redhill
Refugee
the entire jacknife lee interview?
It would be appreciated.
thanks
It would be appreciated.
thanks
Can any u2.com member post...
- Thread starter redhill
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
In a former life, Dubliner Garret Lee played guitar in the neo-punk band Compulsion. When they split, he signed to Howie B’s Pussyfoot Records, and steadily began to make a name for himself as Jacknife Lee – releasing the 1999 single ‘Cookies’, followed by his debut album ‘Muy Rico’ and latterly ‘Punk Rock High Roller’ in 2001.
Today, Jacknife is just as famous for bootlegging artists such as Eminem, Run DMC and Missy Elliot, and for remixing the likes of Pink, Christina Aguilera, Kasabian, and, most recently, Bono and Pavarotti…
Although he claims he’s still new to the world of production, he was responsible for Snow Patrol’s celebrated third album ‘Final Straw’ - and when Steve Lillywhite and U2 threw him into the mix on ‘How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’, he was ready and willing to make some big noise.
And he’s still got time to make his own music – his new release ‘Fear of Nothing’ is just out. U2.Com sent Brian Draper down to Jacknife’s studio deep in the English countryside to ask him what it was like to work with the world’s biggest band. It turned out to be such an interesting conversation that we’re publishing it in two parts – watch this space for Part II.
U2.com: Before you were asked to work with them, were you a U2 fan?
I was in and out of love from the beginning. I remember when their first single came out and Dave Fanning had the vote on his show – ‘What would the A-side be?’ Being from Dublin, they’re hard to avoid, especially if you’re in bands. They have a presence.
My wife is a big fan, and when we moved into our last place, we used to listen to ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ while we were painting the house. I really got to like it. I reached a point where I missed that U2 sound. By the time this one came up, I was in love with them again.
U2.com: So how did you feel when you were asked to work with them?
I thought, “Shit, I can’t do this!” - I felt like I was out of my depth. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be doing, because nobody told me. I didn’t know whether I was meant to come in and stir up shit and create a storm, or subtly work my way in. I chose the subtle approach…
U2.com: So, er, how did you find out what you were meant to be doing?
Just by doing stuff. It was pretty much a blank slate, and luckily U2 are very curious and open. I would have an idea, and they’d let me run with it.
It’s a very unusual way of working – really bizarre. It’s so fluid: there’s no beginning, middle or end. Obviously there’s an end when it’s over; but even then, I didn’t know what would be on the CD. I was doing a disco version of ‘All Because of You’, and it was really good. For a few days, we were very excited about it… It didn’t make it, but it was worth trying.
U2.com: Was there an overall plan for the sound?
It was strange: even though we were all coming from different areas - the band, Steve, me - we all seemed to know instinctively what needed to be done: follow on from the last record - but more of it - darting into different parts of ‘Achtung Baby’... Even though it wasn’t spoken of, that seemed to be what was happening.
At the end of the day, U2 make the final choice on everything. But they want to hear options. That’s your job: to provide them with options and encouragement and confidence.
U2.com: You said you felt out of your depth at the start. How do you cope, then, walking into a U2 studio and telling them honestly what you think?
The first conversation I had was with Bono; he was the only person there, and I can’t remember the name of the song, but he said, “What do you think?” and I had to tell him. If you don’t have anything to say, you shouldn’t be there.
I don’t have a huge amount of experience in production, but I know that I’m good at it. It is hard. Bono’s lyrics are very good, generally, and mine aren’t. And when you’re there to help someone be better…
It would have been terrible to have fucked up - not be sent home, but not be asked back - but I had nothing to lose, other than a certain amount of pride.
U2.com: Did you settle in quickly?
It takes a while to get used to what is a good take from someone. For instance, how good a drummer is Larry? I’ve heard him on records, and seen him live, but until you’re sitting there in a room watching him play, it takes a while to know whether it’s a good take for him, or a bad one.
I figured out that my role would have something to do with technology. Steve doesn’t work in that area, generally. They’ve always had people, whether it’s Eno, or whoever, who take them to another point. Picking me to work with them was a brave move on their part.
U2.com: What did they want you to bring to the party?
I didn’t ask. But I have an unusual way of working – by ripping things apart. It’s sort of the way they work, too. I guess they were looking for some kind of otherness to the music.
One of the first things I did was start playing live with them. They hadn’t played together for a while, so they set up in a room – we were doing Vertigo. We got a big racket going on, it was really noisy.
