MERGED --> Treasure (Whatever happened to Pete the Chop?) + pete the chop

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

U2Fan101

Refugee
Joined
Nov 4, 2000
Messages
1,197
Treasure (Whatever happened to Pete the Chop?)

Does anyone have a copy of Treasure that they could email to me?

Or, if someone has a link of where I can download it, that would be righteous as well:)

Thanks

jason_fuerst@yahoo.com
 
If someone could tell me how to get it from vinyl onto a suitable format to send to you, I would ...... really, really sorry.:(
 
I'd have to say, the music is fantastic, I've always loved the music but hated the lyrics and Bono's voice. He sounds horrible(singing it completely in his throat) , he kills the song, too bad it really could have been a treasure.
 
Long ago I heard this story about the original Pete the Chop, but I can't remember whether it came from a band member, Bono, or an even less reliable source.

The original version of Pete the Chop (created during the bands formative years in the late 1970s and played live thru 1980) was unquestionably a very catchy tune. Realizing the potential radio-worthiness of that piece of music if properly developed, the band intended to keep in in their treasure chest (hence, "Treasure") and use it only if/when they were desperately in need of a hit.

As things turned out, they never needed it. The band was barely able to finish the War album and only completed mixing the minimum 10 songs in their last minutes in the studio (or, as Bono says they were being thrown out of the studio). Having no B-sides to use for the New Years Day single, someone asked "Whatever happened to Pete the Chop" - the old recording was found, revised, and molded into the musically strong, lyrically-absent Treasure. I think the song is as compelling in capturing Bono's passion and the band's early strengths as other, better work, and I would much enjoy hearing it live - but of course that's a pipe dream of the highest order.
 
sv said:
story about the original Pete the Chop
i'd always heard that the song came from people asking them "whatever happened to 'pete the chop?'" they got sick of asking or whatever so sort of rewrote the song. if you compare both they sound similar...ish.
 
I think both of those versions are somewhat correct. For years Island executives asked U2 to record and release that song as a single, because it was a sure-fire hit at the time. So the joke was that whenever U2 met with Island someone would always ask them; "Whatever happened to that Pete the Chop song?"

So U2 basic took the song and played it "backwards" according to them and Bono strung some new lyrics to it. Incidentally there actually was a "Pete the Chop" and he asked Bono, or the band to write a song about him. Hence the name.
 
Totally forgotten about that song! Thats what happens when you only have it on vinyl and dont have a vinyl player I guess! Been ages since ive listened to it.
 
The reason u2 and their management didnt want to turn the song into anything special was because they thought it would "bury the band."

Perhaps the song is a sign of a different direction u2's career could have gone.
 
Last edited:
but i can't find it in itunes, and i am not talking about Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop) , the b-side of New Years Day, but Pete the Chop.
 
Original version is Trevor

Another interesting fact about this song is that the original version is called Trevor and has different lyrics. It is pretty interesting to listen and compare them both. I read somewhere that in High School Bono and the gang had a friend named Pete. They called him Pete the Chop, much like Bono and the Edge had received their nicknames with their friends that made up Lypton Village. He asked them to make a song about him if and when they ever became famous. I do not know who Trevor may have been and why they decided to change the name to "honor" Pete.

Cheers!
 
Back
Top Bottom