1's 25 Greatest Political Protest Songs [Television series]. VH1 television.
- ↑ whosampled.com: Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 , accessed April 1, 2020.
- ↑ secondhandsongs.com: Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 , accessed April 1, 2020.