Kite (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Kite" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Song by U2 | ||
| from the album All That You Can't Leave Behind | ||
| Released | 30 / 31 October 2000 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4:25 | |
| Label | Island Records / Interscope Records | |
| Producer(s) | Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois | |
| All That You Can't Leave Behind track listing | ||
| "Walk On" (4) |
"Kite" (5) |
"In a Little While" (6) |
"Kite" is the fifth track from U2's 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind.
A popular song among fans, it was written about Bono's daughters, or more generally, about a kite being a metaphor for someone or something escaping one's realm or control. The centre of the song contains an emphatic wail from Bono set against The Edge's churning guitar lines. During the band's Elevation Tour, "Kite" was played to a set of swirling images projected against a scrim above the stage, furthering the song's central theme. The song concludes with an odd coda in reference to the new media.
"Kite" took on an additional meaning later in 2001 on the tour, when Bono's father, Bob Hewson, died after a long bout with cancer. Bono would alter the line "The last of the rock stars" to "The last of the opera stars", a reference to Bob's past as an amateur opera singer. Bono paid tribute to him with a tearful rendition of this song on the live release, U2 Go Home: Live From Slane Castle. Prior to the song, he fondly remembered how his father and The Edge's used to get drunk together and walk through the streets late at night singing. "Kite" was played for the first time late on the Vertigo Tour on November 7th in Brisbane. It was also the first time that "Kite" has closed a concert, and was the regular closer on the Australian leg of the tour, while it also closed the first show in Auckland.
