Passengers at 30: Song by Song

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2025-04-06)

On September 13, 1995, a press release from Island Records confirmed a new album by Passengers. Who? The press release states, “Bono, Adam Clayton, Brian Eno, Larry Mullen Jr. and the Edge have formed a loose collective known as Passengers. On their first album they are joined by Mo’Wax maestro Howie B., Japanese singer Holi and opera legend Pavarotti. Entitled Original Soundtracks 1, it will be released by Island Records on November 7, 1995.” (1) This year marks the 30th anniversary of the album, and to celebrate, a new version is being issued for Record Store Day on April 12, 2025, on recycled black vinyl. The new version, released Saturday, April 12, is remastered by Scott Sedillo under the guidance of The Edge. When writing the U2: Song by Song book, there was not much room for the Passengers album, and I covered the album only in passing. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album, and the new release, I wanted to expand on that, and present the notes we had collected while writing that book. (U2: Song by Song is available at your local book shops, via Amazon and other online outlets. More information is available direct from the publisher, Fonthill.)

The Passengers project took seven weeks to record. Two weeks of initial sessions were started in London at Westside studio in November 1994, with U2 and Eno working together in studio. The recording was finished over five weeks in Dublin, where the band worked in one studio recording, while Howie B worked in another studio doing mixes of tracks. Howie had newly joined the project for these 1995 sessions, and the vocals for Pavarotti were also recorded during this time. In total 25 to 40 hours of music was recorded, depending on who you ask, for the album and was later cut down to the release that we know today.

U2 is featured on each track, but it was planned from the beginning to be a project with U2 and Eno. The Passengers record was conceived in Japan at the end of the Zooropa tour. The plan from the beginning was to put Eno in charge, “Basically we made Brian captain. It’s his ship and we’ve made ourselves available. At the same time it’s not that simple, because we’re a band with a very strong identity and strong ideas about what we want to do – so inevitably some songs, for instance, have appeared, which were not part of the original plan,” shared Bono. (2) Bono concludes, “It’s not a U2 record, it’s a U2-Brian Eno record, so it’s much better.” (3) Adam Clayton shares “The idea had always been for some kind of collaboration, depending on the material that came out of it, but we were never quite sure what form that would take. Once we thought of it as a soundtrack then it looked like a record that was a collaboration between the five of us.” (4)

Initially the project started as a soundtrack for a real film, The Pillow Book, but those plans fell apart, and Eno and U2 decided to go a different path. Eno suggested a concept album, keeping the idea of making music for films, and associating each song with a film, some real and some imaginary. Eno would provide videos that were played in the studio to inspire the musicians and provide them something to score. Eno shared, “We had big TVs in the studio, and we’d put the animation on without sound and try to create a soundtrack for it.” (5) The animations used were created by students at the Royal College of Art in London where Eno taught. They also used real films, including one scene from the not yet released Heaven’s Prisoners, Wim Wenders’ rough cut of Beyond the Clouds and the film Alphaville. Eno shared, “In the studio, it’s easy to get to the screwdriver level, where you’re debating about the slightest things and getting obsessive, I suggested we do some improvising sessions, just turn the tape on and play, so we were working with a broad brush rather than the one-hair brushes we’d been using. It was designed to open us up a little, and it proved to be a good way of originating music.” (6)

At one point the album was even being called Music for Films 4. Eno had released three albums in the series, Music for Films 1 (1978), Music for Films 2 (1983) and Music for Films III (1988). The third in the series had been the first to include other artists, and the project with U2 could have easily fit in as a fourth entry in the series. (Years later, Eno would include some Passengers tracks in his Film Music compilations as well.) Another early alternate title for the Passengers project was Always Forever Now. In the end, 14 tracks were recorded. A number of these are instrumental tracks or with limited vocals. A remix by Eno of U2’s 1991 song “Zoo Station”, retitled “Bottoms” was included on the Japanese release. That bonus track wasn’t available elsewhere in 1995, but it will now be included on the 2025 edition, available on Record Store Day. (It did, however, end up as a B-side on the “Miss Sarajevo” single.)

