40 (song)
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| “40” | |||||
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| Single by U2 from the album War |
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| Released | August 1983 | ||||
| Format | 7" vinyl | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 2:35 | ||||
| Label | Island | ||||
| Producer | Steve Lillywhite | ||||
| U2 singles chronology | |||||
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| War track listing | |||||
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| Under a Blood Red Sky track listing | |||||
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"40," also known as "40 (How Long)," is the tenth and final track from U2's 1983 album, War, and the final single from "War", released in 1983. The song is noted for its live performances, often involving the audience singing along for minutes after the band has left the stage. The lyrics are a modification of The Bible's Psalm 40.
The single was only released in Germany, with a B-side of Two Hearts Beat as One, which was released as a single in other countries. Since its live debut on 26 February 1983 in Dundee, "40" has been a staple of U2's live concerts, having been performed over 300 times.
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[edit] Recording
The song was recorded right at the end of the recording sessions for War. Bassist Adam Clayton had already left the studio, and the three remaining band members decided they didn't have a good song to end the album.[1] Bono, The Edge, and Larry Mullen Jr. quickly recorded the song with The Edge switching off to both the electric and bass guitar. Bono called the song "40" as he based the lyrics on Psalm 40.
The first verse of the song is based on Psalm 40:1-2, and second verse of the song is based on Psalm 40:2-3. The chorus is loosely based on the first two verses of Psalm 40:3, which reads "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God..."
During a live performance on April 29, 1987, Bono joked: "We spent ten minutes writing this song, ten minutes recording it, ten minutes mixing it, ten minutes playing it back, and that's got nothing to do with why it's called '40'." [2]
[edit] Live performances
"40" debuted live on 26 February 1983 in Dundee as the final song of the show, and closed every single concert on 1983's War Tour. It became very popular as a concert closer, and between its debut and 10 January 1990, there were roughly only twenty tour concerts that did not feature "40" as the closing song. During live performances, Adam Clayton and The Edge would swap instruments so that Adam played guitar and Edge played bass, and the band members would progressively leave stage, with Bono the first to depart, then Clayton, then Edge, and finally, Larry Mullen, Jr. The crowd would often continue to chant the refrain of "How long ... To sing this song?" even after the band has left the stage.
Between January 1990 and March 2005, full performances of "40" were extremely rare, though on 2001's Elevation Tour, it was regularly snippeted at the end of "Bad" before the song segued into "Where the Streets Have No Name". "40" made a return to the regular setlist in March 2005 on the Vertigo Tour and has closed many of the tour's shows: it closed most on the first leg, three on the second, rotated with other songs (mainly "Bad") for closing duties on the third leg, made only a few appearances on the fourth leg, and was snippeted a few times rather than being played in full on the fifth leg. It is U2's fourteenth most performed live song,[3] or tenth most performed if snippets are included in its total.[4]
[edit] Single track listing
- "40 (How Long)" (Album Version) – 2:35
- "Two Hearts Beat as One" (Album Version) – 4:02
This is the only known single release, distributed only in Germany. The song was titled "40 (How Long)" for this release.
[edit] Cover versions
- Filipino rock group Rivermaya samples the chorus of "40" near the end of their song "Revolution".
- Canadian Christian rock group Starfield covered "40" on the album "In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa."
- Rick Shaw & the Makeshifts play the song at Camp Akita during Prime Time.
- Irish band The Frames covered this song on their album Even Better Than The Real Things, Vol. 3 (Today FM Live Recording)
- American Christian rock band dc talk covered the song on their album Solo and often perform the song live.
- American Christian singer Michael W. Smith used this song on his "Worship" and "Worship Again" Tour in 2002 to perform it live.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ On the Edge Entertainment Weekly. Accessed January 4, 2007
- ^ U2faqs.com - Songs / Lyrics FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.
- ^ U2 songs sorted by number of live performances, excluding snippets
- ^ U2 songs sorted by number of live performances
[edit] External links
- Performance history of "40" at U2-Vertigo-Tour.com — Lists all concerts at which "40" is known to have been performed
