Lead vocalist BonoВ wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to EthiopiaВ with his wife, Ali Hewson. On the record, musically, it's not half the song it is live.' It only became a truly great song through playing live. Drummer Larry Mullen, Jr.В later said of the song, 'It took so long to get that song right, it was difficult for us to make any sense of it. It was one of several songs mixed by Steve LillywhiteВ in the final months of recording The Joshua Tree. The studio version of the song was compiled from several different takes.

At one point, Eno had the tapes cued up and ready to be recorded over, but this erasure never took place according to engineer Flood, fellow engineer Pat McCarthyВ returned to the control room and upon seeing Eno ready to erase the tapes, dropped the tray of tea he was carrying and physically restrained Eno. He said that this was not to force abandonment of the song, but rather that it would be more effective to start again with a fresh performance. His idea was to 'stage an accident' and have the song's tapes erased. So much time had been spent on 'screwdriver work' that Eno thought it would be best to start from scratch. Through all of their work, they had gradually replaced each instrument take until nothing remained from the original performance. The band worked on a single take for weeks, but as Eno explained, that particular version had a lot of problems with it and the group continued trying to fix it up. It was ridiculous.' В Co-producer Brian EnoВ estimates that half of the album sessions were spent trying to record a suitable version of 'Where the Streets Have No Name'.

I was holding a pointer, like a college professor, walking the band through the chord changes like a fucking nerd. I remember having this massive schoolhouse blackboard, as we call them. According to co- producer Daniel Lanois, 'that was the science project song. The arrangement, with two time signatureВ shifts and frequent chord changes, was rehearsed many times, but the group struggled to get a performance they liked. Bassist Adam ClaytonВ said, 'At the time it sounded like a foreign language, whereas now we understand how it works'. ДЄlthough the band liked the demo, it was difficult for them to record the song. With no one in the house to share the demo with, The Edge recalls dancing around and punching the air in celebration.

After finishing the rough mix, he felt he had come up with 'the most amazing guitar part and song of life'. Realising that the album sessions were approaching the end and that the band were short on exceptional live songs, The Edge wanted to 'conjure up the ultimate U2 live-song', so he imagined what he would like to hear at a future U2 show if he were a fan. In an upstairs room at Melbeach House-his newly purchased home-The Edge used a four-trackВ tape machine to record an arrangement of keyboards, bass, guitar, and a drum machine. The music for 'Where the Streets Have No Name' originated from a demoВ that guitarist The EdgeВ composed the night before the group resumed The Joshua TreeВ sessions. Recently, the song has been used by the NFL's Baltimore RavensВ as their entrance song in Super Bowl XLVII. The song was notably performed on a Los AngelesВ rooftop for the filming of its music video, which won a Grammy AwardВ for Best Performance Music Video. The song has become one of the band's most popular songs and has remained a staple of their live act since the song debuted in 1987 on The Joshua Tree Tour. 'Where the Streets Have No Name' was praised by critics and became a commercial success, peaking at number thirteen in the US, number fourteen in Canada, number ten in the Netherlands, and number four in the United Kingdom. During the band's difficulties recording the song, producer Brian EnoВ considered erasing the song's tapes to have them start from scratch. Lead vocalist BonoВ wrote the lyrics in response to the notion that it is possible to identify a person's religion and income based on the street on which they lived, particularly in Belfast. The song's hookВ is a repeating guitar arpeggioВ using a delayВ effect, played during the song's introduction and again at the end. It is the opening track from their 1987 album The Joshua TreeВ and was released as the album's third singleВ in August 1987. ' Where the Streets Have No Name' is a song by Irish rockВ band U2.

U2 where the streets have no name