The song is actually metaphorical. Bono came up with the title on his Ethiopia trip, but when he wrote the lyrics, he wasn't sure what the song was about. In his 2022 book Surrender, he explained: "On reflection I suppose I want to write about that 'other country,' the country of the imagination. I want to run out of hiding, to tear down the walls that hold me inside myself. I want to touch the flame." Brian Eno, known for his etherial, experimental music and for his time in Roxy Music, produced this track along with Daniel Lanois. Eno got a chance to build one of his signature soundscapes on the intro - Bono's vocals don't come in until. The Edge wrote the music in his home studio with no idea what lyric would get attached to the song. His demo had a keyboard line at the beginning that Eno worked into a slow-building open driven by his synthesizer. The Edge added one of his distinctive guitar parts, a repeated arpeggio with a delay effect. Very thrifty with the notes while generating a rich texture. Bono thought it sounded like an orchestra tuning up, and felt it was a great way to open the The Joshua Tree album. The Joshua Tree became the fastest-selling album in both the US and UK. In the band's 2009 bio, U2 By U2, Bono explained explained why the band chose this as the introductory track: "'Where The Streets Have No Name' was the perfect introduction. It is one of the most extraordinary ideas, only matched by The Doors' 'Break On Through (To The Other Side)' as a throw-down to an audience. Do you want to go there? Because if you do, I'm ready to go there with you, to that other place. Call it what you like, a place of imagination, where there are no limitations." Bono has expressed mixed opinions about the open-ended lyrics: "I can look at it now and recognize that [the song] has one of the most banal couplets in the history of pop music. But it also contains some of the biggest ideas. In a curious way, that seems to work. If you get any way heavy about these things, you don't communicate. But if you're flip or throwaway about it, then you do. That's one of the paradoxes I've come to terms with." "Where the Streets Have No Name" is played in the key of D major at a tempo of 126 beats per minute. The introduction and outro are played in a 3 4 time signature, while the remainder of the song is in a common 4 4 signature. The song opens with an instrumental section, starting with chorale-like sustained synthesiser notes. The guitar fades in after 40 seconds; this part consists of a repeated "chiming" six-note arpeggio. A "dotted eighth" delay effect is used to "play" each note in the arpeggio twice, thus creating a rich sound. The bass and drums enter... The introduction, following a I-IV-I-IV-vi-V-I chord progression, creates a "wall of sound", as described by Mark Butler, against which the vocals emerge after nearly two minutes. The guitar part played for the remainder of the song features The Edge strumming percussive sixteenth notes. The bass and drums continue in regular eighth and sixteenth notes, respectively, while Bono's vocal performance, in contrast, varies greatly in its timbre, ("he sighs; he moans; he grunts; he exhales audibly; he allows his voice to crack") as well as timing by his usage of rubato to slightly offset the notes he sings from the beat. This development reaches a climax during the first chorus at the line "burning down love" (A-G-F♯-D); the melody progresses through a series of scale degrees that lead to the highest note in the song, the A4 at "burning". In later choruses, Bono sings "blown by the wind" with the same melody, stretching the same note even longer. After the third chorus, the song's outro is played, the instrumentation reverting to the same state as it was in the introduction, with a six-note guitar arpeggio played against sustained synthesiser notes. Upon the release of The Joshua Tree, critics praised "Where the Streets Have No Name". Steve Morse of The Boston Globe noted the "bell-like tones from the Edge fram[e] a search for heaven" and along with the subsequent track on the album, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", these songs showed how the group were "pilgrims still on a quest; not preachers who claim to have found answers". The Bergen Record echoed these sentiments, saying the tracks demonstrated how the band was on a personal and spiritual quest. Rolling Stone called it "assertive rock" in their review of The Joshua Tree. The San Diego Union-Tribune said of "Where the Streets Have No Name", "the music charges, like someone fleeing for life". The Washington Post said the track is "a bit oblique lyrically, but the implications are clear in Bono's resolute delivery, Dave (the Edge) Evan's quavering guitar, Adam Clayton's cathedral bass and Larry Mullen's rolling thunder drums". Cash Box said that it's an "achingly beautiful rocker" with "incredible raw emotion and power." NME lauded the song as the opening track by saying the album "starts by spitting furiously". The publication praised Bono's impassioned singing and The Edge's guitar playing, which transformed the instrument into "something more than an endlessly abused piece of wood". The review commented that the "last ten seconds are breathtakingly beautiful". The Rocket wrote that the song builds a "wall of sound" that Bono's vocals cut through with a "wail of desperation, as the lyrics agonize the need for personal spirituality". The reviewer compared the opening riff to Simple Minds' "Ghostdancing". Reviewing The Joshua Tree, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic called the song an "epic opener". The service's Steve Huey, in a review of the song, praised its "insistent, propulsive rhythmic drive and anthemic chorus", qualities he singled out for making it a fan favorite. He called the song the "perfect album-opener", crediting the "slow build of its arrangement toward a climactic peak". Huey also called Bono's delivery "passionate and grandiose" and "his commitment to the material unshakable". He believed the combination of his vocals and the band's "sonic power" is what gave U2 its "tremendous force". One of my favourite evergreens of them...
adam claytons house in ticknock beside taylors three rock was the studio in the summer of 1986 where the joshua tree was recorded and also the edges house in dalkey where he came up with the riff and keyboards
Before the Joshua came out in march 1987 I could buy it in the netherlands 6 days before the official release on album ..in an hour I had 20 friends in the street .we Playd it over and over again 3 days later on the radio the played Several songs ……but we got it …my best memories of all time"….ps sorry for the translation I,m dutch now I,m 54 and love u2
Tens razão irmão. A maior e melhor banda de sempre. Faz mais falta hoje do que há vinte anos, uma vez que vivemos num mundo tão cinico. É por isso que muita gente odeia o Bono; como não acreditam em nada, não compreendem que haja quem use a fama que conquistou para lutar por um mundo melhor. Saudações de Portugal.
U2 alcanzó la Cima con The Joshua Tree, álbum que es una Obra Maestra y esta canción es de las mejores de este Disco,eterna, inmortal y es con esta magnífica Obra Musical que se convirtieron en la banda más importante del mundo ,y partir de 1987 en mis preferidos.
Efforts are admirable. Particularly with the montage visually. I do feel compelled to take umbrage with choice of sonic remix/edit. I find it distracting as takes away some of the beauty and power of the original. Recently come to appreciate extended remixes via RUclips. Not a hater but this one doesn’t quite cut it.
Just amazing and can't stop the loop ➰
The song is actually metaphorical.
Bono came up with the title on his Ethiopia trip, but when he wrote the lyrics, he wasn't sure what the song was about. In his 2022 book Surrender, he explained: "On reflection I suppose I want to write about that 'other country,' the country of the imagination. I want to run out of hiding, to tear down the walls that hold me inside myself. I want to touch the flame."
Brian Eno, known for his etherial, experimental music and for his time in Roxy Music, produced this track along with Daniel Lanois. Eno got a chance to build one of his signature soundscapes on the intro - Bono's vocals don't come in until.
The Edge wrote the music in his home studio with no idea what lyric would get attached to the song. His demo had a keyboard line at the beginning that Eno worked into a slow-building open driven by his synthesizer. The Edge added one of his distinctive guitar parts, a repeated arpeggio with a delay effect. Very thrifty with the notes while generating a rich texture.
Bono thought it sounded like an orchestra tuning up, and felt it was a great way to open the The Joshua Tree album.
The Joshua Tree became the fastest-selling album in both the US and UK. In the band's 2009 bio, U2 By U2, Bono explained explained why the band chose this as the introductory track:
"'Where The Streets Have No Name' was the perfect introduction. It is one of the most extraordinary ideas, only matched by The Doors' 'Break On Through (To The Other Side)' as a throw-down to an audience. Do you want to go there? Because if you do, I'm ready to go there with you, to that other place. Call it what you like, a place of imagination, where there are no limitations."