They’ve always been sonically curious and have done a lot of exploring, so my role was to help them with that. But it opened up a bit more. That seems to be the way they work, and they encourage it.
U2.com: So were they good to work with?
The band themselves are brilliant, in that they’ve been recording some of these songs since ‘96, and have an amazing knowledge of their performances. Adam would say, “I did a bass line that would be good for this part in France in November 96.” So someone would go to the safe and find the recording, and I’d take the bass line, and it would slot in. He was right.
Adam is quite brilliant. You don’t really know what he’s doing half of the time – he’s playing and you think, this is weird, it’s not working at all. Like, it’s very wrong. And then, he’ll pull this bizarre bass line out, and you’ll think, ‘Fucking hell, that’s great.’
Edge doesn’t actually play that much, and it’s so simple, but he has such a style, it’s so distinctive, that it’s quite amazing. He’s very curious, and carries a back-pack with CDs and notes. At the end of every week, we’d record a CD of that week’s work. If you’ve had four years of that, that’s a lot of CDs and versions. But he’d take a bit from one and stick it onto the chorus of another… It was quite amazing. Everything is kept. Every idea is used and leads into somewhere else.
People are mixing on top of each other’s mixes, too. It’s an amazing way of working. On ‘Crumbs…’ there are a few mixes on the final version. I mixed the start and the end; Flood the middle part; Steve did another mix somewhere. But it’s a lovely piece.
U2.com: Doesn’t it get confusing?
If you’re not used to it, it’s a scary process. When you’ve spent two or three months recording something, and then you don’t even know if you have anything…
U2.com: Is it hard to know when something is finished, then?
Only Edge knows when it’s finished. He’ll pore over mastered versions in a way that I haven’t seen anybody else do. He’d make a good scientist.
But it’s an odd thing with U2: the songs seem to ferment by themselves. You work on something for a few weeks and put it away – and I don’t know what happens, but there are chemical reactions within the music. When you pick it up again, it sounds different.
Today, Jacknife is just as famous for bootlegging artists such as Eminem, Run DMC and Missy Elliot, and for remixing the likes of Pink, Christina Aguilera, Kasabian, and, most recently, Bono and Pavarotti…
Although he claims he’s still new to the world of production, he was responsible for Snow Patrol’s celebrated third album ‘Final Straw’ - and when Steve Lillywhite and U2 threw him into the mix on ‘How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’, he was ready and willing to make some big noise.
And he’s still got time to make his own music – his new release ‘Fear of Nothing’ is just out. U2.Com sent Brian Draper down to Jacknife’s studio deep in the English countryside to ask him what it was like to work with the world’s biggest band. It turned out to be such an interesting conversation that we’re publishing it in two parts – watch this space for Part II.
U2.com: Before you were asked to work with them, were you a U2 fan?
I was in and out of love from the beginning. I remember when their first single came out and Dave Fanning had the vote on his show – ‘What would the A-side be?’ Being from Dublin, they’re hard to avoid, especially if you’re in bands. They have a presence.
My wife is a big fan, and when we moved into our last place, we used to listen to ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ while we were painting the house. I really got to like it. I reached a point where I missed that U2 sound. By the time this one came up, I was in love with them again.
U2.com: So how did you feel when you were asked to work with them?
I thought, “Shit, I can’t do this!” - I felt like I was out of my depth. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be doing, because nobody told me. I didn’t know whether I was meant to come in and stir up shit and create a storm, or subtly work my way in. I chose the subtle approach…
U2.com: So, er, how did you find out what you were meant to be doing?
Just by doing stuff. It was pretty much a blank slate, and luckily U2 are very curious and open. I would have an idea, and they’d let me run with it.
It’s a very unusual way of working – really bizarre. It’s so fluid: there’s no beginning, middle or end. Obviously there’s an end when it’s over; but even then, I didn’t know what would be on the CD. I was doing a disco version of ‘All Because of You’, and it was really good. For a few days, we were very excited about it… It didn’t make it, but it was worth trying.
U2.com: Was there an overall plan for the sound?
It was strange: even though we were all coming from different areas - the band, Steve, me - we all seemed to know instinctively what needed to be done: follow on from the last record - but more of it - darting into different parts of ‘Achtung Baby’... Even though it wasn’t spoken of, that seemed to be what was happening.
At the end of the day, U2 make the final choice on everything. But they want to hear options. That’s your job: to provide them with options and encouragement and confidence.
U2.com: You said you felt out of your depth at the start. How do you cope, then, walking into a U2 studio and telling them honestly what you think?
The first conversation I had was with Bono; he was the only person there, and I can’t remember the name of the song, but he said, “What do you think?” and I had to tell him. If you don’t have anything to say, you shouldn’t be there.
I don’t have a huge amount of experience in production, but I know that I’m good at it. It is hard. Bono’s lyrics are very good, generally, and mine aren’t. And when you’re there to help someone be better…
It would have been terrible to have fucked up - not be sent home, but not be asked back - but I had nothing to lose, other than a certain amount of pride.
U2.com: Did you settle in quickly?
It takes a while to get used to what is a good take from someone. For instance, how good a drummer is Larry? I’ve heard him on records, and seen him live, but until you’re sitting there in a room watching him play, it takes a while to know whether it’s a good take for him, or a bad one.
I figured out that my role would have something to do with technology. Steve doesn’t work in that area, generally. They’ve always had people, whether it’s Eno, or whoever, who take them to another point. Picking me to work with them was a brave move on their part.
U2.com: What did they want you to bring to the party?
I didn’t ask. But I have an unusual way of working – by ripping things apart. It’s sort of the way they work, too. I guess they were looking for some kind of otherness to the music.
One of the first things I did was start playing live with them. They hadn’t played together for a while, so they set up in a room – we were doing Vertigo. We got a big racket going on, it was really noisy.
They’ve always been sonically curious and have done a lot of exploring, so my role was to help them with that. But it opened up a bit more. That seems to be the way they work, and they encourage it.
U2.com: So were they good to work with?
The band themselves are brilliant, in that they’ve been recording some of these songs since ‘96, and have an amazing knowledge of their performances. Adam would say, “I did a bass line that would be good for this part in France in November 96.” So someone would go to the safe and find the recording, and I’d take the bass line, and it would slot in. He was right.
Adam is quite brilliant. You don’t really know what he’s doing half of the time – he’s playing and you think, this is weird, it’s not working at all. Like, it’s very wrong. And then, he’ll pull this bizarre bass line out, and you’ll think, ‘Fucking hell, that’s great.’
Edge doesn’t actually play that much, and it’s so simple, but he has such a style, it’s so distinctive, that it’s quite amazing. He’s very curious, and carries a back-pack with CDs and notes. At the end of every week, we’d record a CD of that week’s work. If you’ve had four years of that, that’s a lot of CDs and versions. But he’d take a bit from one and stick it onto the chorus of another… It was quite amazing. Everything is kept. Every idea is used and leads into somewhere else.
People are mixing on top of each other’s mixes, too. It’s an amazing way of working. On ‘Crumbs…’ there are a few mixes on the final version. I mixed the start and the end; Flood the middle part; Steve did another mix somewhere. But it’s a lovely piece.
U2.com: Doesn’t it get confusing?
If you’re not used to it, it’s a scary process. When you’ve spent two or three months recording something, and then you don’t even know if you have anything…
U2.com: Is it hard to know when something is finished, then?
Only Edge knows when it’s finished. He’ll pore over mastered versions in a way that I haven’t seen anybody else do. He’d make a good scientist.
But it’s an odd thing with U2: the songs seem to ferment by themselves. You work on something for a few weeks and put it away – and I don’t know what happens, but there are chemical reactions within the music. When you pick it up again, it sounds different.
OP
OP
redhill
Refugee
THANKS!
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
you're welcome.
Tip Top Prince
War Child
Talk about breach of copyright.... amazing. The thread should be deleted.
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
Actually, it isn't a problem, as I found out when I mistakenly posted a U2.com article in the news section (didn't realise at the time that we weren't allowed to do that):
dsmith2904 said:
Therefore it's not really a big deal is it? I've paid my $40 to read it so I don't see the harm in responding to a request for a copy of the article. An article which clearly states that it is U2.com conducting the interview. So, with all due respect, find out what you're on about before you start flaming me for trying to help a fellow forum member. Thanks!
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sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
U2_Guy said:
*confused* Me, the thread, or Tip Top Prince? Or all three?
Tip Top Prince
War Child
From the terms at U2.comsallycinnamon78 said:
So, with all due respect, find out what you're on about before you start flaming me for trying to help a fellow forum member. Thanks!