The label planned to release the album as a U2 and Eno collaboration. In late 1994, Edge did suggest the name “Babel” for the collective, but it did not stick. Island themselves suggested an alternate ‘group name’ feeling they may not want to market this under the U2 name. In the last days of mixing the final album, which had already been mentioned in the press, Eno relates in his diary, “Working with Cally [Island art director] at Bron. He talked me out of the Always Forever Now bull’s-eye cover and explained that Island were nervous about the record confusing U2’s public profile. I resisted to the last, for a whole ten minutes, and said I thought everyone was being bloody cowards.” Later Eno says “I see the point: one doesn’t want to sell things under false pretences – especially to an audience that might not be in a position to just write off an unwelcome record to ‘experience’. Instead we came up with the ‘Passengers’ idea…” (7) Eno brought the idea for the supergroup name to the band on August 11. At that time he was working on the final mix of the bonus track for the Japanese release of the album. Howie B, who came into the project on the final month of work shared about the Passengers name, “I remember talk of it, but it came together factually with all the different artists that contributed to it, without very much ego.” (8)

Marketing of the album was very different from your typical U2 release. The campaign for the album saw Island reaching out to unusual spaces. “Island is launching a heavy print advertising campaign in art, entertainment and music, gay and alternative lifestyle, and coffeehouse magazines. The label has also imported several hundred oversized posters from the U.K. division, signed by Eno, to give away at alternative music stores on street date.” (9) Another area of focus were Internet cafes which were starting to pop up in Europe. Another variation from normal at the time? There was no single released in advance of the album. Island VP, Hooman Maid shared, “This is a conceptual album in the true sense of the word. If you hear any one track alone, you will get the wrong idea. ‘Miss Sarajevo’ could be a U2 record. We want people to receive the whole album at radio so they can play various tracks.” (10) Radio stations received copies of the full album on October 23, and many began playing songs from the album, with many stations focusing on “Miss Sarajevo”, because a video of that song had premiered on Top of the Pops on October 21. (That video featured only footage from Sarajevo, with no footage of the band, a second video including live footage of Bono, Edge and Eno in concert was released on October 28, 1995.) “Miss Sarajevo” was eventually released as a single, to radio on November 6, 1995, followed by a commercial release on November 20, 1995. Island Records VP of Sales, David Yeskel shared that the label was having issues with the marketing of the album. Customers were looking for the record, but are unable to find it as shops are filing it under “Soundtracks” instead of under the Passengers name, or even U2. A campaign was launched in January 1996 to label outgoing copies of the album “File under U2” to help retailers understand where it should be displayed in shops. (11)

Sales of the album were lower than any other U2 records. In the UK the album spent 8 weeks in total in the charts, with a peak at #12 the week the album was released. In Canada the album reached #15, in Australia it hit #11. New Zealand was one of the few countries that saw the album place in the top ten, placing at #9 on the week of release. The Billboard 200 album chart in the US saw the album debut at #76.

The cover art also diverged from usual U2 standards. The cover was not done with U2’s usual designer, Steve Averill, who had worked with the band since Boy. The design for the cover is based on a concept by Brian Eno and Cally, and produced by Cally. Cally was the working name of Martin Callomon, the art director for Island Records. The image used for the front cover illustration is by Teodor Rotrekl. Rotrekl was a Czech illustrator and painter, born in 1923, and designer of a number of movie posters, science fiction book covers and the like. The illustration for the album cover is taken from the book Six Days on Luna 1 (Šest dnů na Luně 1) from 1963 by Ivo Štuka, which is illustrated throughout by Rotrekl.

Is the Passengers album a U2 album? That’s a question we often see. The full band is there on most of the tracks, so it deserves a place among their discography in some form. For those who point out that the addition of Eno makes this something different than U2, Eno and Lanois were brought in for No Line on the Horizon in a similar fashion, but chose to keep the U2 name on that project. Of late there’s even been talk of a Passengers 2 again. This time it’s Bono and Edge working on a “Sci-Fi Irish Folk” album with Jacknife Lee, but Brian Eno is involved. In November 2024, The Edge shared “Since albums like October and War we haven’t really looked at the Irish influence. Since then we’ve gained an outside perspective and become more aware of the uniqueness of Irish Music. Now it seems like a new place for us to go. It could yield a U2 album, a side project like Passengers. We’re not thinking too much about where it will lead.” (12)

Each song on the Passengers album (including “Bottoms”, on the Japanese CD release) has a film attached to it in the liner notes. Some of these films are real, some are fictional, but each has a write up in the liner notes. We’ve included these write ups in italics below, ahead of our write ups for individual songs. These liner notes are credited to Ben O’Rian and C.S.J. Bofop. These names are fake, and are both an alternate way of writing Brian Eno. “Ben O’Rian” is an anagram of Brian Eno. And the second name, if you move back one letter in the alphabet you get B.R.I. Aneno (Brian Eno). There are other hidden names in the liner notes which we also attempt to unscramble below.

