"Lights of Home" - U2

Single

Track Listing:

Background Information

“Lights of Home” is a song that U2 wrote with Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim and Ariel Rechshaid. The three Haim sisters make up the band Haim, and Rechshaid was the producer on their debut album. “Lights of Home” borrows a riff from Haim’s “Song 5”, released on that album, Days Gone By. Haim joined U2 in studio during the recording sessions for Songs of Experience and sing back up on the track. Fans got an early taste of the song during the filming of the video for “The Blackout” in July 2017 as Bono requested he be allowed to play a song off the new album. It was “Lights of Home” he chose to share with the fans invited to the video shoot.

“Lights of Home” is the second physical single from the Songs of Experience album, following “The Blackout“ which was released for the Record Store Day Black Friday event in 2017. Neither of these two songs have been released to radio however. Both “You’re the Best Thing About Me“ and “Get Out Of Your Own Way“ have been digitally released as singles.

“Lights of Home” was released as a 12-inch picture disc as U2’s release for Record Store Day 2018, held on April 21, 2018. The artwork for the single features a silhouette of Bono’s son Eli holding hands with Edge’s daughter Sian, an image used for the album cover of Songs of Experience. On the A-Side this is overlaid with a photograph of Dublin taken from the International Space Station on March 17, 2017 by French astronaut Thom Pesquet. On the B-Side the silhouette is filled in with a changing black and blue pattern radiating from the centre of the figures hands (not the centre of the disc). On the back side, the image is reversed so that Sian is on the left and Eli is on the right. The disc is not numbered, and is packaged in a clear vinyl sleeve, with a sticker that wraps around the vinyl identifying the track listing and other information. The release quantity was listed as 5000 copies for the US on the Record Store Day site.

On the A-Side of the vinyl are “Lights of Home” and “Lights of Home” (St Peter’s String Version), both featured on deluxe versions of Songs of Experience. On the B-Side of the vinyl single is a remix of “Lights of Home” by Beck, newly released on this single. The record plays at 45RPM.

A digital single was also issued for the song. The digital release followed Record Store Day, being available on digital sites and streaming services on April 27, 2018. Unlike the physical single which included three different versions of “Lights of Home”, the digital single only included the Beck Remix. (According to Recordstoreday.co.uk the Record Store Day vinyl would be packaged with “a Download Voucher” but this has not happened. We can confirm that the vinyl does not include a download card.)

“Lights of Home” was performed each night on the Experience + Innocence tour. Live recordings have been released from that tour, both on fan club releases. Live Songs of Innocence + Experience contains a performance from Copenhagen in September 2018, and Experience + Innocence: Live from Berlin features a performance from November 2018.

Although the record is listed as a Record Store Day Exclusive pressing, the item was made available on Amazon in France, and copies of the record began shipping ahead of Record Store Day. These shipments started on April 13, 2018, and many arrived in advance of Record Store Day. The vinyl sleeve is thinner than the one used for the earlier pressing of “Red Hill Mining Town” and is easily split on the edges as the vinyl moves around. If purchasing this item you may want to take a careful look at the sides of the packaging to make sure they have not split.

Liner Notes

Lights of Home:
Lyrics by Bono. Music by U2, Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim and Ariel Rechtshaid. Produced by Jacknife Lee with Ryan Tedder and Brent Kutzle. Additional production by Jolyon Thomas. Engineered by Matt Bishop and Tyler Spry. Additional engineering by Drew Bang. Assisted by Dave “Squirrel” Covell and Barry McCready. Mixed by Jacknife Lee. Assisted by Matt Bishop. Additional backing vocals by Haim. Additional keyboards, additional guitars and programming by Jacknife Lee.

Lights of Home (St Peter’s String Version):
Lyrics by Bono. Music by U2, Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim and Ariel Rechtshaid. Produced by Jacknife Lee with Ryan Tedder and Brent Kutzle. Additional production by Jolyon Thomas. Engineered by Rich Rich and Tyler Spry. Assisted by Christopher Henry. Additional engineering by Doug Sarrett and Drew Bang. Mixed by Bryan Cook and Will Kennedy. Mastered by Hans Dekline. String arrangement by Brandon Collins. Violins by Amy Helman and Avery Bright. Viola by Betsy Lamb. Cello by Paul Nelson. String bass by Craig Nelson. Keyboards by Brent Kutzle. Pedal Steel by Tyler Spry. Additional percussion by Nate Lotz.

Lights of Home (Free Yourself / Beck Remix):
Lyrics by Bono. Music by U2, Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim and Ariel Rechtshaid. Produced by Jacknife Lee with Ryan Tedder and Brent Kutzle. Additional production by Jolyon Thomas. Remix by Beck. Remix engineered by David “Elevator” Greenbaum and Cassidy Turbin. Engineered by Matt Bishop and Tyler Spry. Additional engineering by Drew Bang. Assisted by Dave “Squirrel” Covell and Barry McCready. Original mix by Jacknife Lee. Assisted by Matt Bishop. Additional backing vocals by Haim. Additional keyboards, additional guitars, and programming by Jacknife Lee.

Creative director: Gavin Friday. Director of production: Nadine King. Production co-ordinator: Jesse Peters. Mastered by Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Artwork

Designed by Shaughn McGrath, Amp Visual Dublin.
Cover Image by Anton Corbijn.
Image of Dublin from Space by Astronaut Shane Kimbrough courtesy of ESA/NASA

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