Proprietary Rights
You agree that all content and materials available on the Site are protected by rights of publicity, copyright, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets or other proprietary rights and laws. Unless expressly authorized by us, you agree not to sell, license, rent, modify, distribute, copy, reproduce, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, publish, adapt, edit or create derivative works from materials or content available on the Site. Notwithstanding the above, you may use the content and materials on the Site in the course of your normal, personal, non-commercial use of the Site.
1. It doesn't matter what this site thinks, clearly U2.com doesn't think you should be posting it.
2. Learn what flaming means.
U2 Guy - thanks for the personal attack ; your contribution was very useful.
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sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
Tip Top Prince said:
1. Well, if they're that bothered they can cancel my membership and give me my $40 back, along with everyone else who posts the articles, can't they? As the information is fully attributed to its original source, plagiarism isn't an issue (I know a fair bit about that having completed my PhD recently). I'm hardly using this for commercial purposes.
2. Go and patronise someone who might actually care. I don't give a rats arse what anyone else has to say about it. I'm going away now to a thread that has some purpose other than butting in and moaning unnecessarily at people for no good reason.
This is a boring little thread. Goodnight.
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ImOuttaControl
Refugee
Thanks for posting this, great article! 
I've never understood the people who get all high and mighty about saying this stuff shouldn't be posted. I mean, what the hell difference does it make to them?
I've never understood the people who get all high and mighty about saying this stuff shouldn't be posted. I mean, what the hell difference does it make to them?
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
Tip Top Prince said:
Just one more thing...
You told me to find out what flaming meant. I already knew, but just in case YOU aren't certain of the meaning, here's a pointer:
Flaming
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_war
This article is about the Internet meaning of the word "flaming". For other meanings, and meanings of the word "flame", see Flame.
Flaming is the performance of posting messages that are deliberately hostile and insulting in the social context of a discussion board (usually on the Internet). Such messages are called flames, and are often posted in response to flamebait.
Although face to face flaming is as old as time itself, flaming on the Internet started in the Usenet hierarchies. A flame may have elements of a normal message, but is distinguished by its intent. A flame is never intended to be constructive, to further clarify a discussion, or to persuade other people. The motive for flaming is never dialectic, but rather social or psychological. Flamers are attempting to assert their authority, or establish a position of superiority. Occasionally, flamers merely wish to upset and offend other members of the forum, in which case they are trolls.
Similarly, a normal, non-flame message may have elements of a flame – it may be hostile, for example – but it is not a flame if it is seriously intended to advance the discussion.
I think that says it all. I rest my case.
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sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
If anyone's interested, here's an edited version of the track by track review. Because I will not be trolled into silence.
Track By Track
Taken from
http://www.u2.com/htdaab/tbt1/
With the album finally in the can, Edge, Bono and Adam offered an exclusive insight to U2.Com into how the different tracks came together - some took years, others seemed to come from nowhere in an evening. (Larry was travelling at the time of the interview for U2.Com, he'll be bringing site members up to date in future exclusive interviews!)
Vertigo
Bono
'Fear, paranoia, these are the type of things we wanted from 'Vertigo'. The album ends in quite an ecstatic place and, so we wanted to start off with a little bit of electric shock treatment. It's a club maybe, and you're supposed to be having the time of your life, but you want to kill yourself (laughs)….it's a light little ditty. These are nervous times, they really are, you turn on the news, you think 'Wow, who's next? My brother, my sister, my uncle, my aunt …nervous times.'
'It's a dizzy feeling, vertigo, a sort of sick feeling, when you get up to the top of something and there's only one way to go - that's not a dictionary definition, that's mine. And in my head I create a club, called Vertigo, with all these people in it, and the music is just not the music you want to hear, the people are not the people you want to be with. And then you just see somebody, she's got a cross round her neck, and you kind of focus on it because you can't focus on anything else, and you find a little, tiny, fragment of salvation there.'
Track By Track
Taken from
http://www.u2.com/htdaab/tbt1/
With the album finally in the can, Edge, Bono and Adam offered an exclusive insight to U2.Com into how the different tracks came together - some took years, others seemed to come from nowhere in an evening. (Larry was travelling at the time of the interview for U2.Com, he'll be bringing site members up to date in future exclusive interviews!)