1. Press Release, Island Records (1995)
2. Martin Wroe, Editor. “All Passengers Present and Correct” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995
3. Martin Wroe, Editor. “All Passengers Present and Correct” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995
4. Martin Wroe, Editor. “All Passengers Present and Correct” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995
5. Trudi Miller Rosenblum. “Island’s Passengers: Eno, U2 Members Team”. Billboard Magazine. Published November 4, 1995.
6. Tom Moon. “Eno: The Story Behind Original Soundtracks 1”. Knight-Ridder News Service. Published November 1995.
7. Brian Eno. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Faber and Faber. Published 1996.
8. Aaron J. Sams. “Howie B. Talks Original Soundtracks 1“ U2Songs.com. Published November 6, 2020.
9. Trudi Miller Rosenblum. “Island’s Passengers: Eno, U2 Members Team”. Billboard Magazine. Published November 4, 1995.
10. Trudi Miller Rosenblum. “Island’s Passengers: Eno, U2 Members Team”. Billboard Magazine. Published November 4, 1995.
11. Ed Christman. “Retail Tracks”. Billboard Magazine. Published January 6, 1996.
12. Aaron J. Sams. “U2’s Upcoming Albums and Tour“. U2Songs.com. December 16, 2024.

“United Colours”

From the film “United Colours Of Plutonium” (Tetsuji Kobayashi, Japan)
“United Colours of Plutonium” exists in that underexplored territory between horror and comedy. It centres round a frazzled advertising executive (Damo Ujiwara) who falls asleep on the Bullet Train. In his dreams the spirits of the people he has exploited throughout his career return to haunt him. He awakens gratefully, only to discover that the ‘dream’ continues in a succession of Felliniesque phantasmagoria. Kobayashi’s bizarre use of colour, superfast editing and extreme camera angles, coupled with a hilariously deadpan performance by Toshiro Takemitsu as the inspector who discovers a whole family of ghosts travelling without valid tickets, remains without peer.

“United Colours” is an instrumental, that opens the album with a long fade in. It lets the listener know that this will be something different than a typical U2 release. It brings in the feeling of that nighttime Japanese setting the band were trying to capture. Bono shared, “For whatever reason, Tokyo seems to be the home of this record. Arriving there at the end of the Zoo TV tour, it became clear to us that this was actually the capital of Zoo TV. In Tokyo you don’t feel you are in the present tense. You feel as if you have stepped into the future.” (1)

Bono shares, “We wanted that sense of speed. We wanted it to sound like being aboard the bullet train. When we were discussing the release of Passengers, we were going to launch the record on the Eurostar. We were going to bring in PA equipment and take people from London to Paris and play it for them, which would have been really great. The whole record seems to sound better at a certain speed, when you’re traveling.” (2)

Larry Mullen performs on rhythm synthesizer on this track. Eno moved members of U2 around to different instruments throughout the recording sessions. Eno shared, “I set it up so it would sort of upset the normal patterns…but not so much that it made complete junk. I biased the probabilities so that out of the five of us, two would be on our main instruments and the other three would not, so at least someone would be playing what they were good at!” (3)

David Herbert joins on saxophone for this track, as well as “Corpse”. For the Pop album that followed Herbert gets a credit for studio management, and he also pops up on saxophone on “Mission: Impossible Theme (Mission Accomplished)” by Adam and Larry.

In the film description the director is identified as Tetsuji Kobayashi. Although she doesn’t appear on this track, Japanese singer Holi has the last name Kobayashi (Akiko Kobayashi). Toshiro Takemitsu possibly refers to Toru Takemitsu, a Japanese composer. Born in 1930 in Tokyo he was known for his film scores and atmospheric soundscapes. Toshiro may be a reference to Toshiro Mayuzumi, another Japanese composer, who was an influence and inspiration on Takemitsu’s work.

