Lemon (song)

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“Lemon”
“Lemon” cover
Single by U2
from the album Zooropa
Released September 1993
Format CD, cassette, 12"
Genre Rock, Ambient
Length 4:39 (single)
6:58 (album)
Label Island
Producer Flood, Brian Eno and The Edge
U2 singles chronology
"Numb"
(1993)		 "Lemon"
(1993)		 "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)"
(1993)
Alternate Cover
Promo CD
Promo CD
Zooropa track listing
"Numb"
(3)		 "Lemon"
(4)		 "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)"
(5)

"Lemon" is the fourth song and second single from U2's 1993 album, Zooropa. This song, more than any previous U2 song, showcases Bono's falsetto skills, aided by atmospheric vocals from The Edge and Brian Eno. The song has been described as a futuristic German disco[citation needed].

Contents

[edit] History

The single and promo releases were complete with different dance remixes, as well as a shortened edit of the title track (the album version was almost 7 minutes long).

The song was played live at 10 different Zoo TV shows in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, during the show's encore. During each performance, Bono would perform the song dressed as Zoo TV character "MacPhisto," a former cabaret performer with devilish horns. Each performance was immediately followed by the band's "With or Without You".[1]

Paul Oakenfold's "Perfecto Mix" of the song was used on the PopMart Tour, being played as the band walked out of their Spinal Tap-like rock prop, a 40-foot mirrorball lemon, onto the B-stage for an encore.

The allusion to film in the "Lemon" video was also partially based from the fact that the song was conceived after Bono watched an old filmstrip of his late mother.[2] The song's title originates from this filmstrip in which Bono's mother was wearing a lemon-colored dress. The song's lyrics are about using film to recreate and preserve memory.

[edit] Music Video

The music video for "Lemon," directed by Mark Neale, was filmed in black and white with a grid-like background as a tribute to Eadweard Muybridge.[3] Muybridge was a photographer who was the first person to successfully capture fast motion on film, using his device, coincidentally named the Zoopraxiscope, a reference to the lyrics ("A man makes a picture - a moving picture/Through light projected he can see himself up close"). In the background of the video, a pendulum can be seen swinging, a clock can be seen ticking, as well as dollars falling from the sky, various scientific objects (DNA, Satellite feeds, etc.), and a cross. All of these symbols seem to be representing mans attempt to preserved time, via money ("He turns his money into light to look for her"), religion, or technology. The video also featured Bono dressed as both "The Fly" and "MacPhisto."

[edit] Track listings

[edit] Single version 1

12" vinyl release (USA)

  1. "Lemon" (Bad Yard Club) — 10:13
  2. "Lemon" (Morales Bad Yard Club Version Dub) — 6:35
  3. "Lemon" (Morales Momo's Reprise) — 4:08
  4. "Lemon" (Perfecto Mix) — 8:56
  5. "Lemon" (Oakenfold Jeep Mix) — 5:30

[edit] Single version 2

CD/cassette release (Australia and Japan)

  1. "Lemon" (Edit) — 4:39
  2. "Lemon" (Oakenfold Jeep Mix) — 5:30
  3. "Lemon" (Album Version) — 6:56
  4. "Lemon" (Morales Bad Yard Club Version Dub) — 6:35

[edit] Promo version 1

10" vinyl release (USA)

  1. "Lemon" (Bad Yard Club Mix) — 8:35
  2. "Lemon" (Serious Def Dub) — 6:24

[edit] Promo version 2

12" vinyl release (UK)

  1. "Lemon" (Bad Yard Club) — 10:13
  2. "Lemon" (Momo's Beats) — 4:25
  3. "Lemon" (Bad Yard Club Version Dub) — 6:35
  4. "Lemon" (Serious Def Dub) — 6:24

[edit] Promo version 3

12" vinyl release (UK)

  1. "Lemon" (Perfecto Mix) — 8:57
  2. "Lemon" (Trance Mix) — 9:14

[edit] Promo version 4

Single-track CD release (UK)

  1. "Lemon" (Edit) — 4:39

[edit] Promo version 5

CD release (USA)

  1. "Lemon" (Edit) — 4:39
  2. "Lemon" (Lemonade Mix Edit) — 4:16
  3. "Lemon" (Album Version) — 6:56
  4. "Lemon" (Lemonade Mix) — 6:40

[edit] Chart positions

Year Single Chart Position
1993 "Lemon" US Modern Rock Tracks #3
1993 "Lemon" US Hot Dance Music/Club Play #1
1993 "Lemon" US Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #16
1993 "Lemon" Australian ARIA Charts #6
Preceded by
"The Program" by David Morales and the Bad Yard Club		 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single
December 11, 1993		 Succeeded by
"Go West" by Pet Shop Boys

[edit] References

  1. ^ U2 Melbourne, 1993-11-12, Cricket Ground, ZOO TV Tour - U2 on tour. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  2. ^ U2 MoL - Zooropa - Lemon. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  3. ^ U2faqs.com - Videography FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.


v • d • e
U2's singles discography
1980s

1980: "Another Day" • "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" • "A Day Without Me" • "I Will Follow" • 1981: "Fire" • "Gloria" • 1982: "A Celebration" • 1983: "New Year's Day" • "Two Hearts Beat as One" • "Sunday Bloody Sunday" • "40" (Germany only) • 1984: "Pride (In the Name of Love)" • 1985: "The Unforgettable Fire" • 1987: "With or Without You" • "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" • "Where the Streets Have No Name" • "In God's Country" (North America only) • 1988: "One Tree Hill" (Australia / New Zealand only) • "Desire" • "Angel of Harlem" • 1989: "When Love Comes to Town" (with B. B. King) • "All I Want Is You"
1990s

1991: "The Fly" • "Mysterious Ways" • 1992: "One" • "Even Better Than the Real Thing" • "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" • 1993: "Numb" • "Lemon" • "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" • 1995: "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" • "Miss Sarajevo" (as Passengers) 1997: "Discothèque" • "Staring at the Sun" • "Last Night on Earth" • "Please" • "If God Will Send His Angels" • "Mofo" • 1998: "Sweetest Thing"
2000s

2000: "Beautiful Day" • 2001: "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get out Of" • "Walk On" • "Elevation" • 2002: "Electrical Storm" • 2004: "Vertigo" • 2005: "All Because of You" • "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" • "City of Blinding Lights" • "Original of the Species" • "One" (with Mary J. Blige) • 2006: "The Saints Are Coming" (with Green Day) • 2007: "Window in the Skies" • 2008: "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" (with The Dubliners, Kíla, and A Band of Bowsies)
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