"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" - U2

Single

Track Listing:

Background Information

“Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” was the fifth and final single released from the Achtung Baby album. It was released in late November 1992, almost a year after the debut of the album. Although “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” was a worldwide release, in some cases it was difficult to find in certain formats due to being issued so late in the album promotion cycle. Dutch singles were stickered with a contest from Island Records. Fans were asked to remove the sticker and mail it on a postcard to Island. Out of these entries, 100 copies of Achtung Baby: The Video were given out.

The sleeve art for most releases of “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” is a picture of Bono in the driver’s seat of a trabant car, tinted red, against a blue sky background. The original photo was taken by Anton Corbijn, and the sleeve itself was designed by Steve Averill for Works Associates. The single sleeve can be fit together with three other Achtung Baby single covers to form a larger image. “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Horses” fits in the top right corner, with “Even Better Than the Real Thing” in the top left, “Mysterious Ways” in the bottom left, and “The Fly” in the bottom right. (The sleeve for charity single “One” had a different design that did not fit with the other four singles.) A second CD was released in some areas, using the same image as the main single but replacing the blue sky with yellow and adding borders and larger text to the top and bottom of the sleeve.

For this release, the album version of “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” was reworked into a new mix known as “The Temple Bar Remix.” Also included on the single was a more radio-friendly edit of that remix, known as “The Temple Bar Edit.” The song was initially recorded during sessions in STS Studios in Dublin in 1990, and the band worked on multiple versions of it during the sessions at Hansa Studios in Berlin. They would later bring in Steve Lillywhite to mix the song for the album—a process that ended up taking more than a month to complete. The “Temple Bar Remix” was done later, after the album had been released and the band had had some time to live with the song. It ended up being their preferred version. “Temple Bar” refers to the area of Dublin where STS Studios was located, and where the mixing of the song took place.

Two-track versions of the single included “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (The Temple Bar Edit)” as the a-side, and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” as the B-side. Maxi-single formats added additional tracks, including a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son,” and a remix of Bono covering Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Bono had recorded the song for the movie Honeymoon in Vegas, and the version on the single, known as the “Triple Peaks Remix,” is significantly different than the original recording on the soundtrack album. Rounding out the tracks on the single is a remix of “Salomé,” a song that, in its original form, was a B-side to the “Even Better for the Real Thing” single. The “Zooromancer Remix” on this single was remixed by Terry Farley and Pete Heller.

A video for “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” was directed by Phil Joanou in the fall of 1992. Set to the “Temple Bar Remix,” it featured a collage of live footage taken from The Zoo TV Tour, mixed with images of the band performing against a white background. As the video was completed after the mastering of Achtung Baby: The Video, the song does not appear on that release. It was, however, collected on The Best of 1990-2000 compilation, with optional commentary by Joanou. It was listed as a bonus track on the DVD, and does not appear on the VHS. The video would also be included on the DVDs included with the “Über Deluxe” and “Super Deluxe” formats of the Achtung Baby 20th anniversary re-release.

Perhaps due to the difficulties U2 had with this song, and the prolonged recording process, U2 never focused on the song as much as other singles from Achtung Baby in concert. During The Zoo TV Tour, it appeared in the set list only 40% of the time. The video ZOO TV Live from Sydney was recorded at a concert where the song was not performed. It was not played during the PopMart or Elevation tours, except as the odd snippet during another song. During The Vertigo Tour it would appear in the set list again, but only for 16 shows—a couple of which involved requests for the song from fans who had been pulled onto the stage. In 2018 the song appeared at the debut show of the Experience and Innocence tour, but was promptly dropped for the remainder of the leg except for a special one-off performance at the Apollo Theater. The band would revisit the song for the second leg of the tour, playing the song at 20 shows.

The performance at the Apollo was collected on the fan club release, Live at the Apollo for One Night Only. The final night of the 2018 tour was collected on the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE: Live in Berlin fan club video release, and it too included the song. The song also featured nightly during U2’s 40 performances at Sphere in Vegas. Once a rarity, the song has enjoyed a lot of popularity of late. “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” was also included on Achtung Baby 30 Live, a fan club release including all of the Achtung Baby tracks, with “Wild Horses” being taken from a 2018 performance in Belfast.

“Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” was not included on either The Best of 1990-2000 or U218 Singles. It did appear on two promotional compilations—“Previously” featured the album version and “Zoo TV Tour” featured the “Temple Bar Edit.” “Salomé (Zooromancer Remix)” was released on the Melon fan club album and promotional 12-inch vinyl. It was also issued as a promotional vinyl on its own. A shortened version of this remix was also included on The Best of 1990-2000 & B-Sides and some associated promotional releases.

In 2011, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Achtung Baby the album was released in multiple formats. “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (The Temple Bar Remix)”, “Paint it Black”, “Fortunate Son”, “Salomé (Zooromancer Remix)” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love (Triple Peaks Remix)” featured on various versions of the album. An Über Deluxe version of the album included a repressing of the “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” 7-inch single in clear vinyl. And the Über Deluxe and Super Deluxe versions of the set also included a previously unheard version of “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” complete with brass and other embellishments. In 2021, for the 30th anniversary of the album, a new collection featured the album, and on digital versions included the B-sides for the single. In 2024, a new mix of the Achtung Baby album was done in Dolby Atmos.

Liner Notes

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (Temple Bar Edit):
Words: Bono. Music: U2. Produced by U2 and Paul Barrett. Original recording produced by Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. Engineered by Robbie Adams, Paul Barrett, and Ian Bryan. Assisted by Shannon Strong and Fiach Cooling. Edited by Stewart Whitmore. Piano: The Edge and Paul Barrett. Strings: Paul Barrett and the Edge. Moogorgan: Paul Barrett.

Paint it Black:
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Produced by Paul Barrett and U2. Mixed by Paul Barrett. Assisted by Ian Bryan. Keyboards by Paul Barrett.

Fortunate Son:
Written by John Fogerty. Produced by Paul Barrett and U2. Engineered by Paul Battett. Assisted by Ian Bryan. Backing vocals by Maria McKee.

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (Temple Bar Remix):
Words: Bono. Music: U2. Produced by U2 and Paul Barrett. Original recording produced by Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. Engineered by Robbie Adams, Paul Barrett, and Ian Bryan. Assisted by Shannon Strong and Fiach Cooling. Piano: The Edge and Paul Barrett. Strings: Paul Barrett and the Edge. Moogorgan: Paul Barrett.

Salome (Zooromancer Remix):
Words: Bono. Music by U2. Produced by Paul Barrett and U2. Engineered by Ian Bryan, Louise McCormick and Paul Barrett. Additional backing vocals by Ian Bryan and Paul Barrett. Remixed by Pete Heller and Terry Farley for Boys Own Productions. Remix engineer: Gary Wilkinson.

Can’t Help Falling in Love (Triple Peaks Remix):
Written by Weiss, Peretti and Creatore. Performed by Bono. Produced by Bono and Paul Barrett. Hammond Organ by Paul Barrett. All other instruments: Bono. Remix production by Ian Bryan and Paul Barrett.

Artwork

Photography by Anton Corbijn. Trabant shot by Bill Bernstein. Design and photo treatments by Works Associates, Dublin. Image handling by D.O.T.S., Dublin.

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