Numb (U2 song)

"Numb"
Song

"Numb" is the third track from U2's 1993 album, Zooropa and was released as the album's first single. The song is a repeating, monochordic mantra sung by The Edge with a drumbeat sampled from the Leni Riefenstahl film Olympia. "Numb" also features backing vocals by Bono and Larry Mullen, Jr.

History

The music video (directed by Kevin Godley) featured The Edge staring straight into the camera sitting under a dripping tap, while strange things happen to him, such as having feet put on his face, being tied down by the other group members, and a belly dancer perform in front of him. The video remix was produced by the performance group Emergency Broadcast Network and features a number of random television and audio clips. The video and sound segments from the video remix were eventually incorporated into the band's live performances of the song on the Zoo TV Tour. The single itself was released in video format only on VHS, echoing the television theme from their Zoo TV Tour.

"Numb" was an unlikely choice for a first single, and was released in an even more unlikely format, being released exclusively as a "video single". Though Madonna had already released "Justify My Love" as a video single in 1990 following the blacklisting of that video by MTV, it was an unusual release mode for the early 1990s; DVD singles became common place by the latter part of the decade.

This song was later remixed by producer Mike Hedges for U2's compilation release for the 1990s, The Best of 1990-2000. The new mix featured louder, clearer vocal performances from Bono and The Edge than used on the Zooropa album, along with more distinct background noises and a new guitar riff.

Parodies

• VH1 parodied the video for Numb as a promo for The New WKRP in Cincinnati. Richard Sanders (AKA Les Nessman) sat in Edge's place and rambled out the lyrics to the show's opening theme song much the same way Edge does the lyrics to Numb, while the rest of the show's cast did the odd, random things to him.
• Parody writer Weird Al Yankovic performed a parody of the song on the Canadian MuchMusic channel by donning a hat similar to The Edge's, sitting in front of a black background, and reciting verses from the book Green Eggs and Ham as the song's lyrics while having the strange things from the original video happen to him.
• Irish children's TV puppet Dustin The Turkey released as parody of the song in 1994.
• Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, in character as Wayne and Garth respectively, inserted themselves into the video on a 1993 MTV special promoting the upcoming Wayne's World 2. Garth stared straight into the camera and was lipsynching Edge's part, while Wayne performs various gags using Garth's head.

Covers

• The song has been covered by Die Krupps on We Will Follow: The Tribute to U2.

Track listing

1. "Numb" (4:18) [Video]
2. "Numb" (Video Remix) (4:52) [Video]
3. "Love Is Blindness" (4:23) [Video]

This was the track listing for all VHS releases.

Chart positions

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1993	"Numb"	Australian Singles Chart	#7
1993	"Numb"	US Modern Rock Tracks	#2
1993	"Numb"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	#18
1993	"Numb"	US Top 40 Mainstream	#39