A Day Without Me

"A Day Without Me"
Single by U2
from the album Boy
Released 18 August 1980[1]
Format 7-inch record
Recorded 1980
Studio Windmill Lane Studios (Dublin)
Genre
Length 3:12
Label
Songwriter(s) U2
Producer(s) Steve Lillywhite
U2 singles chronology
"11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
(1980)		 "A Day Without Me"
(1980)		 "I Will Follow"
(1980)

"A Day Without Me" is a song by Irish rock band U2, and was released as the lead single from their debut album, Boy, in August 1980. It was the second single the band recorded after signing their contract with Island Records.

Theme

The song's lyrics can be interpreted to be about suicide and is rumored to be related to the death of Ian Curtis, the frontman/vocalist of the band Joy Division. This may have been due to an error by the band's record label, Island Records.[2] But Ian Curtis committed suicide on May 18, 1980 and the song is listed on U2's official web site as being performed in concert on February 26, 1980. [3]

Production

The single release was produced by Steve Lillywhite, and was the first time that he recorded with U2.

The B-side is an instrumental song called "Things to Make and Do."

Cover art

The image on the single's cover, photographed by Susan Byrne, is of a footbridge at Booterstown railway station in South Dublin.[4] The image echoes the Joy Division photoshoot on the Epping Walk Bridge in Hulme, Manchester, that featured in an article of the New Musical Express in January 1979.[5]

Live performances

"A Day Without Me" was played live during the first half of the 1980s. On the Boy Tour, it did not have a firmly defined set list position, initially appearing in the main set before moving to the encore. It did not appear on the October Tour until November 1981, when it was paired with "I Threw a Brick Through a Window", a song from the newly released October album. The two songs were linked by a drum segue leading from the end of "I Threw a Brick Through a Window" into "A Day Without Me", and this pairing lasted until April 1985. Since then, neither song has been played live, although snippets of "A Day Without Me" have been played on rare occasions.[6] A live performance of the song from Red Rocks Amphitheatre appears on the concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky.

"Things to Make and Do" was the only instrumental ever played live by U2 until the U2 360° Tour ("Return of the Stingray Guitar"), and it regularly followed "The Electric Co." on the Boy Tour. It has only been played once since the end of that tour, at an early date of the October Tour on 31 August 1981.

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."A Day Without Me"3:12
2."Things to Make and Do" (instrumental)2:14

References

  1. ↑ Sams, Aaron; Kantas, Harry. "U2 – "A Day Without Me" Single". U2songs.com. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Letter from Island Records Press Officer Neil Storey, dated 16 October 1980, for sale on eBay 2 March 2018: "... A Day Without Me was based, loosely, on the death of Ian Curtis. The band were deeply affected by his death as they felt that it was a senseless waste of human life." https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323088854785?_trksid=p11021.c100851.m5053&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20170803121420ul_noapp=true
  3. ↑ Song lyrics and dates played live listed on Official U2 web site https://www.u2.com/lyrics/5
  4. ↑ 'It was the Summer of '79, when the Heat was felt by McGuiness', by Declan Lynch. 'Irish Independent' 29 October 2006.
  5. ↑ 'Kevin Cummins, Britain's Bands in Pictures', B.B.C. Radio 5 Live. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02xp86b/p02xnr1m
  6. ↑ Mühlbradt, Matthias; Axver, André. "A Day Without Me". U2Gigs.com. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
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