#56 - Bullet the Blue Sky (1987) Highest- 32 Lowest- 175 The Joshua Tree LP
Vulture-19/218 - Bono asked the Edge to put the sound of “U.S. OUT OF EL SALVADOR” through his amplifier, & he obliged. “I wanted it to feel like hell on Earth, because fr the demon seed comes the flower of fire,” Bono said. “OUTSIDE, IT’S AMERICA,” the lyrics cry, while the Edge lights his fretboard on fire. “In a locust wind / Comes a rattle & hum” — u can almost feel that desert wind coming out of the amplifier. In concert, Bono might take it too far or wander off making no sense, but Edge & his guitar are there to make sure you remember what the song is about.
Comment - Powerful song w a lot to say.
Songfact:
Perhaps the archetype political song by U2 (arguably SBS could take that role too) the lyrics describe the unintended consequences of US President Ronald Reagan's foreign policy decisions in South America. (esp. the policy to provide financial & political support to the Salvadoran regime which reqd them to ignore that regime's abuse of human rights.)
In 1986, Bono & his wife, Ali, traveled to Nicaragua and El Salvador, the latter was then in the midst of a horrific civil war. There, he stayed w a group of guerillas in the middle of the mountains in the north of the country. He witnessed firsthand the brutality of the U.S.-backed military dictatorship, incl the sight of F-16 fighters attacking civilian villages.
"I wanted to go & see things for myself. It's why I ended up in the famine in Ethiopia, It's why I ended up in Central America. I just want to see it for myself. There were wonderful people offering solace to refugees from the war in El Salvador. I was w 1 of those groups visiting. We went out into the hills - maybe that was irresponsible because we were in the middle of a war zone. In the hillside across the way, they were firebombing these villages to get the paramilitaries out of there. I remember the ground shaking & I remember the smell of being near a war zone. I don't think we were in danger, but I knew there were lives in danger or being lost close to us, & I felt for them. It upset me as a person.......as a student of nonviolence I had a violent reaction to what I was witnessing."
From a firefly, a red orange glow
See the face of fear
Running scared on the valley below
The line: "In the locust wind, comes a rattle & hum" was clearly the inspiration for the title of U2's follow up album, R&H.
The line: "And this guy comes up to me, His face red like a rose on a thorn bush" is a reference to Reagan.
The line: "Because outside is America" was almost changed to "Because outside is the world"....They were not sure they wanted to name the US directly.
The Music:
BTBS first originated as a demo that U2 recorded during a jam session at STS Studios in Dublin w producer Paul Barrett, prior to the proper JT recording sessions.
While listening to a song by English rock band the Fall, Edge tried to emulate its guitar riff, but instead came up w his own part that eventually became the chorus for "BTBS". Adam & Larry then joined in playing at half-time.
Bono recalled that Adam was also playing in a different key from the Edge. The guitarist became irritated, as the rhythm section was playing much differently than how he thought they should. He thought to himself, "What the $%^& are they doing?", & considered stopping the jam. After the take was completed, the band listened to playback in the control room & realized that the demo was "absolutely brilliant". Compared to the final version of the song, the Edge described the demo as "much more bare-boned, like a heavy funk track". Still,
the song was discarded for some time until producer Brian Eno, convinced the band it was worth working on.
When Bono returned to Ireland & the JT sessions, he instructed the Edge to “put El Salvador through your amplifier.” The result was incisive & explosive, w a heavy, tumultuous sound that recalled Led Zeppelin & lyrics that dug into the darkest aspects of American imperialism & racism. “I love America & I hate it,” Bono said. “I’m torn between the two.”
Recording engineer Dave Meegan helped develop the song, wanting it to sound like Led Zeppelin, so he adjusted a monitor mix to make it "really heavy sounding." Lanois was inspired by what he heard, as the song up to that point was being treated softly. He quickly summoned the band to a warehouse next door, where the crew used a public address system to play an acoustic recording of Mullen's drums, which was then re-recorded inside the warehouse. Lanois called it a "really elaborate kind of rock & roll chamber"......and Meegan added that, "it made [the drums] sound like John Bonham"
TJT album was produced by Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois, (also TUF). But TJT also received considerable input fr U2's former producer,
Steve Lillywhite, who was brought in to mix four of the tracks on the album, including this one. Lanois on how the song turned out: "'Bullet the Blue Sky' turned out a lot different," he said. "I wouldn't have had as many effects on it, because we had a bit of a purist attitude toward some of these recordings, essentially that there was a sound that was captured in performance in a room, & we wanted to remain loyal to that space, to convey that sound. And he was not as sentimental to that idea, so he pulled out all the stops."
Criticism of America did not hurt record sales in the US, as TJT was the #1 album its 1st wk of release. It also didn't hurt Bono's status w American politicians, many of whom invited him to speak on behalf of various causes. Far from being seen as an enemy of the state, Bono was celebrated by most govt officials, & he used his celebrity & access to advance a variety of causes.
The song was never released as a JT single....This was issued as the B-side of the "In God's Country" single.
When Rolling Stone ranked their Top 50 U2 songs, "Bullet" landed at #21 (
so this is in line w Vulture's ranking)
Here is the R&H version
Been played 792 times in concert