Vertigo
Bono
'Fear, paranoia, these are the type of things we wanted from 'Vertigo'. The album ends in quite an ecstatic place and, so we wanted to start off with a little bit of electric shock treatment. It's a club maybe, and you're supposed to be having the time of your life, but you want to kill yourself (laughs)….it's a light little ditty. These are nervous times, they really are, you turn on the news, you think 'Wow, who's next? My brother, my sister, my uncle, my aunt …nervous times.'
'It's a dizzy feeling, vertigo, a sort of sick feeling, when you get up to the top of something and there's only one way to go - that's not a dictionary definition, that's mine. And in my head I create a club, called Vertigo, with all these people in it, and the music is just not the music you want to hear, the people are not the people you want to be with. And then you just see somebody, she's got a cross round her neck, and you kind of focus on it because you can't focus on anything else, and you find a little, tiny, fragment of salvation there.'
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
Taken from
http://www.u2.com/htdaab/tbt1/
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Bono
'I sang 'Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own' at my father's funeral. He was a very tough, old boot of a guy, Irish, Dub, north side of Dublin, very cynical about the world and the people in it, you know, but very charming, and funny with it.
'His whole thing was, 'Don't dream - to dream is to be disappointed'. That was really what I think was his advice to me. He didn't speak it in those words, but that's what he meant, and of course that's really a recipe for megalomania isn't it? I mean I was only ever interested in big ideas, and not so much dreaming but putting dreams into action, doing the things that you have in your head has become an important thing for me.
The song 'Sometimes You Cant Make it On Your Own', was dedicated to him, and, it's a portrait of him - he was a great singer, a tenor, a working class Dublin guy who listened to the opera and conducted the stereo with my mother's knitting needles. He just loved opera, so in the song, I hit one of those big tenor notes that he would have loved so much. I think he would have loved it, I hope so.'
http://www.u2.com/htdaab/tbt1/
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Bono
'I sang 'Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own' at my father's funeral. He was a very tough, old boot of a guy, Irish, Dub, north side of Dublin, very cynical about the world and the people in it, you know, but very charming, and funny with it.
'His whole thing was, 'Don't dream - to dream is to be disappointed'. That was really what I think was his advice to me. He didn't speak it in those words, but that's what he meant, and of course that's really a recipe for megalomania isn't it? I mean I was only ever interested in big ideas, and not so much dreaming but putting dreams into action, doing the things that you have in your head has become an important thing for me.
The song 'Sometimes You Cant Make it On Your Own', was dedicated to him, and, it's a portrait of him - he was a great singer, a tenor, a working class Dublin guy who listened to the opera and conducted the stereo with my mother's knitting needles. He just loved opera, so in the song, I hit one of those big tenor notes that he would have loved so much. I think he would have loved it, I hope so.'
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
Yahweh
Edge
It was one of those songs that had an emotional weight to it. Bono's first vocal to it was this incredible thing, and I think most of the melodies that ended up on the final version were written in a matter of minutes when he first heard the piece of music. Quite quickly after that, he came up with this idea of calling it Yahweh, which is the name for the most high, which Jewish people do not utter, it s written but not spoken. I don t know the exact translation, but it s a sacred name for God, and in this song it s a prayer. I can t really explain it beyond that, it s one of those songs that had to be written, and again we just got out of the way.
Bono
I had the idea that no one can own Jerusalem, but everybody wants to put flags on it. The title s an ancient name that s not meant to be spoken. I got around it by singing it. I hope I don t offend anyone.
Edge
It was one of those songs that had an emotional weight to it. Bono's first vocal to it was this incredible thing, and I think most of the melodies that ended up on the final version were written in a matter of minutes when he first heard the piece of music. Quite quickly after that, he came up with this idea of calling it Yahweh, which is the name for the most high, which Jewish people do not utter, it s written but not spoken. I don t know the exact translation, but it s a sacred name for God, and in this song it s a prayer. I can t really explain it beyond that, it s one of those songs that had to be written, and again we just got out of the way.
Bono
I had the idea that no one can own Jerusalem, but everybody wants to put flags on it. The title s an ancient name that s not meant to be spoken. I got around it by singing it. I hope I don t offend anyone.
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
Original Of The Species
Bono
'Original of the Species' is a very special song for me, it's a beautiful, melodic kind of journey. It's just (about) watching some people, as I have, be ashamed of their bodies and particularly teenagers with you know eating disorders and not feeling comfortable with themselves and their sexuality. And it's just saying to them, 'You are one of a kind, you're the first one of your kind, you're an original of the species, you feel like no one before, you steal right under my door, I kneel because I want you some more, I want a lot of what you've got and I want nothing of what you're not, everywhere you go, you shout it, you don't have to be shy about it…'
So its just this 'be who you are', kind of an anthem. I can't wait to play it live, and Edge plays some extraordinary piano, which has got the complexity to the verses to balance that anthem.'
