The Ground Beneath Her Feet (song)
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| “The Ground Beneath Her Feet” | |||||
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| Song by U2 and Daniel Lanois | |||||
| Album | The Million Dollar Hotel: Music from the Motion Picture | ||||
| Released | March 13, 2000 | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 3:44 | ||||
| Label | Island / Interscope | ||||
| Writer | Salman Rushdie | ||||
| Composer | U2 | ||||
| Producer | Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno | ||||
| The Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack track listing | |||||
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| All That You Can't Leave Behind track listing | |||||
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"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" is a song by U2 from the film, The Million Dollar Hotel, and featured on the film's soundtrack, The Million Dollar Hotel: Music from the Motion Picture. The song was recorded with Daniel Lanois on the pedal steel guitar for the film. However, a different mix than the one heard in the film appears on the soundtrack. The song credits author Salman Rushdie as its writer because its lyrics are taken from his book of the same name.
[edit] Composition
U2 singer, Bono, came up with the idea for the song after reading a manuscript of Rushdie's novel. In the novel, the fictional character Ormus Cama writes the lyrics as a lamentation for his lover, Vina Apsara, who had died recently. U2 uses these lyrics almost word for word, however omitting the following line:
- She was my ground, my favorite sound, my country road, my city street, my sky above, my only love, and the ground beneath my feet.[1]
Rushdie, himself, was very pleased with the song, claiming it had "some of the most beautiful melodies [Bono] had ever come up with." In reference to the song, Rushdie said, "So I always knew, you know, that it wasn't going to be an uptempo foot-tapper, because it's a sad song. I think it sounds like, I hope, one of those big U2 ballads for which Bono's voice, actually, is beautifully well suited."[2]
[edit] Promotion and releases
"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" was originally intended to be a single, therefore a music video was created for the song's release. However, Interscope Records declined to give the song a single release because U2 was on the verge of completing their new album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, and record executives did not want to confuse fans by releasing a non-album single.[3] Instead, a promotional single was released to media sources, but it received very little airplay on both radio and television.[4] After the song's release on the film's soundtrack, U2 hoped to feature the song on their newest album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, but instead the song was only released as a bonus track on UK, Australian and Japanese releases of the album.
[edit] References
- ^ Rushdie, Salman [1999-04-13] (2000-03-16). The Ground Beneath Her Feet, paperback edition, Picador, p. 523. ISBN 0312254997.
- ^ The Ground Beneath Her Feet. B-Sides & Other Non-Album Tracks. Threesunrises.net. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
- ^ Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack. U2 Wanderer. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
- ^ The Ground Beneath Her Feet (Promo). U2 Wanderer. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
