"Every Mother Counts 2012" - Various Artists
Compilation Album
U2 Related Content:
- "Original of the Species" (Acoustic Version) - Bono and The Edge (04:03)
Full Track Listing:
- Original of the Species (Acoustic) – Bono and The Edge
- Skipping – Eddie Vedder
- Pretty Day – Paul Simon and Edie Brickell
- Wish for You – Faith Hill
- The Sweetest Gift – Sade
- I Remember – Lauryn Hill
- Baby I’m Yours – Rita Wilson
- Don’t Fence Me In – Diana Krall
- Secret – Seal
- Sister (live) – Dave Matthews Band
- Fragilidad – Sting
- Magical Child – Alanis Morissette
- Mother – Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
- Everyone Says ‘Hi’ – David Bowie
- Get Up Stand Up – Cedella Marley
- Corrina, Corrina – Beck
- Instead of the Dead – Rufus Wainwright
- Somalia – Patti Smith
- Yellow (acoustic) – Coldplay
Background Information
Model Christy Turlington Burns, started the foundation “Every Mother Counts” to promote awareness and reduce the maternal mortality rate worldwide. She started the foundation after being inspired by the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by the year 2015. The campaign launched their first album in 2011, sold through Starbucks. The CD was so successful that she followed up with a second CD launched in 2012. It was the 2012 CD that features Bono and The Edge contributing an acoustic recording of “Original of the Species”. Eight dollars (USD) from the sale of each CD at Starbucks was given directly to the Every Mother Counts campaign. The CD was first put on sale on May 1, 2012 (in time for Mother’s Day) and would remain on sale until December 31, 2012 or until supplies were exhausted.
Turlington Burns discussed how the 2012 project got its initial start: “I went to friends first, as I did with the first CD. Bono and Chris Martin were great supporters of the project the first time around, and when I knew I wanted to include men on this album they were obvious choices. They are also both fathers to daughters. Others, such as Patti Smith and Rita Wilson, I’ve known for a long time, and some, like Edie Brickell and Paul Simon, I only met briefly but was a huge admirer. I generally wanted a diverse group of artists who were parents, or in the case of Edward Sharpe, who will be soon. We wanted to reach a broad audience on this issue with this particular project and with a range of perspectives.”
Demand for the CD was high, and it was sold only in Starbucks stores in North America. Due to the high demand and the low quantities some of the tracks were released for purchase online, however the track by Bono and The Edge was not, so the CD remains the only outlet to purchase this track. The song “Original of the Species” was originally released on “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” in 2004, and the song was at one point intended as a single, however those plans were cancelled. This CD is the only place where this “Acoustic Version” of the song has been released. The song was recorded with Declan Gaffney.
Liner Notes
Original of the Species (Acoustic Version):
Written by Adam Clayton, David Evans, Paul Hewson, Laurence Mullen. Produced, mixed and engineered by Declan Gaffney. Strings arranged and performed by Caroline Dale. Guitars and piano by The Edge. Mastered by Arnie Acosta at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood.