Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1980


A Day Without Me

Buy A Day Without Me now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




"'A Day Without Me'" is a song by Irish rock band U2, and the eighth track on their debut album 'Boy'. It was released as the album's lead single in August 1980, and was their first release to be produced by Steve Lillywhite.

Theme



The song's lyrics refer to the removal of someone from their habitual social circle, and reflecting on what the world would be like without their presence.Bono addressing the audience before the song's performance, Dublin Stadium, 26 February 1980. Published on Youtube, 26 February 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWkGgbljKpI

At the time of the single's release, an Island Records press officer was notifying enquirers who were corresponding with the record label about the band that the song's lyrics were written about the death of Ian Curtis, the frontman/vocalist of the band Joy Division.Letter from Island Records Press Officer Neil Storey, dated 16 October 1980, for sale on eBay 2 March 2018: "... A Day Without Me was based, loosely, on the death of Ian Curtis. The band were deeply affected by his death as they felt that it was a senseless waste of human life." https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323088854785?_trksid=p11021.c100851.m5053&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20170803121420ul_noapp=true However, this information was erroneous as the band performed the song in Dublin in February 1980, musically and lyrically unaltered from its release format, a few months before Curtis's death.Entry in 'U2 Gigs.com' website (2018) for the gig at Dublin Stadium, 26 February 1980, with setlist. https://www.u2gigs.com/show98.html

Production



The single release was produced by Steve Lillywhite, and was the first time that he recorded with U2.

The B-side is an instrumental song called "Things to Make and Do."

Cover art



The image on the single's cover, photographed by Susan Byrne, is of a footbridge at Booterstown railway station in South Dublin.'It was the Summer of '79, when the Heat was felt by McGuiness', by Declan Lynch. 'Irish Independent' 29 October 2006. The image echoes the Joy Division photoshoot on the Epping Walk Bridge in Hulme, Manchester, that featured in an article of 'New Musical Express' in January 1979.'Kevin Cummins, Britain's Bands in Pictures', B.B.C. Radio 5 Live. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02xp86b/p02xnr1m

Live performances



"A Day Without Me" was played live during the first half of the 1980s. On the Boy Tour, it did not have a firmly defined set list position, initially appearing in the main set before moving to the encore. It did not appear on the October Tour until , when it was paired with "I Threw a Brick Through a Window", a song from the newly released 'October' album. The two songs were linked by a drum segue leading from the end of "I Threw a Brick Through a Window" into "A Day Without Me", and this pairing lasted until . Since then, neither song has been played live, although snippets of "A Day Without Me" have been played on rare occasions. A live performance of the song from Red Rocks Amphitheatre appears on the concert film 'U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky'.

"Things to Make and Do" was the only instrumental played live by U2 until the U2 360 Tour ("Return of the Stingray Guitar"), and it regularly followed "The Electric Co." on the Boy Tour. It has only been played once since the end of that tour, at an early date of the October Tour on .

Track listing



References




Buy A Day Without Me now from Amazon

<-- Return to songs from 1980



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1059706330.