DUDE!!!! I fucking LOVE this baby version!!!! I kind of view it as a separate song from WGRYWH. Even though the music is the same basic structure, it is so different lyrically, texturally, sonically. I just love what's happening here!
In Bill Flanagan's book "U2 at the end of the world", the general picture that is painted is that the band had mixed feelings about WGRYWH. I think I remember Bono & Edge kept trying to pull a great song out of it, and Adam, Larry and even Eno were not into it. I believe the word "throwaway" was used. The fact that they have continually changed it, with further evolutions throughout the Vertigo tour, indicates to me that they were still never quite able to get it to where they were happy with it. I think it became the 5th single because some record company people wanted to milk one last single from AB, and it seemed like the most marketable one. I swear I remember reading somewhere that there was a battle of "Wild Horses" vs "UTEOTW" to be the last single, but UTEOTW really doesn't have a hook or a chorus.
I really like the song. It was one of the first "non greatest hits" songs I heard during the early part of my fandom, when I randomly caught the video on VH1 in 1995 or so, back when I was 13 and stayed up all night watching music videos. And actually, it's one of my wife's favorite U2 songs. Would make for a good "e-stage song".