"Winter" - U2

Promotional Release

Track Listing:

Background Information

In 2009, U2 contributed the song “Winter” to Jim Sheridan’s film Brothers. Sheridan, an Irish filmmaker, had used U2 material in several films he directed including In the Name of the Father and In America. Additionally Bloody Sunday which he produced also uses a song. Sheridan worked extensively with the Project Arts Centre in the 1970s, a venue where U2 would often play in their formative years. It was through these early performances that they became acquainted with Sheridan. “Winter” was the first time the full band contributed a new piece of music to one of his films.

The film Brothers was a remake of a 2004 Danish film. The Sheridan version features Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman in lead roles. The film was widely released on December 4, 2009 in theatres, opening third in box office in North America that week. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 23, 2010.

The song “Winter” by U2, wasn’t entirely new to U2 fans. Earlier in 2009, a very different version of the song with different lyrics and instrumentation had appeared on No Line on the Horizon as a track in the film Linear which accompanied the album. The film, Linear directed by Anton Corbijn, was made to accompany an early version of the album. U2 cut “Winter” from the album after that film was made, indeed one of the last changes to the album. Corbijn was given permission to keep the song in his film, however, an audio version was not released. It is a separate recording from what appeared in Brothers and here on the promotional release.

The film Brothers was released as Hollywood was entering into awards season. “Winter” was released on promotional CD to be sent around for consideration for awards at shows such as the Golden Globes and the Oscars. The promotional release was a recordable CD (CDR) and held the version of the song that can be heard over the final credits of the film. The CDR was printed with information about the song, and a back insert was also included in the jewel case. No front covers were issued for the case.

The version included on the promotional CDR is different than the edit in the film. In the film the intro to the song is a little longer, but the song fades out much earlier. Overall it’s about 30 seconds shorter in the film than on the promotional CDR. Although a soundtrack album was mentioned for the film on U2.com, the album never materialized. The only way to get this version of the song is either from one of the film releases (Blu-ray or DVD) where the end is edited or via this CDR, where the start is slightly edited.

The “For Your Consideration” CD garnered U2 nominations for the Denver Film Critics Society Awards and also for the 67th Golden Globe Awards. However, the song did not win either award. The song was not nominated for an Academy Award.

Liner Notes

Related Promotional Videos

Related News

Catalog of Releases