"
Zooropa" (pronounced
/zuːˈroʊpə/,
zoo-ROH-pə) is a song by the
rock band
U2. It is the opening track from their 1993 album
Zooropa. The song was the result of combining two pieces of music, the first of which was conceived in the studio, and the second of which was discovered by guitarist
The Edge while listening to
soundchecks the band had done while on tour. The lyrics were written by vocalist
Bono, describing two characters in a brightly-lit city in a futuristic version of
European society. Lyrics in the song were based on
advertising slogans, and also featured the phrase "dream out loud", which has appeared in other U2 media. Several themes were touched in the song, including
moral confusion and
European society.
Promotional recordings of the song were released in the United States and Mexico, and the song appeared on two
record charts shortly after its release in 1993. The song was briefly performed at three shows on U2's
Zoo TV Tour in 1992, where the band had difficulties performing it, and it was not played again until the
U2 360° Tour in 2011. The track received mostly positive reception from critics, who praised it as the album's opening track.
Background and recording
During the
Zoo TV Tour in 1992, U2 were trying to create a vision of an attractive future for
Europe, as opposed to a negative,
dystopian image that would be found in
science fiction. With recent and ongoing events in Europe, such as the
Revolutions of 1989, the
enlargement of the European Union, and the
Bosnian War, lead vocalist
Bono created a
surreal vision of a European location called "Zooropa".
[1] This concept was first implemented into the fourth leg of the
Zoo TV Tour, which was named "Zooropa",
[2] and was later used as the name for the song and the album.
[3] Bono has referred to
Zooropa as being a
concept album,
[4] with a main theme of the exploration of
interpellation within the
European Union.
[5] The place, "Zooropa", was also the setting for all the songs on the album.
[6]
Bono and guitarist
The Edge had been reading works by
cyberpunk author
William Gibson, who wrote about a futuristic urban environment known as "
The Sprawl".
[1] Gibson was an influence in the
texture of the song, and Bono described his work as "fucked up sci-fi".
[8] Bono wanted to use
noise to create a visual setting for the song, similar to Gibson's futuristic world, filled with
advertisements on
LED displays and
neon signs, as in the
1982 film
Blade Runner.
[7] With "Zooropa" as the album's opening song, Bono stated that he wanted the album's music to be like "
legal drugs" that would create a
trip where "you come out of the other end and you feel like you've been on some kind of a journey". The closing song on the album, "
The Wanderer", features
Johnny Cash on vocals, and was intended on being the "
antidote" to the futuristic-sounding opener.
[9]
The song was written during the album's sessions in
Dublin, which took place from March to May 1993 between legs of the band's Zoo TV Tour.
[10] "Zooropa" was first developed after The Edge listened to cassette recordings of the band's
soundchecks from the Zoo TV Tour.
[9] Along with the album's sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy, The Edge edited the best parts of the soundchecks together using
Sound Tools to create a song arrangement, which served as a
backing track.
[1][7][11] The song's
introduction was recorded separately from the remainder of the song. The band based the intro on a
jam session in the studio, and producer
Flood took parts of the jam and created an
ambient mix.
[1] The
bass guitar during the intro was written and performed by drummer
Larry Mullen, Jr., who came up with the piece during the recording sessions while The Edge was working on the album's guitar riffs.
[12] The song pieces were then edited into a
stereo mix, with the intro mixed in by Flood using a
crossfade.
[1] Synthesizer sounds were added by producer
Brian Eno on a
Yamaha DX7 keyboard, including a "squishy, mad-synth sound" that connected the different segments of the soundcheck. The Edge later added guitar tracks, as well as additional sounds to the song using an
EMS Synthi A synthesizer.
[7][11] At the last minute, the band had misgivings about the first segment of the soundcheck backing track. Having established an arrangement for the song, they performed it in the studio from start to finish; they used this replaying for the first part of the soundcheck backing track, while using portions of the new performance for the second segment.
[1]
The band had originally intended on recording an
EP during the sessions, but
Zooropa eventually evolved into full-length album. "Zooropa" was one of five songs that were part of what would have become the band's EP, which also included "Babyface", "
Numb", "
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)", and "The Wanderer".
