I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

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"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
Single by U2
from the album The Joshua Tree
Released May 1987
Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, CD, cassette
Recorded Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland; 1986
Genre Rock, gospel
Length 4:37
Label Island
Writer(s) U2 (music), Bono (lyrics)
Producer Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
U2 singles chronology
"With or Without You"
(1987)		 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
(1987)		 "Where the Streets Have No Name"
(1987)
Music video
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
Music sample

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by rock band U2. The second track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree, it was released as the album's second single in May 1987. The song is influenced by gospel music and its lyrics describe spiritual yearning.

The song became the band's second #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 after the albums first single, "With or Without You". "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart and at #6 on the Dutch Top 40. It was named the 93rd greatest song by Rolling Stone on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Contents

[edit] Recording

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" grew from a simple piece of music called "Under the Weather Girls" that had a promising drum part.[1] Co-producer Daniel Lanois kept Larry Mullen, Jr.'s drum track which became the foundation of the song. An acoustic guitar part was the first of a number of guitar overdubs including an auto-pan effect and chiming arpeggio to modernise the old-style "gospel song".[2] Guitarist The Edge credits Bono with spotting the "chrome bells" guitar hook that counterbalance the songs "muddy shoes".[1] It is this hook that The Edge plays during live performances of the song.

The Edge was not initially impressed with the song, but praised singer Bono's "classic soul" melody that he added to the band's developing music.[1] The Edge had written the phrase "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", which he suggests was influenced by a Bob Dylan line in "Idiot Wind"; "You'll find out when you reach the top you're on the bottom". He handed it to Bono while he was singing and it became the song's refrain and title.[1] Bono sang in the upper register of his range to add to the feeling of spiritual yearning; in the verses he hits a B note, and an A in the chorus. Lanois described the creation of the song as like constructing a building where the drums came first, laying the foundations and finally "putting in furniture". He says he is very attached to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and has, on occasion, joined U2 on stage to perform it.[2]

An early version, titled "Desert of Our Love", appeared on the 2-disc 2007 remastered version of The Joshua Tree. During recording, the band counted on it being their hope for a hit song and it was the song the band played to visitors during the recording sessions.[1] The final mix was made in The Edge's home studio by Lanois and The Edge. They mixed it on top of a previous Steve Lillywhite mix, which gave the song its phasing sound.[3]

[edit] B-sides

"Spanish Eyes" was created early during The Joshua Tree sessions. It began as a recording made in Adam Clayton's house of Clayton, The Edge, and Larry Mullen Jr. playing around with several different elements.[4] The piece evolved substantially over the course of an afternoon, but the casette and its recording was subsequently lost and forgotten. The Edge found the casette towards the end of the album sessions and played it to the rest of the group. The band realised that it was a good track, but did not have enough time to complete it prior to The Joshua Tree's release.[4]

"Deep in the Heart" stemmed from a three-chord piano piece Bono composed on the piano about the last time he had been in the family home on Cedarwood Road in Dublin, which his father had just sold.[4] The memories of his time living there gave rise to many of the lyrical ideas on the song.[4] The Edge and Adam Clayton reworked the simple piece extensively, with Bono later describing the finished result as "an almost jazz-like improvisation on three chords", also noting that "the rhythm section turned it into a very special piece of music."[4] The song was recorded in a similar manner to the song "4th of July" from U2's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire; The Edge and Clayton were playing together in a room and unaware that they were being recorded on a 4-track cassette machine by the band's assistant, Marc Coleman.[4]

[edit] Music video

The music video for the song was filmed on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, and features the band members wandering around while The Edge played an acoustic guitar.

[edit] Live performances

A live version of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was recorded on 28 September 1987 at Madison Square Garden in New York during the group's Joshua Tree Tour. This live performance, which features the New Voices of Freedom, appears on U2's 1988 album Rattle and Hum. A rehearsal for this live performance is featured in the rockumentary film of the same name. A live performance of the song appears in the concert films PopMart: Live from Mexico City and Vertigo 05: Live from Milan.

