The featured 'Song of the Week' portion of this blog inevitably turned into 'Every Other Song of the Week,' but I'll keep the title for purposes of simplicity. This week's song is from U2's first studio album Boy, and it is called A Day Without Me. It was released as the second single in 1980, and only featured Things to Make and Do as an additional track. The song has only been played 145 times in U2's career, spanning from the Boy tour to the Unforgettable Fire Tour, and was last played on April 18, 1985 in Worcester, Massachusetts (lucky). This is my personal favorite song from the Boy album, and the vibe it gives off is not only timeless, but I think ahead of the time in which it was released in. Hopeful fans like me are praying for its return, as it's lyrics have been used as a snippet into songs on their current 360 tour twice...
The song I've heard, was written after the suicide of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, and Bono apparently was a fan at the time. This song almost is wearing a masquerade in the sense that it is very up-beat and poppy, yet the lyrics undertone thoughts of suicide. Great song.
-A. Kennedy
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The song was written in 1979, lyrics included, not related to Ian Curtis' death. However it was chosen to be their first single for the Boy album with production by Steve Lilywhite, with respects to Ian's death, since the lyrics of the song refer to suicide.
ReplyDeleteThe original demo is a very primitive version, similar in sound to the Twilight demo which was on the Another Day single.