Bono has expressed mixed opinions about the open-ended lyrics: "I can look at it now and recognize that [the song] has one of the most banal couplets in the history of pop music. But it also contains some of the biggest ideas. In a curious way, that seems to work. If you get any way heavy about these things, you don't communicate. But if you're flip or throwaway about it, then you do. That's one of the paradoxes I've come to terms with."
"Where the Streets Have No Name" is played in the key of D major at a tempo of 126 beats per minute. The introduction and outro are played in a 3
4 time signature, while the remainder of the song is in a common 4
4 signature. The song opens with an instrumental section, starting with chorale-like sustained synthesiser notes. The guitar fades in after 40 seconds; this part consists of a repeated "chiming" six-note arpeggio. A "dotted eighth" delay effect is used to "play" each note in the arpeggio twice, thus creating a rich sound. The bass and drums enter...
The introduction, following a I-IV-I-IV-vi-V-I chord progression, creates a "wall of sound", as described by Mark Butler, against which the vocals emerge after nearly two minutes. The guitar part played for the remainder of the song features The Edge strumming percussive sixteenth notes. The bass and drums continue in regular eighth and sixteenth notes, respectively, while Bono's vocal performance, in contrast, varies greatly in its timbre, ("he sighs; he moans; he grunts; he exhales audibly; he allows his voice to crack") as well as timing by his usage of rubato to slightly offset the notes he sings from the beat.
This development reaches a climax during the first chorus at the line "burning down love" (A-G-F♯-D); the melody progresses through a series of scale degrees that lead to the highest note in the song, the A4 at "burning". In later choruses, Bono sings "blown by the wind" with the same melody, stretching the same note even longer. After the third chorus, the song's outro is played, the instrumentation reverting to the same state as it was in the introduction, with a six-note guitar arpeggio played against sustained synthesiser notes.
Upon the release of The Joshua Tree, critics praised "Where the Streets Have No Name". Steve Morse of The Boston Globe noted the "bell-like tones from the Edge fram[e] a search for heaven" and along with the subsequent track on the album, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", these songs showed how the group were "pilgrims still on a quest; not preachers who claim to have found answers". The Bergen Record echoed these sentiments, saying the tracks demonstrated how the band was on a personal and spiritual quest. Rolling Stone called it "assertive rock" in their review of The Joshua Tree. The San Diego Union-Tribune said of "Where the Streets Have No Name", "the music charges, like someone fleeing for life". The Washington Post said the track is "a bit oblique lyrically, but the implications are clear in Bono's resolute delivery, Dave (the Edge) Evan's quavering guitar, Adam Clayton's cathedral bass and Larry Mullen's rolling thunder drums". Cash Box said that it's an "achingly beautiful rocker" with "incredible raw emotion and power."
NME lauded the song as the opening track by saying the album "starts by spitting furiously". The publication praised Bono's impassioned singing and The Edge's guitar playing, which transformed the instrument into "something more than an endlessly abused piece of wood". The review commented that the "last ten seconds are breathtakingly beautiful". The Rocket wrote that the song builds a "wall of sound" that Bono's vocals cut through with a "wail of desperation, as the lyrics agonize the need for personal spirituality". The reviewer compared the opening riff to Simple Minds' "Ghostdancing". Reviewing The Joshua Tree, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic called the song an "epic opener". The service's Steve Huey, in a review of the song, praised its "insistent, propulsive rhythmic drive and anthemic chorus", qualities he singled out for making it a fan favorite. He called the song the "perfect album-opener", crediting the "slow build of its arrangement toward a climactic peak". Huey also called Bono's delivery "passionate and grandiose" and "his commitment to the material unshakable". He believed the combination of his vocals and the band's "sonic power" is what gave U2 its "tremendous force".
One of my favourite evergreens of them...
U2 are the heroes of my youth and their masterpiece Where the Streets have no name is forever an immortal song!
Best intro of all time!