Howie B. names “United Colours” as his favourite song on the album. “I would say ‘United Colours,’ I think it’s such a great opening track for an album dynamically and sonically. It’s ‘what in heaven’s name is going to happen next’.” (4)

1. Martin Wroe, Editor. “All Passengers Present and Correct” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995
2. Niall Stokes. “Into the Heart”. Carlton Books, Published 1996.
3. Trudi Miller Rosenblum. “Island’s Passengers: Eno, U2 Members Team”. Billboard Magazine. Published November 4, 1995.
4. Aaron J. Sams. “Howie B. Talks Original Soundtracks 1“ U2Songs.com. Published November 6, 2020.

“Slug”

From “Slug” (Peter von Heineken, Germany)
Von Heineken’s third feature, “Slug” is an extension of the gritty, photo-realistic style he developed in “Alcatura”(1984) and “Breaking Glass” (1986). Dieter, a young car mechanic (Karl Popper) unable to attract the attention of the cashier Nela (Catarena Hofennes) arranges an elaborate hold-up at which he will play the hero by seeing off the ‘gangsters’ and thus saving Nela. Things start to go badly wrong when the robbers realise that the till really is full of cash, abandon their agreement with Dieter and try to escape with the money, whereupon the escapade develops into a confused shootout during which Nela shoots a security guard in the foot and is subsequently arrested. Racked by guilt for having implicated her, Dieter sets out to secure her release by fair means or foul, seducing the Chief Warden of the woman’s prison (Jutta Minnit) in the process.

“Slug” started out life as a song named “Seibu”. The name is a Japanese department store that the band saw during their travels in Japan. The store name translates to “one mother” in the Malay language, but does not have a direct translation in Japan. We are told that the Japanese store name is an abbreviation for west Musashi, the historic name for northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture. Along the way the title was changed to “Slug”. In A Year with Swollen Appendices, Eno writes, “Worked on ‘Seibu/Slug’, which got finished despite Bono’s complete deconstruction of the mix (which he was quite right about, though I was pissed off at first).” (1) “Seibu” isn’t totally left behind however, and is part of the matrix number pressed in the centre of the vinyl in the UK and Europe. If you look closely you can see it scrawled in the dead wax near the label.

Of the lyrics for “Slug”, Bono shares, “It’s a portrait, rather like ‘Arms Around the World’. It’s a portrait of somebody a little the worse for wear, which we all were in Tokyo, because it was the end of the tour. So tired you can’t sleep. Wanting to go out to see what’s going on in the city and not being able to stop yourself, though you should be looking after yourself.” (2)

The film description in the liner notes lists Peter von Heineken as the director. The name is a riff on Paul McGuinness if he were Dutch. “Mc” is a very common prefix in Irish surnames, like “Von” is in Dutch. Guinness is the big Irish beer, as Heineken is to Amsterdam. Peter and Paul are both apostles. McGuinness was U2’s manager at the time of developing the Passengers project. There rest of the names remain untranslated, but Karl Popper may be a reference to a Austrian / British philosopher who passed away around the time work started on the album. Eno includes Popper’s In Search of a Better World in suggested reading material for the Long Now Foundation’s Manual of Civilization.

1. Brian Eno. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Faber and Faber. Published 1996.
2. Niall Stokes. “Into the Heart”. Carlton Books, Published 1996.

Your Blue Room

From “Par-Delà Les Nuages/Beyond The Clouds” (Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders, Italy)
“Beyond The Clouds” (Michelangelo Antonioni/Wim Wenders) is about meetings. Meetings startling or awaited, dreaded or craved by each of us, the audience, in secret. A film director with a pocket camera casts his eye around the towns of France and Italy. His inner quest inspires him with four beautiful love stories. In the first story, a young man is so captivated by a young woman that he cannot bring himself to sacrifice his desire for the sake of pleasure. The second explores the film director’s fascination with a young woman who admits to him, ‘I killed my father’. The third is set in Paris, where couples fall apart and two break-ups bring a man and a woman together. The sublimation of love is the theme of the last story. Can the same heart love both God and men?

