"Song for Someone" - U2

Promotional Release

Track Listing:

Background Information

“Song for Someone” was the third single released from Songs of Innocence to radio as a single. The song was initially released to radio on May 11 in North America being promoted to AAA stations. This was followed up by a live performance of the song from the second night of the #U2ieTour in Vancouver being shown and promoted for Red Nose Day on May 21, 2015. The song did not appear to get much traction.

In July 2015, a second push with the song was made. This included the debut of a short film to accompany the song. This film was directed by Vincent Haycock, and features Woody Harrelson as a prisoner just being released from jail. Zoe Harrelson, his daughter, meets him outside of the prison to pick him up. The film was debuted during SundanceTV’s season premiere of “Rectify” on July 9, 2010.

On July 17 Interscope began to push the song with fresh artwork, featuring an old photo of Ali Hewson, Bono’s wife, who the song was written for. The song was also digitally delivered to radio again on that day. On July 20th, physical CDR singles were distributed to radio stations in the UK and Europe, featuring a slightly edited version of the song. These promotional singles were 5-Inch CDR discs, with just the “Radio Mix” of the song. The discs were circulated in a plastic sleeve, featuring an insert that wrapped around the disc, featuring the same artwork featuring Ali Hewson. This promotional CD lists a release date of September 4, 2015, but the prior promotional single for “Every Breaking Wave” did the same and then did not have any physical release.

Further promotion of the song was done with radio hosts Hamish and Andy on their show “Happy Hour” which airs in Australia on the Today network. Bono called into the show on July 7th, 2015 to ask if they would premiere the new mix of the song. The hosts had a contest where the winner, Jacob, got to fly to Boston to attend a #U2ieTour concert, July 11, 2015, and were also taken backstage to meet the Edge. During the meeting with The Edge, the winner was given a USB stick containing his new mix of “Song for Someone” which was to be delivered by hand to the Hamish and Andy show. The song premiered on the show on July 13, 2015.

The “Radio Mix” of the song was mixed by The Edge for radio, and the overall song is mixed hotter, and Edge’s backing vocals are more prominent in the mix. Otherwise the song is very much similar to the mix found on the album itself. Bono even joked that he wasn’t really able to tell the difference between the two mixes.

Liner Notes

Mixed by The Edge.

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