The Saints Are Coming
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| "The Saints are Coming" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| U2 and Green Day single cover | ||
| Single by U2 and Green Day | ||
| from the album U218 Singles | ||
| Released | October 31, 2006/November 6, 2006 | |
| Format | Digital Download, CD Single, 7" Single | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios, September 2006 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 3 minutes 22 seconds | |
| Label | Island / Interscope Records | |
| Writer(s) | Richard Jobson/Stuart Adamson | |
| Producer(s) | Rick Rubin, Jacknife Lee | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| U2 singles chronology | ||
| "One" (with Mary J. Blige) (2005) |
"The Saints are Coming" (2006) |
"Window in the Skies" (2007) |
| Green Day singles chronology | ||
| "Jesus of Suburbia" (2005) |
"The Saints are Coming" (2006) |
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| The Skids single cover | ||
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"The Saints Are Coming" is a rock song by the Scottish punk rock band The Skids, off their debut album Scared to Dance from 1978. The song featured Richard Jobson singing of a man facing inclement weather and personal fears. It reached number forty-eight on the UK Singles Chart. Lyrics were written by Richard Jobson/music by Stuart Adamson who later went on to form Big Country. As with Into the Valley, it is sung by fans of Dunfermline Athletic F.C. in the Scottish premiership.
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[edit] Lyrical content
In an interview with the Sunday Post (November 12, 2006), Jobson said that he had written the lyrics about a friend of his who had recently joined the British Army, and been killed on tour of duty in Northern Ireland. He said that he had more or less written off much of his Skids' material, but was sorry that Adamson had not lived to see it become such a success.
The song's lyrics about storms and drowning came back to light after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. In September 2006 it was announced that Green Day and U2 were to record a cover version of the song for charitable purposes. [1]
[edit] 2006 cover version
To coincide with the joint U2/Green Day recording of "The Saints are Coming", both bands performed a live version of the song during the Monday Night Football Pregame show of the New Orleans Saints - Atlanta Falcons game on Monday night September 25, 2006. This day was also the thirtieth anniversary of the formation of U2. This was to be the first game in the Louisiana Superdome since it was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and the song was being played to benefit Music Rising, a charity created by U2's The Edge in order to bring instruments and music programs back to New Orleans.
In the four song set, U2 and Green Day performed "Wake Me Up When September Ends" followed by a medley of The Animals' "House Of The Rising Sun", The Skids' "The Saints Are Coming" and U2's "Beautiful Day" as a seven-piece band, augmented by the Rebirth Brass Band, the New Birth Brass Band and Troy Andrews and Orleans Avenue. The lyrics of all four songs were customized by singers Billie Joe Armstrong and Bono to commemorate the trials, tribulations and successes that faced the city over the past year. Punctuating the 68,000 fans' first season-ticket sellout of the Louisiana Superdome in its 31-year history, the New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons 23-3. Since then, the song has been played at Saints home games before they take the field. The live version of "The Saints are Coming" was immediately made available for download purchase at Real Rhapsody [2].
The studio version of the song was released for digital download on October 30, 2006 and released as a CD single on November 6, 2006. The song also appears on U2's hits album, U218 Singles, which was released on November 20, 2006. The song was played for the first time with U2 alone on U2's re-debut of the Vertigo tour in Brisbane, Australia, on November 7, 2006.
A music video for "The Saints Are Coming," directed by Chris Milk, was released on video site YouTube on October 27, 2006. The music video shows the two bands playing at the Abbey Road Studio and at the Louisiana Superdome (though the footage from the live performance at the Superdome has been overdubbed with the studio version of the song), intermixed with news footage of the displacement of residents after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The second half of the video shows an alternate history in which George W. Bush redeployed troops and vehicles from Iraq to New Orleans to help victims of the hurricane, with the military personnel fulfilling the titular role of the saints. In the words of the director, this was done to "make a commentary on the Katrina disaster ... from the standpoint of how things can and should be done in the future."[3] The video ends with military support vehicles fading out as the camera pans to a sign that reads 'Not as seen on TV', alluding to the criticized response to Katrina while also parodying media deception on rescue coverage. There are numerous errors in the depiction of military equipment – for example the United States Air Force has only 21 B-2 Spirit bombers, none of which have the capability of air dropping troops. The video had more than two million views on YouTube five days after its initial upload. The single has been given a Grammy nomination for "Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group" for The Saints Are Coming.
[edit] Tracklist
[edit] 7" (Mercury Records)
- The Saints are Coming (Studio)
- The Saints are Coming (Live from New Orleans)
[edit] Chart performance
| Chart (2006) | Peak position[4] |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 1 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Italian FIMI Singles Chart | 1 |
| Spanish Top 20 Singles | 1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| German Singles Chart | 6 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 8 |
| Latvian Airplay Top | 16 |
| Polish Singles Chart | 20 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 51 |
| Preceded by: "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (with Flowers in My Hair)" by Sandi Thom |
ARIA (Australia) number one single November 12, 2006 |
Succeeded by: "I Don't Feel like Dancin'" by Scissor Sisters |
| Preceded by: "Meant to Fly" by Eva Avila |
Canadian number-one single November 16, 2006 (4 weeks) |
Succeeded by: incumbent |
[edit] Notes & references
[edit] External links
- Music video of the original Skids version on YouTube
- Music video of the U2/Green Day cover version
- Lyrics to the U2/Green Day cover version on u2boy.nl
