By The Beachwood Red Rocks Affairs Desk
“One of the most extraordinary days in the mottled history of the island of Ireland was witnessed on both sides of the border last Tuesday,” Bono writes in the New York Times.
“The much-anticipated and costly Saville report … the 12-years-in-the-making inquiry into ‘Bloody Sunday,’ a day never to be forgotten in Irish politics … was finally published.”
Reports the BBC: “The long-awaited Saville report into what happened on the streets of Londonderry one Sunday afternoon 38 years ago has exonerated the victims and delivered a damning account of the conduct of soldiers.”
U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was not just about that day in Londonderry, but it encompassed it. Let’s take a look.
Released: March 11, 1983
Length: 4:42
Label: Island
Charts: No. 7 on Billboard’s Top Tracks
Wikipedia: “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 . . . channeled [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.
Songfacts: While performing this, Bono would wave a white flag as a call for peace . . . Steve Wickham, who went on to join The Waterboys, played the electric fiddle . . . 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” . . . The band Paramore does a cover of this song on their album Riot!.
Lyrics:
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 streets
But I won’t heed the battle call
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
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
Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your bloodshot eyes
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
And it’s true we are immune when fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die
The real battle just begun to claim the victory Jesus won on
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Video:
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Comments welcome.
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Previously in Song of the Moment:
* Iron Man
* The Story of Bo Diddley
* Teach Your Children
* Dream Vacation
* When The Levee Breaks
* I Kissed A Girl
* Theme From Shaft
* Rocky Mountain High
* North to Alaska
* Barracuda
* Rainy Days and Mondays
* Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
* Baby, It’s Cold Outside
* Man in the Mirror
* Birthday Sex
* Rio
* My Sharona
* Alex Chilton
* Surfin’ Bird
* By The Time I Get To Arizona
* Heaven and Hell
Posted on June 22, 2010