Pride (In the Name of Love)

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“Pride (In the Name of Love)”
Single by U2 from the album The Unforgettable Fire
Released	September 1984
Format	7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, cassette, CD single (re-release only)
Genre	Rock
Length	4:40
Label	Island
Producer	Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
U2 singles chronology
"40" (Germany only) (1983) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (1984) "The Unforgettable Fire" (1985)
The Unforgettable Fire track listing
"A Sort of Homecoming" (1) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (2) "'Wire" (3)
Rattle and Hum track listing
"Silver and Gold" (Live) (8) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Live) (9) "Angel of Harlem" (10)
The Best of 1980-1990 track listing
N/A "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (1) "New Year's Day" (2)
U218 Singles track listing
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (2) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (3) "With or Without You" (4)

"Pride (In the Name of Love)" is the second song on U2's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire and was released as the album's first single. Written about Martin Luther King, Jr., "Pride" is one of the band's most recognized songs, and appeared as the opening track on the compilation The Best of 1980-1990, and on the 2006 compilation U218 Singles. The song was a mixed critical but major commercial success for the band and has since come to be regarded as one of the band's best songs. It was named the 378th greatest song by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Contents 1 Origin and recording 2 Reception 3 Music video 4 Track listings 4.1 Version 1 4.2 Version 2 4.3 Version 3 4.4 Version 4 5 Chart positions 6 Covers 7 References and notes 8 External links

[edit] Origin and recording

The melody and the chords came out of a 1983 War Tour sound check in Hawaii. The song was originally intended to be about Ronald Reagan's pride in America's military power but Bono had been influenced by Stephen B. Oates's book Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as by a biography of Malcolm X. These caused Bono to ponder the different sides of the civil rights campaigns, the violent and the non-violent.^[1] In subsequent years, Bono has expressed his dissatisfaction with the lyrics, which he describes, along with another Unforgettable Fire song "Bad", as being "left as simple sketches." He blames this on being swayed by Edge and producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who played down the need to develop the lyrics as they thought the impressionistic nature was more important to the songs' 'feeling', particularly when heard by non-English speakers.^[2]

"I looked at how glorious that song was and thought: 'What the fuck is that all about?' It's just a load of vowel sounds ganging up on a great man. It is emotionally very articulate - if you didn't speak English."

—Bono, U2 by U2 ^[3]

The first line of the last verse erroneously refers to King's shooting as "Early morning, April 4", when it was actually after 6PM. Bono admits the error and in live performances he occasionally changes the lyric to "Early evening...".^[4]

Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders sang back-up vocals on the recording. She was thanked in the credits as, 'Christine Kerr' (she was married to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds fame at the time).

[edit] Reception

"Pride" reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart and made #8 on the Dutch Singles Chart. The song was the band's first top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at number 33. While not a big chart hit in the US, it gained considerable album oriented rock radio airplay and its video was on heavy rotation on MTV, thus helping U2 continue its commercial breakthrough begun with the War album.

Critical opinion on "Pride" was mixed. Besides Loder, Robert Christgau in The Village Voice complained of "the moralism with the turn-somebody-else's-cheek glorification of Martin Luther King's martyrdom."^[5]

"'Pride' gets over only on the strength of its resounding beat and big, droning bass line, not on the nobility of its lyrics, which are unremarkable."

—Kurt Loder, Rolling Stone^[6]

However, the 1984 Pazz & Jop poll of 240 music critics ranked "Pride" as the 12th best single of that year (a higher ranking than the overall album, which finished 29th)^[7], which was the highest ranking of any U2 single until "One" placed 8th in 1992.^[8] Also, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at #378 of their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

"Pride" has appeared in virtually every U2 concert since the Unforgettable Fire Tour. As of 2006, it is the second-most performed song in the band's history, registering 746 known performances ^[9]. ("I Will Follow" has 753 known performances with many more earlier performances not documented). Clips from King speeches are often shown on the stage's video screens during these performances.

[edit] Music video

Three music videos were made. The most-shown one features opening and closing shots of the docklands area in Dublin (including the recently opened East-Link) in between which U2 performs the song in an empty school auditorium that gradually draws in children and staff members. There are two variations of it - the first is in black and white video, and the second one is colour. Both were directed by Donald Cammell. The other video portrays recording the song at Slane Castle, and also features Eno and Lanois. The third clip (rejected by the band) features faces of the band members, filmed from a close range. It was directed by Anton Corbijn.