[7] The original working title for the track was "Babble–Zooropa", as mentioned in a May 1993 issue of
Hot Press, with the song composed of two parts—the two-minute introduction titled "Babble", and the remainder of the song titled "Zooropa".
[8] A later working title was featured in a June 1993 issue of
Billboard, which listed the song's title as "Zooropa I & II", also splitting the track into two parts.
[13] When the album was released the following month, the track was simply titled "Zooropa".
Composition and themes
"Zooropa" begins with a two-minute-long
introduction. As the song fades in,
sustained chords are played, and a noisy collage of mainly indecipherable human voices from
radio signals fades in at 0:19.
[9][10][14] The voices from the background voices include a clip of
George H. W. Bush saying "Peace talks", and are referenced in the album notes as "courtesy of the advertising world".
[15] A quiet
piano and
bass guitar are heard above the voices, which get louder with each beat.
[8] At 1:30, the volume of the voices raises suddenly and the bass part changes.
[10] The introduction then begins to fade out fifteen seconds later, while a guitar
riff played with a delay and
wah-wah effect joins the mix. The riff is briefly played on its own before the bass guitar and
drums join in at 2:03.
[10] This is followed by background voices saying, "What do you want?" in both English and French ("Qu'est-ce que tu veux?"), and "De quoi as-tu peur?" (
English:
"What are you afraid of?").
[16][15] In response to the questions, the lyrics in the first three verses of the song consist of various
advertising slogans.
[1][17] At 3:45, following the first three verses, a break in the song's instrumentation occurs, except for guitar, and the song returns to a state similar to the introduction's end.
[10] A rapid rhythmic synthesiser fades in and at 4:03, the drums and bass re-enter and the song assumes an increased
tempo.
[10] The theme of moral confusion and
uncertainty becomes present in the remaining lyrics.
The song describes two characters in a setting with a dull and grey appeal, who emerge from blinking
neon signs into a brightly-lit modern city.
[1] The radio sound effects in the introduction were intended to create a mood and setting for the song. DJ
Carter Alan noted that the sounds seemed to draw a connection from
Achtung Baby, but Bono stated that it was not intentional and that he didn't want it to have "anything to do with the past".
[9] Several advertising slogans were implemented word-for-word in the song's lyrics, including "
Vorsprung durch Technik" (
English:
"Advancement through technology") (
Audi),
[18] "Be all that you can be" (
United States Army),
[19] "Fly the friendly skies" (
United Airlines),
[20] and "The appliance of science" (
Zanussi).
[21] Other lyrics in the first three verses feature references to product slogans or phrases, such as
Colgate's "Ring of confidence"
[22] ("We've got that ring of confidence"),
Daz's "Bluey white"
[23] ("A bluer kind of white"), and
Fairy's "Mild green Fairy liquid"
[24] ("We're mild and green and squeaky clean"), the latter of which The Edge claimed to be his favourite line of the song.
[25]
Following the first three verses of advertising slogans, the song continues with the lyrics, "I have no compass, and I have no map" and "No reason to get back", referring to the uncertainty of the new direction of U2's music at the time.
[4] The following verse begins with, "And I have no religion", which was included in the lyrics because Bono stated that he "believe
that religion is the enemy of God."[1] A review of the album in Melody Maker compared the lyric "Uncertainty can be a guiding light" towards the end of the song to the line "If you walk away, [...] I will follow" from U2's 1980 single "I Will Follow". The reviewer stated "The man (Bono) that once had so many answers now sounds simply confused."[26] The theme of moral confusion was first used in U2's song "Acrobat" from Achtung Baby.[8] The coda in "Zooropa" features the lyric "dream out loud", which Bono included as a reference to "Acrobat".[1] The phrase "dream out loud" was first used by Bono during the Lovetown Tour in 1989,[27] and has appeared several times in U2's work since then. The phrase was also used in the song "Always"[28] — a B-side to the "Beautiful Day" single released in 2000[29] — and was spoken by Bono in the PopMart: Live from Mexico City video.[30]