U2-A Diary

Do you all know the super-old U2 song called “Be There”? It’s appeared on a couple bootlegs, I think. Good song.

From what I’ve been able to find, U2 finished that song in March, 1982, during a studio session with Blondie producer Jimmie Destri. I’d never heard anything about how/when the song first came to life, until just now as I’m reading this Spin magazine article. Here’s what Bono says:”

“…there was one song, written in Holland, that came like that. This roadie handed the Edge a guitar that was supposed to be in tune, but was actually in a different tuning than usual even though it was still harmonious. Edge struck the guitar. Once. I just immediately stopped the band and asked Larry to play a beat, and we just went into it. The tape recorder was rolling, and five minutes later there was a song with verse, chorus, lyrics, theme — everything. It was called ‘Be There.’ Our manager just freaked.”

Unfortunately, “written in Holland” isn’t enough to go on. By the time the song was finished in March, 1982, they’d already played Holland countless times.

Oh, well…life goes on. As does the research!

Who knew?

Scott Cleaver, a U2 fan in New Zealand, sent me an article about Greg Carroll that appeared in a Maori magazine. The article is recounting Carroll’s story, which I thought I knew pretty well, until it says this:

Bono was in Texas to appear in concert with American country star Willie Nelson when the sad news reached him. “I had been in my hotel one hour after a 13-hour flight,” he said. “I caught the next plane back to Dublin.”

Carroll died on July 3, 1986, so Willie Nelson would have to be doing a concert on July 4 or thereabouts for this to make sense. Sure enough, Farm Aid II happened on July 4, 1986.

Am I the only one who never knew Bono was planning to appear at that? I had no clue….

… was a Horslips gig in the town of Skerries somewhere around 1975 or 1976.

Little did I know that Edge (and Bono) appear in a Horslips documentary DVD called Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts, which you can read about on the Horslips web site. Maurice Linnane, ex-Dreamchaser guy, did the documentary.

You can download an excerpt with Edge’s comments here.

I don’t think I’ll ever track down the dates of Bono’s and Edge’s interviews, and it’s probably not worth the time to try, but this is a perfect discovery to file under “the things you learn.”

Do you remember that photo of a big sign advertising U2 and The Blades at the Baggot Inn on August 21, 1979? You probably saw it in the U2 LIVE book.

Well, the things you stumble on while researching a book on U2′s history:

The Blades have a MySpace page.

If you’ve ever wondered what they sound like, you can hear a couple tunes. A bit “poppy,” but not too bad, I must say. Frankly, every bit as good as U2 were at that point. :)

And yes, I emailed them to see if it’s an actual band member running that page, or a fan. If it’s a band member, that might make for a fun conversation…

I won’t be able to use this in the book, but it’s kinda interesting nonetheless: I’m re-reading some old articles, looking for dates/events for the book, and there’s a mention in a Rolling Stone article that the original inspiration for “With or Without You” was a 1977 punk/electronica song called “Cheree” by a duo called Suicide.

It’s on iTunes.

Take away the electronica element, and you can hear how the song could be called WOWY’s original inspiration. Innaresting…..

By the way, that link above is to the U.S. iTunes Music Store. The track is also available in the UK store. I didn’t check the others, sorry.

Now back to my research!