‘Beautiful Day’: the song to help you get into U2
Although the Irish band became a trigger to the majority of Apple users since their 2014 ‘Songs of Innocence’ album was forcefully released onto everyone’s iTunes, U2 is more than just the CD that’s collecting dust in your dad’s car.
The band’s social commentary left a mark on Irish relations with Britain, while also delivering a wildly accessible form of rock for everyone to love – and no U2 song was ever so easy to enjoy as ‘Beautiful Day’.
Its soft opening tones introduce the major key that will accompany the track’s optimistic ambience, and a relaxed drumming pattern brings it alive: the scene is set for Bono’s husky first verse to leave us with existentialist thoughts. The song’s message is summed up in its opening line: “The heart is a bloom, Shoots up through the stony ground” – the world is a dark place, but today is a beautiful day.
The song draws on elements of loss and hope, cynical lyrics on a sunny melody. Like many of the band’s most beloved works, it paints a social commentary that is contemporary, whether it be to raise awareness of human rights abuses perpetrated by the West in Latin America or to pledge homage to anti-war messages in Northern Ireland. In this song, U2 beckons listeners to edge out of political apathy: “And the reason that you had to care, The traffic is stuck, And you’re not moving anywhere.”
The lead single from the band’s tenth album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, won three awards at the 2001 Grammys. It was celebrated as U2’s return to their music, after their last album had been a critical upset and an over-experimented epitaph to rock-pop.
The band’s reputation as the bridge between popular culture and social justice was furthered by charity work, most notably when Bono became a champion of Jubilee 2000. The campaign called for debt cancellation for countries in the Global South by the year 2000, and the hand lent by celebrity association dramatically increased public engagement. Bono was lobbying politicians, attending summits, visiting the White House, and became known as one of the initiative’s most persuasive speakers.
“I know how absurd it is to have a rock star talk about the World Health Organisation or debt relief or HIV/AIDS in Africa,” Bono commented in 2002. It was still absurd at the time, when celebrities were seldom involved in major fundraising, and artists stayed out of politics. He was a trail-blazer, and nothing like Beautiful day beckons to “lend a hand, in return for grace”.
The song was understood to be largely influenced by the vocalist’s time doing charity work, for it highlights the beauty of the world “in the mud.” This musical masterpiece stifled the rock routine of romance, darkness, drugs and fame’s rough edges. It was a refreshing take on themes that don’t often appear in the charts, but that influence much of their work. If you tried ‘Beautiful Day’, stick ‘Bullet the Blue Sky’, ‘New Year’s Day’, and the classic ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ into your queue, and you have a playlist for protest day camaraderie.
The band doesn’t just parade their political allegiances into their fans’ ears like Shakespeare kills his heroines. The invitation for listeners to reflect is drawn into being by carefully constructed lyrics, such as the song’s bridge, which I argue is the best part of the song. It’s almost like the birds are singing, the breeze is blowing, and after all the darkness, everything is suddenly in colour.
