"ONE Presents agit8" - Various Artists

Streaming Album

U2 Related Content:

Full Track Listing:

Volume 1:

  • “Universal Soldier” – Donovan (02:50)
  • “Africa Mon Afrique” – Amadou & Mariam (03:12)
  • “Flesh Shapes the Day” – Tom Morello (03:58)
  • “Exodus” – Novalima (04:26)
  • “Intervention” – Lily & Madeleine (04:22)
  • “What’s Going On” – U.S. Royalty (04:14)
  • “Redemption Song” – Wayna (06:08)
  • “Man in Black” – Cherry (03:56)
  • “This Land is Your Land” – David Crowder (03:29)

Volume 2:

  • “Give Peace A Chance” – Sean Lennon, Al Jardine and Friends (00:41)
  • “Promised Land” – Bruce Springsteen (04:15)
  • “The Ghost of Tom Joad / Do-Re-Mi” – Elvis Costello and Mumford and Sons (05:58)
  • “For What it’s Worth” – Kid Rock (04:14)
  • “Same Love” – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert (05:30)
  • “Living on the Edge” – Aerosmith (05:04)
  • “Masters of War” – Ed Sheeran (04:07)
  • “99 Revolutions” – Green Day (05:01)
  • “Sunday Bloody Sunday” – U2 (04:41)

Volume 3:

  • “Driven to Tears” – Sting (05:34)
  • “Uprising” – Muse (05:44)
  • “What’s Going On” – Usher (04:42)
  • “Les Dirigeans Africains” – SMOD (04:11)
  • “Up to the Mountain” – Robbie Seay (03:36)
  • “Fortunate Son” – Seth Phillpot (03:06)
  • “For What it’s Worth” – The Lone Bellow (03:13)
  • “Working Class Hero” – Daube Toure (04:00)
  • “London Calling” – Babylon Circus (03:16)

Volume 4: Live in London:

  • “Deportee” – KT Tunstall (04:02)
  • “Wilde” – Jessie J (03:22)
  • “Freedom” – Paolo Nutini (04:39)
  • “Killing in the Name” – Biffy Clyro (03:21)
  • “Big Yellow Taxi” – Carly Connor (02:36)
  • “We Came in Peace” – Venus Brushfires (04:07)
  • “Daande Lenol” – Baaba Maal (06:15)
  • “No More Auction Block” – David Gray (02:32)
  • “Shipbuilding” – Alison Moyet (03:27)
  • “People Get Ready / One Love” – James Morrison (03:18)
  • “If I Ruled the World” – Jamie Culllum (05:21)
  • “Harrowdown Hill” – Dancing Years (03:15)
  • “Paper Planes” – Newton Faulkner (02:42)
  • “Guillotine” – Yadi (03:42)
  • “Abbai Mado” – Krar Collective (04:50)
  • “Black and Blue” – Paloma Faith (04:28)
  • “Big Boss Man” – Tom Jones and Jools Holland (03:32)
  • “Soweto Blues” – Angelique Kido (05:02)

Volume 5: Greatest Hits:

  • “Sunday Bloody Sunday” – U2 (04:41)
  • “Respect” – Christine Grimmie (02:34)
  • “Africa Mon Afrique” – Amadou and Miram (03:12)
  • “The Ghost of Tom Joad” / “Do-Re-Mi” – Elvis Costello and Mumford and Sons (05:58)
  • “Blowing in the Wind” – Vasquez Sounds (02:49)
  • “Deportee” – KT Tunstall (04:02)
  • “Same Love” – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft Mary Lambert (05:30)
  • “What’s Going On” – Usher (04:42)
  • “Building Bridges” – Connie Talbot and Jordan Jansen (03:28)
  • “Driven to Tears” – Sting (05:34)
  • “Masters of War” – Ed Sheeran (04:07)
  • “The Way it Is” – Heather Fay (05:21)
  • “This Land is Your Land” – Crowder (03:29)
  • “Wild” – Jesse J (03:22)
  • “Freedom” – Paolo Nutini (04:39)
  • “Let’s Get Along” – Connie Talbot (03:30)
  • “Working Class Hero” – Ryan Van Sickle (03:18)
  • “Promised Land” – Bruce Springsteen (04:15)

Background Information

As U2 finished work on Songs of Innocence at Electric Lady Studios in New York, they took a break from the sessions to record a few songs for charities. One of these was “This Is”, a cover of the Aslan song, shown at a Christy Dignam tribute concert in Dublin. The other song was one of their own, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. The song was recorded on the roof of the studio as U2 performed live. The song was contributed to the agit8 campaign put together by the ONE campaign.

The agit8 campaign used iconic protest songs, as a call for action on extreme poverty in the days leading up to the G8 Summit in Belfast. Bono is quoted as follows in the ONE announcement: “This week we are reminded of the words of the great agitator Nelson Mandela – Like slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome. Millions of people… are trapped in the prison of poverty. It is time to set them free. Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Since the 1970s Nelson Mandela has called upon artists and bands to use their platform to fight injustice. We were honoured then, we’re honoured now.”

The ONE campaign site shared “protest songs have helped shape history proving that when people come together and raise their voices extraordinary things can happen.” The artists involved were asked to cover protest songs by others, or recreate new versions of their own protest songs for the campaign. The tagline of the campaign? “Think a song can change the world? We do.” The call was to take action toward ending extreme poverty by 2030.

Five albums of songs from the artists were streamed via Spotify. This included:

  • Volume 1 (June 11, 2013)
  • Volume 2 (June 28, 2013)
  • Volume 3 (August 6, 2013)
  • Volume 4: Live in London (September 14, 2013)
  • Volume 5: Greatest Hits (September 22, 2013)

U2’s recording of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is included on volume 2, and again on volume 5. These were not released physically or on other services, and remain a Spotify exclusive.

The agit8 website launched with a playlist of videos on YouTube on June 11, 2013, and the first collection of songs on Volume 1 on Spotify. At the time U2’s song was not part of the video clips shared, nor on the first EP. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” recorded by U2 appeared on June 13, 2023 on YouTube, a video filmed on May 31, 2013 on the rooftop of Electric Lady Studios. The video opens with U2 walking on to the roof, a short spoken introduction by Bono while volunteers put up posters, and then the performance.

During the performance Bono does add additional lyrics to the song:

“On another broken hill Red crosses and crescent moon collide Pilgrims pray to know God’s will Scratching in the dirt, standing up to die Scorched earth or a cruel sun Is this the battle Jesus won?”

The performance shown on YouTube included the description, “Sunday Bloody Sunday for agit8. Last week, on a rooftop in New York City, the band recorded an acoustic performance of ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ – and dedicated it to democracy in Iran.”

U2’s recording of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” appeared on the second collection of songs on Spotify (June 14, 2013), called ONE Presents Agit8, Vol. 2 and on September 22, 2013, also was included on ONE Presents Agit8, Vol. 5: Greatest Hits. The version appearing on these audio releases is identical to the video. You can hear the band take to the roof, Bono’s introduction and the posters being hung. Spotify is the exclusive service to hear these albums, and they have not been released elsewhere in audio format.

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