I Will Follow

"I Will Follow"
"I Will Follow"
Song

"I Will Follow" is a song by rock band U2. It is the opening track from their debut album, Boy, and it was released as the album's second single, in October 1980. Bono wrote the lyrics to "I Will Follow" in tribute to his mother who died when he was 14 years old.

"I Will Follow" is the only song that U2 have performed on every tour since they released their first album. The song was U2's first music video, directed by Meiert Avis in Dublin, Ireland. The song was issued five times, first in 1981 on a 7" vinyl in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, second on the same format in the United States and Canada, third in the Netherlands in 1982 with a track from 1981's October, in 1983 with a live version of the song, and finally in 2011 with a live version of the song recorded at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival.

Composition and releases

"I Will Follow" was written three weeks before U2 began recording Boy.^[1] U2 singer Bono has said that he wrote the song from his mother's perspective and that it was about the unconditional love a mother has for her child.^[2] His mother died following her own father's funeral when Bono was fourteen, which the singer says plunged him into emotional turmoil for the next few years. The song features the lyrics "his mother takes him by his hand" and "If you walk away, I will follow." Bono has also described the song's lyrics as a 14 year old boy's suicide note, wanting to follow his deceased mother into the grave.^[3]

In the recording of the song for the Boy album its Producer Steve Lillywhite plays a glockenspiel.^[4]

Edge has acknowledged John McGeogh as an influence on his early sound; the guitar line on this tune does evoke comparison to Magazine's "Because You're Frightened."

"I Will Follow" had a second single release as a live version in the Netherlands and Germany in 1982, and a third release in the U.S., lifted from the Under a Blood Red Sky album, in 1983. It appeared on both the compilation album and video collection The Best of 1980-1990, and in some countries, on the U218 Singles compilation.

The song is included in the 2015 music video game Rock Band 4 as a playable track.^[5]

Live performances

It is the band's most frequently performed song with over 800 performances. It has been performed at every concert of The Joshua Tree, PopMart Tour and the Innocence + Experience Tour ^[6] It has been played extensively on every tour with the exception of the Zoo TV Tour, where it was performed infrequently, and was part of the acoustic set, and the U2 360° Tour, where it wasn't played until the third leg. The Edge usually plays this song on his favorite guitar, the Gibson Explorer.^{[citation needed]} The only exceptions were the Lovetown and PopMart Tours. On Lovetown, it was segued into directly after "Where the Streets Have No Name," during which Edge used a yellow Fender Stratocaster with Lace Sensor pickups. In 1997 on the PopMart Tour, the song was segued into immediately after "Mofo," for which Edge used a Gibson Les Paul Custom. The PopMart Tour version, seen in PopMart: Live from Mexico City also had some altered lyrics: "You took the soul of me/Put a hole in me/You should've said/That's your lie."

The song appears on the live recordings/films Under a Blood Red Sky, U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, Live from the Point Depot, PopMart: Live from Mexico City, Elevation 2001: Live from Boston, Live from Boston 1981, Live from Paris, and U22. It also appears on Vertigo 05: Live from Milan, the bonus DVD that is included with the U218 Singles compilation and as a bonus track for UK/Australia releases of the CD.

U2 performed the song on the BBC2 television show The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1981. The performance was later released on DVD on a compilation of performances from the show.^[7]

When the song is played live, Bono sometimes changes the lyric "his mother takes him by the hand" to "his lover takes him by the hand."

Reception and legacy

In 2005, Blender ranked the song at number 214 on its list "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". The magazine wrote, "The first song on U2's first album introduced the guitar sound that would define their work. [...] The arena-ready clarion call also established Bono's trademark lyrical earnestness, one of the reasons the song remains a fan favorite and a staple of the band's recent tours."^[8]

Track listings

7" Ireland, UK, Australia, and New Zealand release
No.	Title	Length
1.	"I Will Follow"	3:37
2.	"Boy-Girl" (Live from the Marquee Club, London, England, September 22, 1980 (1980-09-22))	3:24

7" Canada and US release
No.	Title	Length
1.	"I Will Follow"	3:37
2.	"Out of Control" (Live at Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Massachusetts, March 6, 1981 (1981-03-06))	4:25

The Netherlands release
No.	Title	Length
1.	"I Will Follow" (Live in Hattem, the Netherlands, May 14, 1982 (1982-05-14))	3:51
2.	"Gloria"	4:12

1983 release
No.	Title	Length
1.	"I Will Follow" (Live from West Germany, August 20, 1983 (1983-08-20))	3:40
2.	"Two Hearts Beat as One" (Import mix)	3:42

2011 Glastonbury release
No.	Title	Length
1.	"I Will Follow" (Live at Glastonbury Festival 2011, Somerset, England, June 24, 2011 (2011-06-24))	4:01

The Netherlands release was recorded for the Veronica TV concert series Countdown, and was reissued in Germany in 1983. The cover of the Canadian and U.S. releases feature the same image as the North American release of Boy, to avoid accusations of pedophilia due to the image of the naked boy. The 1983 release was in a generic red sleeve with no cover artwork.

