"Across the Universe" - Various Artists

Digital Single

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Background Information

On February 13, 2005 Bono joined forces with a number of other artists at the Grammy Award Ceremony being held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Together the artists performed the song “Across the Universe”, a cover of a Beatles song. The song was put together as part of a Tsunami Relief project, and all proceeds from the sale of the song were given to Tsunami Relief efforts. The song was announced as follows: “An all-star live performance of the Beatles song “Across the Universe” during the 47th annual Grammy Awards celebration will be immediately released to raise funds for tsunami relief efforts. U2 lead singer Bono, Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Velvet Revolver, Tim McGraw and Brian Wilson have been tapped to take part, with other artists expected to join. The track will be made available for download at Apple’s iTunes Music Store for 99 cents, with all proceeds to aid victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Video of the performance will be available on demand at CBS.com soon after the network’s Feb. 13 broadcast of the awards.”

The actual performance on the night of the show featured the band Velvet Revolver with Scott Weiland and Slash playing guitar, and with Bono, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Tim McGraw, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, and Stevie Wonder on vocals. Alison Krauss participated on fiddle. The song debuted at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as a digital download. The track was released with a shot of the performers on stage at the end of the performance during the Grammy Awards show and was titled “47th Grammy Awards Across the Universe” on the embedded cover. The song was made available for download on iTunes the day after the performance at the Grammy Awards. As of the writing of this article the track no longer appears to be available for download on the US iTunes store. The file was only released through iTunes.

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No traditional liner notes in this digital only release.

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