From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Mysterious Ways"
Single by U2
from the album Achtung Baby
Released	25 November 1991
Format	CD, cassette, 7", 12"
Genre	Alternative rock, funk rock, alternative dance
Length	4:04
Label	Island
Producer	Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno
U2 singles chronology
"The Fly" (1991) "Mysterious Ways" (1991) "One" (1992)
Music video "Mysterious Ways" at YouTube Music sample "Mysterious Ways"

"Mysterious Ways" is a song by Irish rock band U2 and the eighth track from their 1991 album Achtung Baby. It was released as the album's second single on 25 November 1991. The song began as a improvisation, with the band only liking the bass part that bassist Adam Clayton composed. The band struggled to build a song from it, with vocalist Bono and producer Daniel Lanois arguing intensely during one songwriting session. Progress was made after guitarist The Edge introduced a new effects pedal to his guitar playing in the song. "Mysterious Ways" features a danceable beat, funky guitar hook, and conga-laden percussion, as well as mystical lyrics about romance and women.

The song received praise from critics after the release of Achtung Baby, which many calling it one of the album's standout tracks. The song was also successful as a single on the music charts, including several Billboard charts. It reached number one on the Modern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks charts, and it peaked at number nine on the Hot 100 chart, the fourth-best mark for a U2 single on the chart.

Writing, recording, and composition

"Mysterious Ways" began as an improvisation in which vocalist Bono, guitarist The Edge, and bassist Adam Clayton were jamming over a drum machine.^[1] The band liked Clayton's bass part, which originated during the band's recording of a cover version of "Night and Day" and for a while, consisted of little more than a "one-note groove".^[1] However, the band had difficulties completing the remainder of the song melodically. Bono said that it was "a bass line in search of a song", while The Edge stated that "the key to the song was finding ways to mess around with chords on top without having to change the bass".^[1]

The band stalled in the process of trying a few ideas out for the song and soon, the tense atmosphere of the recording sessions at Hansa Studios in Berlin took its toll. Producer Daniel Lanois arrived at the studios early one morning before the band in order to work on some ideas he had for the song.^[2] When Bono arrived in the studios, he began singing some vocal ideas he had, but this was pushing the song in the opposite direction from what Lanois had in mind.^[2] Bono and a frustrated Lanois proceeded to argue intensely for over two hours, making sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy wonder if they were going to physically start fighting.^[2] Bono looks back on the episode with a sense of humour: "That's why I love Danny so much. He cares about the record he's making as much and more than any band or artist he's working with."^[2]

The song progressed after The Edge began experimenting with a new effects pedal and Bono told him to use the effect for the song.^[1] Bono said the pedal made an "envelope of sound which would turn a guitar chord into funkiest of jackhammers".^[1] The introduction to the song, which features the song's well-known guitar hook, consists of "one seventh-fret barre chord, a couple of rhythmic scratches and two notes".^[3] Drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. added a drum track near the end of recording, introducing a "much groovier beat" that "demonstrated the difference between a drum machine and a real drummer".^[1] Bono calls the song "U2 at our funkiest... Sly and The Family Stone meets Madchester baggy."^[1] Lanois provided additional percussion by playing the congas.

The song's lyrics are about a man living without romance, which was in line with a proposed title for the album, Fear of Women.^[1] Several different verses were written, but The Edge preferred the ones with the "nursery rhyme feel", such as "Johnny, take a walk with your sister in the moon / Let her pale light in to fill up the room".^[1] He also composed the chorus' coda, "It's all right / It's all right / It's all right", wanting to prove a point, since no previous U2 song had said, "it's all right".^[1]

Music video and live performances

The video had a belly dancing theme, which included distorted shots of Bono dancing, and other mystical images. It was filmed by Stéphane Sednaoui in Morocco.

When played live on the Zoo TV Tour, this song featured a belly dancer on stage. The version played was extended, including a longer introduction with a piano part from The Edge, a slide guitar solo after the point in the song where the studio version ends. Both the added intro and outro features added lyrics from Bono, much of which was sung in falsetto. One of the dancers, Morleigh Steinberg, later married The Edge. It has been played on every tour since it debuted, appearing on every live video release since except for Elevation 2001: Live from Boston (although it was performed at the filmed concert). Edge has always used a Rickenbacker 330-12 for this song.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Upon the release of Achtung Baby, "Mysterious Ways" received positive reviews from critics. Rolling Stone called it a standout track among the new dance-influenced songs, praising its "ebullient hook and a guitar solo in which the Edge segues from one of his signature bursts of light into an insidious funk riff".^[4] Steve Morse of The Boston Globe called it an "exceptional love song.. with a rapturous chorus" and noted that even though Bono's vocals on the album differ significantly from his previous style, "Mysterious Ways" features him returning to his "yearning self".^[5] The New York Times praised the song as the album's best track, commenting that it is "full of rhythmic cross-currents and fuzz-toned murk" and citing it as an example that the band had "taken Bo Diddley and James Brown lessons for its new syncopated dance songs".^[6] The Austin Chronicle singled out the song's "conga-laced funk" as one of three moments on the record where U2 have never sounded better.^[7]

"Mysterious Ways" was released as the album's second single on 25 November 1991. The song reached #9 on the Hot 100 (the previous single, "The Fly", had only managed to reach #61) making it one of the band's highest-charting singles in the U.S.; only three other U2 singles ("With or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "Desire") have reached higher positions. "Mysterious Ways" also topped both the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It peaked at #8 on the Dutch Top 40. When the single covers to "Even Better Than the Real Thing", "The Fly", "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", and "Mysterious Ways" are arranged, a picture of the band members driving a Trabant is formed.

References in popular culture

In the Simpsons episode "In the Name of the Grandfather," an Irish billboard advertises a U2 moving company with the slogan "We Move in Mysterious Ways."

Track listings

Charts

Personnel

• Production – Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno
• Engineering – Flood
• Additional engineering – Robbie Adams
• Assistant engineering – Shannon Strong
• Mixing – Flood, Edge, and Daniel Lanois
• Mixing assistance – Shannon Strong
• Additional percussion – Daniel Lanois
• "Solar Plexus club mix" and "Solar Plexus club mix" remixed by Howard Gray, Steve Lillywhite and Trevor Gray

See also

• List of covers of U2 songs - Mysterious Ways

References