Personnel

Chart positions

1981 release

Chart (1981)	Position
US Billboard Top Tracks	20

1982 release

Chart (1982)	Position
Netherlands Top 40	12

1983 release

Chart (1984)	Position
US Billboard Hot 100	81^[9]

References

^ "Bono in San Antonio". U2 Magazine No. 3. May 1, 1982. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
^ Stokes, Niall (1996). Into The Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song. Harper Collins Publishers. p. 9. ISBN 0-7322-6036-1.
^ Verbal interaction with the audience at a U2 concert 28 June 2015, Chicago, U.S.A
^ Graham, Bill; van Oosten de Boer (2004). U2: The Complete Guide to their Music. London: Omnibus Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-7119-9886-8.
^ Snider, Mike (September 28, 2015). "'Rock Band 4' gets U2 as music video game rivalry reboots". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
^ "I Will Follow Performances". Retrieved 2007-11-05.
^ The Old Grey Whistle Test (DVD). Warner Home Video. 2003.
^ "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". Blender (41). October 2005. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-02. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "U2 - Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 6 February 2014.

External links

[1] "Bono in San Antonio". U2 Magazine No. 3. May 1, 1982. Retrieved 2007-11-06.

[2] Stokes, Niall (1996). Into The Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song. Harper Collins Publishers. p. 9. ISBN 0-7322-6036-1.

[3] Verbal interaction with the audience at a U2 concert 28 June 2015, Chicago, U.S.A

[4] Graham, Bill; van Oosten de Boer (2004). U2: The Complete Guide to their Music. London: Omnibus Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-7119-9886-8.

[5] Snider, Mike (September 28, 2015). "'Rock Band 4' gets U2 as music video game rivalry reboots". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved September 28, 2015.

[6] "I Will Follow Performances". Retrieved 2007-11-05.

[7] The Old Grey Whistle Test (DVD). Warner Home Video. 2003.

[8] "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". Blender (41). October 2005. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-02. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[9] "U2 - Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 6 February 2014.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

v t e U2 songs
Discography Covers
1970s	"Out of Control"
1980s	"Another Day" "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" "A Day Without Me" "I Will Follow" "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart" "The Electric Co." "Fire" "Gloria" "October" "A Celebration" "New Year's Day" "Two Hearts Beat as One" "Sunday Bloody Sunday" "Seconds" "Red Light" "Pride (In the Name of Love)" "The Unforgettable Fire" "A Sort of Homecoming" "4th of July" "Bad" "Elvis Presley and America" "MLK" "With or Without You" "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" "Where the Streets Have No Name" "In God's Country" "One Tree Hill" "Bullet the Blue Sky" "Running to Stand Still" "Red Hill Mining Town" "Trip Through Your Wires" "Exit" "Mothers of the Disappeared" "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" "Desire" "Angel of Harlem" "When Love Comes to Town" "All I Want Is You" "Hawkmoon 269" "Heartland" "God Part II"
1990s	"Night and Day" "The Fly" "Mysterious Ways" "One" "Even Better Than the Real Thing" "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" "Zoo Station" "Until the End of the World" "So Cruel" "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" "Acrobat" "Love Is Blindness" "Numb" "Lemon" "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" "Zooropa" "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" "Dirty Day" "The Wanderer" "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" "Miss Sarajevo" "Slug" "Your Blue Room" "Discothèque" "Staring at the Sun" "Last Night on Earth" "Please" "If God Will Send His Angels" "Mofo" "Gone" "Sweetest Thing"
2000s	"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" "Beautiful Day" "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" "Elevation" "Walk On" "Kite" "In a Little While" "Wild Honey" "Peace on Earth" "When I Look at the World" "New York" "Electrical Storm" "The Hands That Built America" "Take Me to the Clouds Above" "Vertigo" "All Because of You" "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" "City of Blinding Lights" "Miracle Drug" "A Man and a Woman" "One Step Closer" "Original of the Species" "Yahweh" "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" "The Saints Are Coming" "Window in the Skies" "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" "Get On Your Boots" "Magnificent" "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" "No Line on the Horizon" "Moment of Surrender" "Unknown Caller" "Stand Up Comedy" "Fez – Being Born" "White as Snow" "Breathe" "Cedars of Lebanon" "Winter"
2010s	"Ordinary Love" "Invisible" "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" "Every Breaking Wave" "Song for Someone" "You're the Best Thing About Me" "Get Out of Your Own Way" "Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way" "XXX"
2020s	"Your Song Saved My Life" "Atomic City"
Category