Listen to U2 play a new version of ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’
This St. Patrick’s Day, U2 will release a new collection of re-recorded songs from across their career. Songs of Surrender aligns with Bono’s recent memoir, Surrender, where the singer tells his life story through the lens of 40 of U2’s biggest and most important songs.
One of those songs is, understandably, ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’. U2’s first top-40 hit in America was also an MTV staple when it came out in 1984. For many US fans, ‘Pride’ would be one of their first times hearing U2, thanks to its national exposure on radio and television.
Now, just as Martin Luther King Jr. hovers around the corner, U2 have shared their new recording of ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’ as the first full preview of Songs of Surrender. More stripped down and acoustic than the original studio version, the new version of ‘Pride’ also features Bono taking on the vocals from the song in a softer tone and an octave down from the original recording.
“What started out as an experiment quickly developed into a personal obsession as so many of our songs yielded to a new interpretation,” The Edge writes in a statement. “Intimacy replaced post-punk urgency. New tempos, new keys, and in some cases new chords and new lyrics arrived. A great song, it turns out is kind of indestructible.”
“The process of selecting which songs to revisit started with a series of demos,” he continues. “I looked at how a song would hang together if all but the bare essential elements were taken away. The other main aim was to find ways to bring intimacy into the songs, as most of them were originally written with live concert performance in mind.”
“Reviewing these sketch recordings with producer Bob Ezrin, it was very easy to see the ones that worked straight off the bat and those that needed more work. We all got into the sensibility of less is more,” The Edge concludes. “Hearing the songs interact, and finding the running orders for the four albums was really thrilling; finding the surprising segues, getting a chance to DJ. Once we had four distinct albums it was easy to see who would be the figurehead for each one.”
Check out the new version of ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’ down below.
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