"A Fanatic Heart, Bob Geldof on W.B. Yeats" - Various Artists
Soundtrack
U2 Related Content:
- "September 1913" (Poetry Reading) - Bono (01:26)
- "On Being Asked for a War Poem" (Poetry Reading) - Bono (00:25)
- "September 1913 / Mad as the Mist and Snow" (Studio Version) - Bono (06:36)
Full Track Listing (Audio CD):
- Easter 1916 – Liam Neeson
- No Second Troy – Bill Nighy
- The Circus Animal’s Desertion – Dan Mulhall
- Adam’s Curse – Lisa Dwan
- Sixteen Dead Men – Olivia O’Leary
- Sailing to Byzantium – Edna O’Brien
- Long-Legged Fly – Roy Foster
- The Fisherman – Richard E. Grant
- The Second Coming – Richard E. Grant
- September 1913 – Bono
- Remorse for Intemperate Speech – Noel Gallagher
- The Lake Isle of Innisfree – Tom Hollander
- The Stars Nest By My Window – Colin Farrell
- To a Child Dancing Upon the Shore – Sting
- When You are Old – Damian Lewis
- Leda and the Swan – Anne Enright
- An Irish Airman Forsees His Death – Gay Byrne
- Brown Penny – Kathleen Byrne
- The Four Ages of Man – Angus Deayton
- The Follow of Being Comforted – Sting
- The Indian Upon God – Bill Nighy
- Crazy Jane on God – Van Morrison
- Down by the Salley Gardens – Tom Hollander
- When You Are Old – When You Are Old
- Mad as the Mist and the Snow – Van Morrison
- He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven – Colin Farrel
- That the Night Come – Stephen Fry
- On Being Asked for a War Poem – Bono
- The Wheel – Neil Jordan
- Yeats Remembered (Sountrack) – Pete Briquette
- September 1913 / Mad as the Mist and Snow – Bono
- A Drunken Man’s Praise of Sobriety – Elvis Costello
Background Information
The documentary, A Fanatic Heart: Bob Geldof on W.B. Yeats, is a documentary featuring Bob Geldof, looking at the life of William Butler Yeats, a Nobel prize winning poet. Through the documentary Geldof travels to places where Yeats grew up, where he worked, and where he wrote. The visual exploration of the life of Yeats is accompanied by 73 readings by many well known figures in Ireland, including Bono.
Bono contributes to four readings in the film, “Politics” and “He Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven” are limited to the DVD version of this release only. “September 1913” and “On Being Asked for a War Poem” are both featured in the DVD as well as in the accompanying audio release. Other contributors to the readings include Noel Gallagher, Elvis Costelo, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrel, Edna O’Brien and many others.
A fifth track features Bono. On the CD, “September 1913 / Mad as the Mist and Snow” is a musical track featuring Bono mostly speaking the early part of the track, and singing the end. This track does not appear in the DVD and is a bonus.
A variety of formats are available for this release. A standalone DVD is available in some countries, featuring “Politics”, “He Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven”, “September 1913” and “On Being Asked for a War Poem”. CD and digital audio releases feature “September 1913”, “On Being Asked for a War Poem”, and “September 1913 / Mad as the Mist and Snow”. There are also versions where the DVD is sold packaged with the CD.
The documentary debuted on television in two parts on March 24 and 31, 2016 on RTE television in Ireland and April 3, 2016, on BBC television in the UK, and originally tied into the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Easter 1916 events. The documentary was released on DVD on February 19, 2018. The soundtrack to the film was released a few days earlier on February 9, 2018, as both a standalone CD, as well on digital services such as iTunes, Amazon, and streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer.
Geldolf spoke about the eventual release of the DVD with the Irish Times, “There are no DVD sales anymore, but I insisted on a physical thing,” he said. “It is like the Rats are bringing out an album in September, and I want it physically to exist. Unless I personally hold it, it doesn’t seem real to me. I also want to have it on my bookshelves along with the other stuff I have done.”
The poems used in the film featuring Bono were filmed in Dublin in February 2016. Bono attended and read poems in “The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour” at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on February 21, 2016. His readings for the documentary were recorded during rehearsals for that public reading of Yeats work. It is not known when Bono recorded the song included as a bonus on the CD release.
Bono has performed “September 1913” a couple of times at benefits over the years. On December 4, 2003 it was performed in Washington DC with a 24-piece orchestra. And on April 30, 1989 it was performed at a fundraising event with “Mad as the Mist and Snow” at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He’s also added bits of “September 1913” to “Love is Blindness” at a number of shows during the Zoo TV 1992 leg in Europe, including shows in London, Birmingham, Dortmund, Kiel, and Sheffield.