[edit] Reception

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at #93 of its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In the same year, Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn said it was U2's "Let It Be".[5] The staff of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" as one of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[6]

Hot Press journalist, Bill Graham, described it as on the one-hand as a "smart job of pop handwork, pretty standard American radio rock-ballad fare" but that "the band's rhythms are far more supple and cultivated than your average bouffant HM band of that period".[7]

[edit] Track listing

# Title Producer Length
1. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"   Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois 4:38
2. "Spanish Eyes"   Flood 3:16
3. "Deep in the Heart"   Marc Coleman 4:31
11:25

[edit] Appearances in other media

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" appeared in the 1999 film Runaway Bride, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts and it is also heard several times in the 1994 film Blown Away. In the interview with Butler in The Artemis Fowl Files, he states "'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' could have been written for Master Artemis."[citation needed]

[edit] Charts

Chart (1987) Position Certification
Austrian Singles Chart[8] 10
Canada RPM Top 100[9] 6 Gold[10]
Dutch Top 40[8] 6
French Singles Chart[8] 37
Irish Singles Chart[11] 1
New Zealand Singles Chart[8] 2
Swedish Singles Chart[8] 11
UK Singles Chart[12] 6
US Billboard Hot 100[13] 1
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[13] 16
US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[14] 2

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e McCormick (2006), p. 181.
  2. ^ a b King and Nuala (1998)
  3. ^ McCormick (2006), pp. 181-182.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hutchinson, John (1987-10-01), "Luminous Times: U2 Wrestle with Their Moment of Glory", Musician 
  5. ^ Hilburn, Robert (2 December 2004). "Ask the Critic: Robert Hilburn". http://www.calendarlive.com/music/hilburn/cl-wk-ask2dec02,0,136800.htmlstory. Retrieved 2008-01-19. 
  6. ^ "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs-tv/. Retrieved 2009-07-07. 
  7. ^ Graham (2004), pp. 30-31.
  8. ^ a b c d e "1ste Ultratop-hitquiz". Ultratop. http://www.ultratop.be/en/showitem.asp?interpret=U2&titel=I+Still+Haven%27t+Found+What+I%27m+Looking+For&cat=s. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  9. ^ "Search Results: Still Haven't Found". RPM. 1987-08-22. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=8btpc55uesvhffgnhp22r4co86&q1=%22Still+Haven%27t+Found%22. Retrieved 2009-11-25. 
  10. ^ "CRIA Certification Results: U2". Canadian Recording Industry Association. 1987-11-23. http://www.cria.ca/cert_db_search.php?page=1&wclause=WHERE+artist_name+like+%27%25U2%25%27+ORDER+BY+cert_date%2C+cert_award+&rcnt=81&csearch=20&nextprev=1. Retrieved 2009-11-17. 
  11. ^ "Irish Singles Chart". The Irish Charts. http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement. Retrieved 2009-11-23.  Note: U2 must be searched manually.
  12. ^ "EveryHit.com search results: U2". Everyhit.com. http://www.everyhit.com. Retrieved 2009-11-22.  Note: U2 must be searched manually.
  13. ^ a b "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/search/?keyword=I+Still+Haven%27t+Found+What+I%27m+Looking+For#/song/u2/i-still-haven-t-found-what-i-m-looking-for/309855. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  14. ^ "U2: Charts and Awards". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 2009-11-21. http://www.webcitation.org/5lShoqdHr. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 

[edit] References

  • Philip King and Nuala O'Connor (directors). (1998). Classic Albums: U2 The Joshua Tree. [TV-documentary]. Eagle Rock Entertainment. 
  • McCormick, Neil (ed), (2006). U2 by U2. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-719668-7

[edit] External links

Preceded by
"Shakedown" by Bob Seger		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
August 8, 1987- August 15, 1987		 Succeeded by
"Who's That Girl" by Madonna
The Joshua Tree track listing
"Where the Streets Have No Name"  • "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"  • "With or Without You"  • "Bullet the Blue Sky"  • "Running to Stand Still"  • "Red Hill Mining Town"  • "In God's Country"  • "Trip Through Your Wires"  • "One Tree Hill"  • "Exit"  • "Mothers of the Disappeared"
Rattle and Hum track listing
"Helter Skelter"  • "Van Diemen's Land"  • "Desire"  • "Hawkmoon 269"  • "All Along the Watchtower"  • "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"  • "Freedom for My People"  • "Silver and Gold"  • "Pride (In the Name of Love)"  • "Angel of Harlem"  • "Love Rescue Me"  • "When Love Comes to Town"  • "Heartland"  • "God Part II"  • "The Star Spangled Banner"  • "Bullet the Blue Sky"  • "All I Want Is You"
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" • 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" • 1988: "One Tree Hill" • "Desire" • "Angel of Harlem" • 1989: "When Love Comes to Town" (with B.B. King) • "All I Want Is You"
1990s
2000s
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Still_Haven%27t_Found_What_I%27m_Looking_For"