U2’s ‘The Unforgettable Fire’: A 35-Year Track-By-Track Lookback

By Rachel West. 1 Oct 2019 2:40 PM

U2’s fourth album The Unforgettable Fire was released on October 1, 1984. Featuring powerhouse songs “Bad” and “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”, the album gets our track-by-track treatment.

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Anton Corbijn/Island Records

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‘A Sort Of Homecoming’
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U2 took a more atmospheric approach to 'The Unforgettable Fire', departing from the rock-heavy ways of predecessor 'War' and toning down the prominence of The Edge’s guitars. Bono found inspiration in poetry for the album’s opening track. Paul Celan's line "poetry is a sort of homecoming" inspired the title and the song as the band explored contradictions between rock 'n' roll and their religious beliefs and what being on tour, away from home, meant.
‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’
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Released as the album’s first single on September 3, 1984, “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” was intended to be about Ronald Reagan’s pride in the power of the U.S. military but biographies on Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X led Bono to ponder the civil rights movement and use of violence versus non-violent means.

As of 2019, the song was U2’s most frequently performed track in concert – played more than 1007 times over the years - with “I Will Follow” a close second.
‘Wire’
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“Wire” marks one of the first U2 songs about the perils of heroin addiction -- a topic they’d also touch upon on the album in “Bad” and later on 'Rattle & Hum' with “Running To Stand Still”. The song and album mark the first collaboration between U2 and Brian Eno and Canadian Daniel Lanois, who would later produce both 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby'.

Eno recalled the moment he signed on to work with U2, telling Pitchfork in 2009: "I had this phone call with Bono -- he is the greatest salesman of all time, you have to bear that in mind -- where I said to him, 'Look, what I'm worried about is that I might change things rather unrecognizably. People might not particularly like the new you that comes out of this.' And he said, 'Well, actually we want to be changed unrecognizably. We don't want to just keep repeating what we've done before.'"
‘The Unforgettable Fire’
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While on tour with the 'War' album in 1983, the band were inspired by the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the lyrics. The original album version of the song contains a mistake by Larry Mullen Jr. that has never been corrected through the song’s inclusion on later albums and remasters: four seconds into the beginning of the song, Mullen Jr. starts to hit his drumsticks early and can be heard muttering “s***.” The sticks and drums later kick in at the correct 0:22 mark.
‘Promenade’
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The lyrics to “Promenade” are thought to be inspired by Bono’s residence in Bray in County Wicklow, Ireland, and his relationship with wife Ali Hewson. The spiral staircase referenced in the song is a Martello tower, or coastal fort, one of which was located near the couple’s home.
‘4th Of July’
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An ambient instrumental track, “4th Of July” was improvised by Adam Clayton and The Edge while Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois recorded, unbeknownst to the band. The song’s title is an homage to Edge’s daughter, Hollie, who was born on July 4, 1984, while the band were in the middle of recording.
‘Bad’
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Another song about heroin addiction, the song, Bono has frequently stated, is about a friend who overdosed and the social conditions that lead to addiction. “Bad” became synonymous with U2 and was a major breakthrough moment for the band following their 12-minute performance at Band Aid in 1985.

During the band's performance Bono jumped off the stage and embraced a young woman -- a moment televised to an estimated audience of 1.9 billion worldwide. Following Live Aid, all of U2’s albums re-entered the music charts in the U.K.
‘Indian Summer Sky’
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“Indian Summer Sky” is 'The Unforgettable Fire'’s moodiest track. Fans say its about everything from the changing seasons and The Troubles to Bono’s relationship with God. 'The Unforgettable Fire' marks the first collaboration between the band and photographer Anton Corbijn, who photographed the album cover. The band and Corbijn spent a few days driving around Ireland looking for locations and eventually came upon Moydrum Castle.
‘Elvis Presley And America’
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“Elvis Presley And America” was a spur-of-the-moment creation featuring improvised lyrics by Bono. The singer assumed his performance was just a rough cut but Brian Eno ended up putting the track on the final album cut. Bono described the lyrics as a reaction to an unflattering biography on Elvis Presley by Albert Goldman, whom he would later call out for another unflattering biography of John Lennon on 'Rattle & Hum'’s “God Part II”.
‘MLK’
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An elegy to Martin Luther King Jr.. Bono received the highest honour of the King Center, the organization founded by Coretta Scott King for this tribute and “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”. Years later, the song was director Richard Kelly’s original choice for the final sequence of his film “Donnie Darko” but after difficulties licensing the track, he opted for Gary Jules’ cover of Tears For Fears’ “Mad World”.

U2’s ‘The Unforgettable Fire’: A 35-Year Track-By-Track Lookback

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