This is the song played at the pearly gates of heaven
Soy una abuela que los escucha siempre desde el fondo de mi corazón ❤️ un saludo y este tema grandioso .Dios les bendiga. U2.
Still listening in 24 awesome
arguably the greatest rock band ... EVER - music lover Philippines *
Pinooooyyy
kamusta ka@@ghost.asusrog
Ok naman sir. Eto enjoying timeless music from U2 while Grab haha
I love U2
adam claytons house in ticknock beside taylors three rock was the studio in the summer of 1986 where the joshua tree was recorded and also the edges house in dalkey where he came up with the riff and keyboards
U2 is Awesome 😎
Don't worry about your being posh im a laf for the getto ❤☮️ respect to al
U2 MADRID 🇪🇸, (SANTIAGO BERNABEO 1985),tenía yo 27 años ❤❤🎉🎉😊
Before the Joshua came out in march 1987 I could buy it in the netherlands 6 days before the official release on album ..in an hour I had 20 friends in the street .we Playd it over and over again 3 days later on the radio the played Several songs ……but we got it …my best memories of all time"….ps sorry for the translation I,m dutch now I,m 54 and love u2
Amazing😊
Good to hear u2.
Wow!!!! Tremenda... saludos desde GDL MEX.
Melhor banda do mundo parabéns u2 gratidão 🎉
Meu essa banda já escuto eles a muito tempo é curto muito eles pois é grande banda que está aí até hoje no Mundo todo e as suas músicas 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🙏
Tens razão irmão. A maior e melhor banda de sempre. Faz mais falta hoje do que há vinte anos, uma vez que vivemos num mundo tão cinico. É por isso que muita gente odeia o Bono; como não acreditam em nada, não compreendem que haja quem use a fama que conquistou para lutar por um mundo melhor. Saudações de Portugal.
Its gread❤
I'm replying to my self too much lol f it
Very very nice 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Bons tempos, em que Bono cantava como ninguém!
U2 alcanzó la Cima con The Joshua Tree, álbum que es una Obra Maestra y esta canción es de las mejores de este Disco,eterna, inmortal y es con esta magnífica Obra Musical que se convirtieron en la banda más importante del mundo ,y partir de 1987 en mis preferidos.
Thanks for the upload, download, overload 🙂 Excellent pictures, great job!
I listened to this, intently. Appreciate it. Very good work.
정말정말 대단하세요~
10 minutos con los mejores, U2 siempre mi mejor compañía!! lindo recuento de fotos con muchos que ya partieron.
gracias por sus amables palabras. Estamos felices de que te guste.
Yes they are.......ALL ❤
sensacional
Top fantástico grande banda até hoje eu curto demais ele é sempre escuto até hoje 👊👊👊👊👊👊
Very nice Version!!!
U2as good as led zep
,?
wonderful video, love the photos and song choice!
Thank you for your kind words
❤❤❤❤
Sublime!!....
Para todos nós começarmos o dia bem forte
A love you bono et musiciens u2 very nice
Leave the original alone, it is a masterpiece.
🤴 Bono Citi Bank LA Streets Have no Name Ah Ha Take on Me 🧭 ♊ 🏠 🎶 🎶 🎶 🏡
13 Chargers to LA Take on Me 🕊️🇧🇱🦅
" We Couldn't win in LA San Diego That Day" THE BOND 🇬🇧 BONO
Ace From L A BOND 🇬🇧 Opened that day From L A Citi Bank BONDS Aon L 🇵🇬 Ace of Clubs JAMES MARSHALL BOND 🇬🇧 BONO road fell that day to LA
BONO Road Langlois Oregon L 🇬🇧 A
Efforts are admirable. Particularly with the montage visually. I do feel compelled to take umbrage with choice of sonic remix/edit.
I find it distracting as takes away some of the beauty and power of the original.
Recently come to appreciate extended remixes via RUclips. Not a hater but this one doesn’t quite cut it.
I strongly disagree but each to their own 👍🙏
Lol
Home-made remixes crap, hundreds made no big deal everyone makes these bs