Multiple Songs of Experience Letters

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-10-31)

Letters are showing up promoting Songs of Experience in several countries, with reports of letters in Canada, the UK, and the USA to date. What are these letters?

This morning conversation on Twitter got off to a start when Johnny (Bigwave) posted an image of the letter he had received in the mail. The letter said “Songs of Experience” across the top, and had 13 numbered items on the list. At the bottom right corner is a silhouette of Bono’s son Eli, holding hands with Edge’s daughter Sian, which we know will feature on the cover of the new album, Songs of Experience.

Of the thirteen items in the list, all of them are blacked out except for one, “The Showman (Little More Better)”


One of our site regulars, Paul Radcliffe also shared his letter. The letter, right down to the ink used to “blackout” each line is identical, meaning these were copied after the blackout was added to the initial letter. Both his letter and John’s were delivered in a plain brown envelope in the UK.

A couple of other letters can be recognized, #2 starts with an L, #3 starts with You’re, #7 starts with an R, #9 and #11 starts with “The” and #12 starts with “Lov”.

But the story does get a little more interesting, Greet Moria mentions that her friend in the USA also received a letter today, and in her letter it is not number 8 that is visible, in that copy it is number 3 that is visible, “You’re The Best Thing About Me”. And that’s not the only one, Jonathan Westhead got a letter with #1 uncovered, “Love is All We Have Left”.


The letters appear to be a fun puzzle for fans to put the track listing of the new album together. Each number corresponds to a name in the final album track list. As more letters are received around the world, we would eventually be able to put together the full track list of the new album. Unfortunately, the letters come a bit late, as U2 fan site atu2.com leaked the full track listing last night, the day before these letters started to arrive.

In Canada, Talie reports getting home to find #4, “Get Out of Your Own Way” uncovered:


The full list of songs is as follows:

1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. Lights of Home
3. You’re the Best Thing About Me
4. Get Out of Your Own Way
5. American Soul
6. Summer of Love
7. Red Flag Day
8. The Showman (Little More Better)
9. The Little Things That Give You Away
10. Landlady
11. The Blackout
12. Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way
13. 13 (There is A Light)

Peter O’Donnell in the UK reports finding #10 uncovered, “Landlady” in his mailbox this evening.


The letters call back to an earlier letter campaign when the album was first mentioned and the first songs were readied for public release. In August, many fans in the USA received letters as part of a similar campaign.

The full album details including track list have not yet been announced, and we expect that the announcement will be tomorrow. The ability to pre-order the album, details on all formats and track listings will be available at that time.

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