Staring at the Sun (U2 song)

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“Staring at the Sun”
“Staring at the Sun” cover
First single cover
Single by U2
from the album Pop
B-side "North and South of the River" / "Your Blue Room"
Released April 15, 1997
Format 7" vinyl, CD, cassette
Genre Rock
Length 4:37
Label Island
Writer(s) Bono and The Edge
Producer Flood
U2 singles chronology
"Discothèque"
(1997)		 "Staring at the Sun"
(1997)		 "Last Night on Earth"
(1997)
Alternate Cover
Second single cover
Second single cover
Pop track listing
"If God Will Send His Angels"
(4)		 "Staring at the Sun"
(5)		 "Last Night on Earth"
(6)
The Best of 1990-2000 track listing
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"
(13)		 "Staring at the Sun"
(14)		 "Numb"
(15)

"Staring at the Sun" is the second single from U2's 1997 album, Pop. It peaked at #3 on the UK singles chart, #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks, and #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Contents

[edit] History

The song was written with the lyrics, "Stuck together with God's glue," and were taken directly from the title of the album same name by the Irish band Something Happens, who are good friends of U2.[1]

After a poor full band performance of the song on the opening night of the PopMart Tour, it was performed acoustically for most of that tour. It had several appearances on the Elevation Tour.

A new mix of "Staring at the Sun" was released for the compilation, The Best of 1990-2000. During the summer of 2002 recording sessions in which "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands That Built America" were recorded, parts for four U2 songs were re-recorded, including "Staring at the Sun."

[edit] Live Performances

Staring At The Sun was played at most of the PopMart tours, however during the first concert at Las Vegas, U2 failed to time the song right and had to start over [2]. Bono singing at the wrong tempo was to blame for the mistake.

[edit] Track listings

Two formats were released, one with two B-sides, "North and South of the River" and "Your Blue Room" (from Original Soundtracks No. 1), and the second release with three remixes of the title track.

[edit] Version 1

  1. "Staring at the Sun" (Album Version) – 4:37
  2. "North and South of the River" – 4:38
  3. "Your Blue Room" – 5:28

This was the first CD version. It was also released as a 7" and cassette, excluding "Your Blue Room".

[edit] Version 2

  1. "Staring at the Sun" (Monster Truck Mix) – 5:06
  2. "Staring at the Sun" (Sad Bastards Mix) – 6:19
  3. "North and South of the River" – 4:38
  4. "Staring at the Sun" (Lab Rat Mix) – 5:05

This was the second CD single.

[edit] Charts

Chart (1997) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 1
Canadian Singles Chart 2
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 2
UK Singles Chart 3
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 21
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 26
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 23
German Singles Chart 78
Preceded by
"One Headlight" by The Wallflowers		 Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
April 12, 1997 - April 26, 1997		 Succeeded by
"The Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe
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