New Year's Day (song)

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“New Year's Day”
“New Year's Day” cover
UK cover (double 7" vinyl)
Single by U2
from the album War
Released January 1983
Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, CD
Genre Post-punk
Rock
Length 5:35
Label Island
Producer Steve Lillywhite
U2 singles chronology
"A Celebration"
(1982)		 "New Year's Day"
(1983)		 "Two Hearts Beat as One"
(1983)
Alternate covers
France cover (12" vinyl)
France cover (12" vinyl)
Japan cover
Japan cover
War track listing
"Seconds"
(2)		 "New Year's Day"
(3)		 "Like a Song..."
(4)
Under a Blood Red Sky track listing
"The Electric Co."
(6)		 "New Year's Day"
(7)		 "40"
(8)
The Best of 1980-1990 track listing
"Pride (In the Name of Love)"
(1)		 "New Year's Day"
(2)		 "With or Without You"
(3)
U218 Singles track listing
"Vertigo"
(5)		 "New Year's Day"
(6)		 "Mysterious Ways"
(7)

"New Year's Day" is the third song and lead single from U2's 1983 album, War. The song is driven by Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and The Edge's keyboard. It was the band's first hit single, breaking the top ten in the UK, peaking at #10 on the singles chart, and charting on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in their career. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed the single at #427 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The lyric had its origins in a love song from Bono to his wife,[2] but then was reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement.[3]

The video was their first to see heavy rotation on MTV. It was filmed in Sweden in December 1982 and directed by Meiert Avis. The band only appeared in the performance scenes of the video as it was filmed in the dead of the Swedish winter. U2 guitarist Edge revealed in the official U2 biography that the four people riding on horseback in the video that appeared to be the four U2 members were in fact four Swedish teenage girls disguised as the members of U2 riding on horseback with masks over their faces. This was done as the band were frozen from shooting the video in sub-freezing temperatures the day before. Their biography states that Bono refused to wear any headgear despite the cold weather and had a lot of trouble mouthing the lyrics. The video also features footage of Soviet troops advancing in winter during the second world war.

"New Year's Day" is U2's third most frequently performed live song,[4] with The Edge switching back and forth between piano and guitar during the song. It has been a standard on every U2 tour since its debut on 1 December 1982 at the first show of the War Tour's Pre-Tour. During the 1980s, The Edge used a Fender Stratocaster to perform this song, along with a keyboard. During the 1990s and 2000s, he has alternated between a Gibson Les Paul Custom and Les Paul Standard. Up until the Elevation Tour, Adam normally used a chorus effect on his bass guitar for this song live.

In 1983, Bono said of the song, "It would be stupid to start drawing up battle lines, but I think the fact that 'New Year's Day' made the Top Ten indicated a disillusionment among record buyers. I don't think 'New Year's Day' was a pop single, certainly not in the way that Mickie Most might define a pop single as something that lasts three minutes and three weeks in the chart. I don't think we could have written that kind of song."[5]

"New Year's Day" has appeared on numerous U2 concert video releases, beginning with 1983's Under a Blood Red Sky.

The B-side of "New Year's Day", "Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop?)", was never performed live. However, an early version known simply as "Pete the Chop" was played at some concerts in 1980 and can claim the title of being the last commercially unreleased pre-Boy known to have been performed live.[6]

[edit] Track listings

[edit] 7": Island / WIP 6848 (UK)

  1. "New Year's Day" (Short Version) – 3:53
  2. "Treasure" (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)" – 3:24

[edit] 7": Island / 811 323-7 (France)

  1. "New Year's Day" (Edit) – 3:40
  2. "Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)" – 3:24

[edit] 7": Island / 7S-86 (Japan)

  1. "New Year's Day" (Special Version) – 4:16
  2. "Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)" – 3:24

[edit] 2x7": Island / UWIP6848 (UK)

  1. "New Year's Day" (Short Version) – 3:53
  2. "Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop?" – 3:24
  1. "Fire" (Live from Werchter, July 4, 1982) – 3:45
  2. "I Threw a Brick Through a Window / A Day Without Me" (Live from Werchter, July 4, 1982) – 6:58

[edit] 12": Island / 12 WIP 6848 (UK)

  1. "New Year's Day" (Long Version) – 5:35
  2. "Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)" – 3:24
  3. "Fire" (Live from Werchter, July 4, 1982) – 3:45
  4. "I Threw a Brick Through a Window / A Day Without Me" (Live from Werchter, July 4, 1982) – 6:58
  • Long Version is the version that appears on the War album

[edit] 12": Island / 814 948-1 (France)

  1. "New Year's Day" (U.S. Remix) – 4:30
  2. "Two Hearts Beat As One" (U.S. Remix) – 5:40

[edit] CD: Island / 664 973 (Austria)

  1. "New Year's Day" (Long Version) – 5:35
  2. "Treasure" (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop?) – 3:24
  3. "Fire" (Live from Werchter, July 4, 1982) – 3:45
  4. "I Threw a Brick Through a Window / A Day Without Me" (Live from Werchter, July 4, 1982) – 6:58

[edit] Chart positions

Chart (1983) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 10
USA Billboard Hot 100 53
USA Mainstream Rock Tracks 2

[edit] Covers

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone (2004-12-09). Retrieved on 2008-03-12.
  2. ^ Niall Stokes, Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song.
  3. ^ Robert Hilburn, The Los Angeles Times, "Where Craft Ends and Spirit Begins", 8 August 2004. Retrieved 14 December 2006.
  4. ^ All songs U2 played without snippets - U2 on tour
  5. ^ Thrills, Adrian (February 26, 1983). War & Peace. NME. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
  6. ^ U2 London, 1980-07-13, Marquee Club, Early Days - U2 on tour

[edit] External links