The U2 song that was secretly co-written by Noel Gallagher
U2 have always managed to be a fairly insular group. They would have their fair share of guest spots or moments working with Kendrick Lamar and Tina Turner, but there was nothing they couldn’t get done as a four-piece. However, they could admit when the best line from a song was taken from someone else.
Compared to all other songwriters, though, Bono writes in a much more unorthodox way. He often said that the song is often telling the writer where it wants to go half the time, it’s hard to deny that the band are working off of impulse when making their finest work. But while that’s typically a good thing, listening to albums like The Joshua Tree, there were always moments where things went a little bit haywire.
And to their credit, U2 are one of the few bands that realise when they screw up. Bono is the first to admit that he didn’t mean to come off as so pretentious in some of the shots from Rattle and Hum, and it’s no secret that the band feel a little bit embarrassed looking back on the ridiculous outfits that they were wearing during the era of Pop. But for a brief moment in the 2000s, things began turning back around.
All That You Can’t Leave Behind was a fantastic record that made the band feel relevant all over again, but there was always a wonder if it was a fluke or not. But How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb made it feel like the band was getting that magic back that they seemed to lose halfway through the Zooropa tour. Or maybe they got that way because they were opening up their ears to what the rest of the world was doing.
Judging by the riff of ‘Vertigo’, The Edge seemed to be listening to a little bit of the garage rock that was happening around that time, and while the shimmering guitars felt reminiscent of their classic sound, it was always a matter of using them sparingly as a subtle reminder to the fans of their origins. During a conversation with Noel Gallagher, though, one of the best deep cuts on Atomic Bomb fell out of the sky.
From The Edge’s recollection, the Oasis songsmith managed to come up with the central line of ‘One Step Closer’ out of the blue, saying, “The idea for the song lyrically came out of a conversation [Bono] was having with Noel Gallagher about his father’s illness, which at that point he’d found out was terminal. Bono was saying, I’m not sure he has a faith, whether he knows where he’s going, and Noel says, ‘Well, he’s one step closer to knowing, isn’t he!’ and Bono went ‘Yeah’. It must have just registered, OK, that’s a song.”
It may have been a passing comment, but there’s a lot that a songwriter can do when they have that one magical line appear out of thin air. Glenn Frey had done the same thing when he spouted out the words ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ in front of the Eagles, and even if John Lennon got nasty when firing back at Paul McCartney in his solo career, it’s not like he didn’t have a wealth of great lines to draw from.
If Noel had ever felt like he was owed some royalties from the line, though, he’s hardly ever shown it, and at this point, it’s not like he needs to. I mean, this is someone who started his career being absolutely unapologetic from every single artist he stole from on Oasis’s classic hits, so what’s wrong with someone taking the basis of what he said and transforming it into something completely new?