[edit] Track listings

[edit] Version 1

1. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Single Version) – 4:40
2. "Boomerang II" – 4:48

A 7" release.

[edit] Version 2

1. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Single Version) – 4:40
2. "Boomerang I" (Instrumental) – 2:47
3. "Boomerang II" – 4:48
4. "4th of July" (Long Version) – 2:38

A 12" release in Ireland and the UK. The CD re-release has the same tracklisting. The CD itself does not list "4th of July" on the track list.

[edit] Version 3

1. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Single Version) – 4:40
2. "Boomerang I" (Instrumental) – 2:47
3. "Boomerang II" – 4:48
4. "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (Long Version) – 4:10
5. "Touch" – 3:21

The second 12" release, with the tracks from the "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" single.

[edit] Version 4

1. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Single Version) – 4:40
2. "Boomerang I" (Instrumental) – 2:47
3. "Boomerang II" – 4:48
4. "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (Long Version) – 4:10
5. "A Celebration" – 2:54

A cassette version released in the UK.

[edit] Chart positions

Chart (1984)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	3
USA Billboard Hot 100	33
USA Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	2

[edit] Covers

• The Christian band Delirious? sang a version of this song on the album In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa.
• The French cover band Nouvelle Vague covered the song on their Bande à Part album.
• Shawn Colvin covered the song on the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition of her 2006 album These Four Walls.
• Flyleaf performed live version of the song with Richard Patrick of Filter on Family Values Tour 2006 and the performance is available on the live compilation from this tour.
• C+C Music Factory, as Clivilles + Cole, remade the song in 1991. This version was referred to as "In the Name of Love."
• Kane covered the song on their live CD/DVD album With or Without You.
• An orchestral version of Pride was covered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on their 1999 album Pride: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Plays U2.
• The Hawaiian folk duo Hapa's 1997 album "In the Name of Love" includes a Hawaiian-style rendition of "Pride" featuring a traditional chant performed by Charles Ka'upu. The album debuted on Billboard's Top Ten World Music chart.
• In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., musician John Legend performs his rendition of the song on the piano while singing."^[10]
• The song was covered by the Soweto Gospel Choir for the 2008 tribute album In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2.^[11]

[edit] References and notes

[edit] External links

• Pride's performance history at U2gigs.com—Lists all concerts at which "Pride" has been performed.
• Discography entry at U2 Wanderer—Comprehensive details on various editions, cover scans, lyrics, and more.
• "Pride (In the Name of Love)" video at YouTube

v • d • e U2's singles discography 1980s 1980: "Another Day" • "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" • "A Day Without Me" • "I Will Follow" • 1981: "Fire" • "Gloria" • 1982: "A Celebration" • 1983: "New Year's Day" • "Two Hearts Beat as One" • "Sunday Bloody Sunday" • "40" (Germany only) • 1984: "Pride (In the Name of Love)" • 1985: "The Unforgettable Fire" • 1987: "With or Without You" • "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" • "Where the Streets Have No Name" • "In God's Country" (North America only) • 1988: "One Tree Hill" (Australia / New Zealand only) • "Desire" • "Angel of Harlem" • 1989: "When Love Comes to Town" (with B. B. King) • "All I Want Is You" 1990s 1991: "The Fly" • "Mysterious Ways" • 1992: "One" • "Even Better Than the Real Thing" • "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" • 1993: "Numb" • "Lemon" • "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" • 1995: "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" • "Miss Sarajevo" (as Passengers) 1997: "Discothèque" • "Staring at the Sun" • "Last Night on Earth" • "Please" • "If God Will Send His Angels" • "Mofo" • 1998: "Sweetest Thing" 2000s 2000: "Beautiful Day" • 2001: "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get out Of" • "Walk On" • "Elevation" • 2002: "Electrical Storm" • 2004: "Vertigo" • 2005: "All Because of You" • "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" • "City of Blinding Lights" • "One" (with Mary J. Blige) • 2006: "The Saints Are Coming" (with Green Day) • 2007: "Window in the Skies" • 2008: "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" (with The Dubliners, Kíla, and A Band of Bowsies)