Second Radio Single: American Soul

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-11-20)

Well it’s official, we finally have a second song from Songs of Experience being delivered to radio. “American Soul” has been delivered to radio throughout UK as a digital only file starting today, November 20, 2017. The version released to radio is a digital file available in different formats, but all versions are 04:21 in length. The digital artwork is not present, or uses the album cover, without blue border. The song is listed at 130 BPM.

The song was released to iTunes, and streaming services last week, where it appears as part of the album. As part of that release it also uses the album cover.

Also accompanying the release of the song to radio and iTunes, the U2 Vevo service on YouTube has posted a lyric video for the song. The video is 04:25 in length. The audio for the song released to radio today is the same audio edit found on iTunes and other services, but the song is mixed slightly lower in volume. We are still looking at any differences between the audio of the video and these audio releases.

One of the images in the video is a picture of a bill titled “The Truth” being posted on a wall. That paper holds some interesting notes:

  • It is dated Wednsday, November 15, 2017, and says “Not for sale” and “Red flag Day” in the same line. Wednsday is misspelled.
  • A section on the page is titled “Free Yourself to be Yourself.” Many fans will recognize those words from “Iris” on the album Songs of Innocence, but those lyrics are also part of “The Lights of Home” on the new album. The words below that headline are “The door is open go through, If I could I would come too, But the path is made by you, As you’re walking. Start singing and stop talking.” Bono last mentioned an open door in “Cedarwood Road” but these are the lyrics to “Love Is Bigger Than Anything in its Way”
    as revealed in the Written in My Soul interview.
  • Below that is a brief piece of the lyrics for “The Little Things that Give You Away”, “It’s the little things that you give away-The words you cannot say, Your big mout in the way” followed by “Where is SHPICHO
  • At the bottom of the paper is a mention of “Broken Fingaz and the Haifa Gypsies” who are an Israeli street art crew, who also do stop motion video, made up of four members who are likely involved in the production of the lyric video. (Watch the video, the street art will make sense, and “Video by Broken Fingaz” pops up at the end).
  • A box at the end also lists “Love is All We Have Left” as a title.
  • There is also a headline “This is No Time to Be Alive” — in the deluxe version of the album, we’ve seen a newspaper is included with a headline stating “This is No Time Not to be Alive“ followed by “Love is All We Have Left”, the opposite sentiment of what is in the video.

The other content in the handbill comes predominantly from the lyrics from “American Soul”. U2 had filmed a video for “Get Out of Your Own Way” in Mexico City, and recently filmed another in London performing in Trafalgar Square. It is not known when that song will be released to radio.

If the video feels a bit familiar, it is no surprise, with Songs of Innocence, U2 released a full length video for every song utilizing street artists for these videos called Films of Innocence.

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