“Your Blue Room” originated in a song called “Isn’t it White”. Eno shared, “I got a nice organ sound. Bono heard a tune I’d played in passing and sung it into his machine. Edge then came in and took over the organ (I couldn’t play the bloody thing – too many black notes) and came up with a tune himself. I checked Bono’s tape – it was exactly the same tune. Then we redid guitar. Then Adam did a gorgeous bass – he’s really good these days, with authority and economy in his playing. Then Bono and Edge and I sang. A song was starting to happen. Oh yes – in between I wrote a new part as a bridge. Now Larry put on new drums – great sound by Danton. As far as I can recall, nothing went wrong all day – no backtracks. Back to work to add tambourine and new vocal and – BANG! – a great song.” (1)

Credits on the song reveal that Adam Clayton provided additional guitar on the track, percussion and the vocal at the end. It is one of the few times we hear Adam’s voice on a U2 record. He comes in for the spoken word part at the end. The Edge is playing church organ on the track.

The film Par-Delà Les Nuages/Beyond The Clouds is a real Italian film by Michelangelo Antonioni, finished by Wim Wenders, released in late 1995. Both “Your Blue Room” and “Beach Sequence” appear in the film from the Passengers album. The version of “Your Blue Room” used in the film is an alternate edit of the track, with an extended instrumental over the end credits, and the vocals at the end coming in later. The names and the description of the film are taken from the real film, the first real film represented on the album.

“Your Blue Room” is one of the Passengers songs that U2 fans will know best. The song was included on U2’s 1997 single “Staring at the Sun”, and later was collected on U2’s Best of 1990 – 2000 & B-Sides collection, part of the B-Sides disc. During the first leg of the U2360 tour, the band were often heard rehearsing the song at soundchecks but it never quite made it into the setlist, until the second night of the second leg, where they performed the song live in Chicago. It was performed a few others times during that leg of the tour, with one live performance in East Rutherford appearing on From the Ground Up: Musical Edition (Edge’s Picks), a fan club gift. For that performance, Bono performs the song with a pre-recorded vocal by Sinead O’Connor. The song had also been planned as a second single to radio to promote the Passengers album, but it did not get beyond the promotional release stage, where an edit of the song was sent to radio in Europe, Mexico, and Canada.

Bono has named “Your Blue Room” one of his favourite songs.

1. Brian Eno. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Faber and Faber. Published 1996.

Always Forever Now

End Titles From “Always Forever Now” (John Leng Qi, Hong Kong)
“Always Forever Now” has made a startling impact. The remaining four members of F cell, a team of female body-sculptors, are out to avenge the vicious murder of one of their group. Their encounters with the Tong lowlife in the back alleys of Hong Kong reach a climax in a dazzlingly choreographed fight scene. The near-nudity and graphic camerawork have led to the film being banned or heavily cut in many countries. An unusual combination of eroticism and allegory, the star role falls to Venda Davis, whose Zenlike rationality and pronounced muscularity form the psycho-physical axis around which the movie is constructed. The cast includes four of America’s top female bodybuilders – Davis, Tanya McLoad, Kiley Sue LaLonne and Dorothy Chang – and Pi Hoo Sun as the evil Tong leader. It is director John Leng Qi’s first film – finished on his 22nd birthday.

“Always Forever Now” has one lyric that repeats throughout the entire song, which also makes up the title of the song. The song came out of the demo “Drum Loop 14”, which Eno mentions in his diary a few times. Eno mentions at one point having a proper vocal on the track with the lyric “out of mind, out of light”. He also mentions “crowds of voices” on the track at another point. Later in the sessions Eno mentions, “After they all left, we went on to ‘Loop 14 (Out)’, whose song I quite quickly lost faith in, but we put on a great DX7 bass triggered from the kick-drum (pure sine wave distorting through mike channel) and it then became a whole new thing: ‘Always Forever Now’ (from the Damien Hirst pic), recorded with Bono doing a lead vocal, E-Notes close behind. That piece is too long by half.” (1)

The reference to Damien Hirst above, is because the title is taken from a Damien Hirst artwork, that Bono had seen. Hirst, an English author would later use the title himself in 1997 for his collection of art in book form, Damien Hirst: I Want to Spend the Rest of My Life, Everywhere, With Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now. Hirst would later work with U2 to do a video for U2’s Glastonbury performance in 2011. A number of references to artworks featured in the 1997 book made it into the video.

