"Country, God or the Girl" - K'Naan
Album
U2 Related Content:
- "Bulletproof Pride" (Studio Version) - K'Naan featuring Bono (04:43)
Full Track Listing:
- The Seed
- Gold In Timbuktu
- Waiting is a Drug
- Better
- Simple
- Is Anybody Out There? (featuring Nelly Furtado)
- Hurt Me Tomorrow
- The Sound of My Breaking Heart
- Nothing to Lose (featuring Nas)
- 70 Excuses
- Bulletproof Pride (featuring Bono)
- The Wall
Bonus Tracks: - Sleep When We Die (featuring Keith Richards)
- More Beautiful Than Silence
- Alone (featuring will.i.am)
- On the Other Side (featuring Mark Foster)
iTunes Bonus Track: - Coming to America
Background Information
On October 15, 2011, Bono and The Edge performed at the Clinton Foundation’s 10th Anniversary “A Decade of Difference” event. Although Bono and The Edge would perform together, Bono appeared earlier in the evening with Canadian-Somalian singer K’Naan. The two performed a new song together “Bulletproof Pride”. It was announced in February 2012 that the song “Bulletproof Pride” was a new song that Bono had recorded with K’Naan and that it would feature on his new album.
The album “Country, God or the Girl” was originally announced for a May release. It was delayed, and pushed back to a June 5, 2012 release, with in store advertisements for the new date showing up. The album did not arrive in June, and was pushed back to September, and was finally released on October 16, 2012 in North America. In stores, on CD only a deluxe version was issued containing the first four bonus tracks. On iTunes one could purchase the regular edition without these bonus tracks, or the deluxe version with these four bonus tracks, as well as an additional fifth track, “Coming to America”.
Bono’s vocals for the song were recorded and engineered by Declan Gaffney.
In 2003, K’Naan provided the closing rap on a cover of “One” by the artist Jarvis Church on the album “Peace Songs”. K’Naan would also record a cover of “Stuck in a Moment” for the iHeart Radio series. He also showed up in 2010 at the Minneapolis show of the U2360° tour, where he and Bono sang “Stand By Me”. Bono and K’Naan have also spoken at a number of engagements together about the famine facing Somalia, the country where K’Naan was born and spent his early youth. Bono also interviewed K’Naan in 2011 for the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, and the interview featured as a video as well as in the print edition of the newspaper. The pair would also appear on Anderson Cooper’s AC360 program together.
Liner Notes
Bulletproof Pride featuring Bono
Written by Keinan Warsame, Brian West, Jon Levine, Charles Harmon & Bono.
Produced by Brian “Sweetwesty” West, Jon Levine & Chuck Harmony for Harmony House Entertainment LLC / Make Moves Management, Inc. Engineered by Brian West & Mike “TrakGuru” Johnson for Year87 / Harmony House Entertainment LLC at Gymnasium Studios, LA, CA, Westlake Recording Studios, LA, CA & Germano Studios, NYC. Additional Engineering: Jared Scott. Bono vocals engineered by Declan Gaffney. Mixed by Philippe Weiss at The Red Room, Paris, France. Assisted by Simon Colin & Manu Schlindwein. Drums: Steve Jordan. Violin: Anne Marie Simpson. Guitars & Programming: Brian West. Piano, Synthesizers & Percussion: Jon Levine. B-3 Organ, Keyboards & Bass: Chuck Harmony. Bono appears courtesy of Mercury Records UK.