Bono
'Original of the Species' is a very special song for me, it's a beautiful, melodic kind of journey. It's just (about) watching some people, as I have, be ashamed of their bodies and particularly teenagers with you know eating disorders and not feeling comfortable with themselves and their sexuality. And it's just saying to them, 'You are one of a kind, you're the first one of your kind, you're an original of the species, you feel like no one before, you steal right under my door, I kneel because I want you some more, I want a lot of what you've got and I want nothing of what you're not, everywhere you go, you shout it, you don't have to be shy about it…'
So its just this 'be who you are', kind of an anthem. I can't wait to play it live, and Edge plays some extraordinary piano, which has got the complexity to the verses to balance that anthem.'
sallycinnamon78
New Yorker
City Of Blinding Lights
Bono
I think one of the most important moments for me on this album happened when I went to see Anton Corbin's exhibition. Anton has done all our album covers and has been a very close friend of the band, and one of the most important photographers in the world and truly a great, great, artist.
He had a museum show in Holland where he's from, and I went to see it and he hadn't told me but there was a room full of giant photographs of the band and a lot of me from when I was very young, and he put me in to the room and I was like 'Just get me out of here!'
And then I saw this photograph - I guess I would have been 20, 21 - getting into a helicopter, the first time I'd ever been in a helicopter, first or second video we made, and it was New Years Day, and we're just about to take off. And I saw this face, and the face was so open and so empty of complications and so the naivety was there and it was so powerful, and this Dutch journalist came up and said, 'Bono, what would you say now to this Bono back then, have you anything you would say?' And I was trying to think what I would say, and it kind of just came out of my mouth, I said, 'I'd tell him he's absolutely right, stop second guessing yourself.' Back then I didn't know how powerful that naivety was, I didn't know how powerful that innocence was so I was trying to rid myself from it, I was trying to set fire to myself, and get rid of this, become a more worldly person, become a man of the world, and of course the less you know, the more you know, sometimes the less you feel, and really understand.
So 'City of Blinding Lights' came right out of that moment for me, it's a story of innocence and experience and the chorus is set in one of the greatest moments for me ever on the stage when we were the first band to play New York City, after 9/11 and we turned on the lights, during one song and I just saw twenty thousand people, just their eyes wide open, and tears just rolling down their faces and it was an amazing moment for me, musically, and I just shouted out 'Oh you just look so beautiful tonight'. And so that's become this song.
Bono
I think one of the most important moments for me on this album happened when I went to see Anton Corbin's exhibition. Anton has done all our album covers and has been a very close friend of the band, and one of the most important photographers in the world and truly a great, great, artist.
He had a museum show in Holland where he's from, and I went to see it and he hadn't told me but there was a room full of giant photographs of the band and a lot of me from when I was very young, and he put me in to the room and I was like 'Just get me out of here!'
And then I saw this photograph - I guess I would have been 20, 21 - getting into a helicopter, the first time I'd ever been in a helicopter, first or second video we made, and it was New Years Day, and we're just about to take off. And I saw this face, and the face was so open and so empty of complications and so the naivety was there and it was so powerful, and this Dutch journalist came up and said, 'Bono, what would you say now to this Bono back then, have you anything you would say?' And I was trying to think what I would say, and it kind of just came out of my mouth, I said, 'I'd tell him he's absolutely right, stop second guessing yourself.' Back then I didn't know how powerful that naivety was, I didn't know how powerful that innocence was so I was trying to rid myself from it, I was trying to set fire to myself, and get rid of this, become a more worldly person, become a man of the world, and of course the less you know, the more you know, sometimes the less you feel, and really understand.
So 'City of Blinding Lights' came right out of that moment for me, it's a story of innocence and experience and the chorus is set in one of the greatest moments for me ever on the stage when we were the first band to play New York City, after 9/11 and we turned on the lights, during one song and I just saw twenty thousand people, just their eyes wide open, and tears just rolling down their faces and it was an amazing moment for me, musically, and I just shouted out 'Oh you just look so beautiful tonight'. And so that's become this song.
