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"Angel of Harlem" is the second single from U2's 1988 album, Rattle and Hum. It peaked at #9 on the UK singles chart, #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. A homage to Billie Holiday,[1] it was released with two different B-sides; one was an original U2 song called "A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel", while the other was a live version of Rattle and Hum's "Love Rescue Me."
[edit] History
"Angel of Harlem" was written during 1987's Joshua Tree Tour and the in-studio performance on the Rattle and Hum movie dates from a recording session at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee during the later stages of the tour's third leg. The song was a regular on 1989's Lovetown Tour and was played with B.B. King's band. A stripped-down acoustic rendition was performed on the Zoo TV Tour in 1992 and 1993 on a b-stage positioned in the midst of the crowd. It was then not played again until 2001's Elevation Tour, when it was sometimes performed acoustically and sometimes in its original electric style, albeit without the brass section. The only performances on 2005's Vertigo Tour came when a fan was pulled on stage in Dallas in late October to play guitar. The fan asked to play "Angel of Harlem" and although Bono's knowledge of the lyrics was poor, the band agreed to the request and the fan played the song along with them. It has also been performed on Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide shows on the Australian leg of the Vertigo tour in November 2006, where Bono dedicated the song to Kylie Minogue and often ended it with a snippet of Kylie's "I Should Be So Lucky."
Live performances of "Angel of Harlem" appear on Zoo TV: Live from Sydney and U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle.
[edit] Track listing
- "Angel of Harlem" (Single Version) – 3:47
- "A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel" – 5:29
- "Love Rescue Me" (feat. Ziggy Marley) (Live from London, October 16, 1988) – 5:24
This is the most common (CD and 12") release. The cassette and 7" versions did not contain "Love Rescue Me." Note that the version of "A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel" on The Best of 1980-1990 B-Sides disc is actually an edit of the original.
[edit] Chart positions
[edit] Covers
[edit] References
[edit] External links