“Always Forever Now” features strings arranged by Paul Barrett. Sequencers are played by Des Broadbery. Barrett has been working with U2 since the early 1980s, first working with the band on the album The Unforgettable Fire. Des Broadbery works mostly with keyboards and sequencers and first worked with U2 on The Joshua Tree.

Although the song didn’t have a true film attached in the liner notes at the time it would find its way into the Michael Mann film Heat released late in 1995. In Heat it is a longer version than the original album version by about 30 seconds. And on the Heat soundtrack there are additional vocal noises in the background. Bono has added bits of the song at times in performances, including at the end of a performance of “Beautiful Day” in Turkey, but the full song has not been performed live.

The imaginary film listed in the liner notes has a few hidden names. “Pi Hoo Sun” is a phonetic spelling of “P. Hewson”, Bono’s real name. Venda Davis and Tanya McLoad are both anagrams, if you unscramble the letters you get David Evans (The Edge) and Adam Clayton. And Kiley Sue LaLonne becomes Anne-Louise Kelly, a longtime employee of U2’s and the production manager for the Passengers album.

On the UK vinyl pressing, an error on the label calls the song “End Titles”, although it has the proper title on the sleeve itself. The song carries the proper name on the US pressing of the album.

1. Brian Eno. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Faber and Faber. Published 1996.

A Different Kind of Blue

From “An Ordinary Day” (Lurlene Clewman, USA)
Lurlene Clewman’s “An Ordinary Day” confirms her reputation as a subtle subverter of film styles. Maria (Petra Bliss) and Dennis (Ron Hothaas) have recently moved into a new apartment on the top floor of a Houston skyscraper Maria starts to notice that her complexion is improving, that she is feeling younger by the day, but that she is becoming forgetful about simple things. She forgets telephone numbers, new acquaintances, how to operate the kitchen. Meanwhile, Dennis turns up at the job he left three years ago, and goes to his old desk to start work. And yet despite everything, their love for each other grows – until they feel like newly-weds again. Gradually it dawns on the couple that they have moved into a time machine, and that they are becoming inescapably younger Clewman’s clever spoof on time travel sci-fi poses serious questions about our relationship with memory and youth.

The vocals on “A Different Kind of Blue” are by Brian Eno, and the song takes its title from Bono. It was the first time a Brian Eno vocal had been released in about 15 years at the time the Passengers album was released.

Brian Eno shares, “The name was one of Bono’s titles, he sometimes has a title before he has a song. I had a feeling for that piece of music, and I thought I would use that as the punchline for the song. And coming in on the DART one morning I suddenly thought, I know how to do that song, and I’ll get it done before they come in. And I did. I did all the singing and the writing before they got into the studio.” (1)

The song almost didn’t make the cut for the album. In U2’s fan magazine Propaganda, the final decision stage was discussed, as well as its origin in the song “Tokyo Drift”:

“Tokyo Drift” metamorphoses into “Different Kind of Blue,” a memorable song with the refrain, With the twilight breaking through, It’s a different kind of blue.” It’s a low-key, laid-back number, riding on a smooth bass line, but Captain Eno is characteristically unsentimental in his judgement: “I have to say, I think it’s a weak track…” Bono: “I disagree, I really like it…” Edge: “It’s got that lazy, lounge lizard feel, the only phrase I can think of.” Bono: “I like that lounge lizard thing.” The comments go round the room. Adam can live with it. Larry is less sure, wondering how it will fit in the context of the whole album. Bono wants it played again. This time round there is a slightly stronger feeling that it is not quite there, but that it is only missing something special from being something special. Captain Eno would be happy to lose it, but concedes that if it had a more “inter-planetary” feel (Bono’s phrase) then it could work. A “Different Kind of Blue” has hovered within an inch of the studio floor, but has miraculously survived. (2)

In the imaginary film, director Lurlene Clewman is an anagram, and unscrambled reads Lawrence Mullen.

Howie B listed “A Different Kind of Blue” as a favourite U2 song when he hosted a show of his favourite U2 tracks on U2 X-Radio.

1. “Some Selected Highlights from Original Soundtracks 1” (The Irish Times, October 1995)
2. Martin Wroe, Editor. “All Passengers Present and Correct” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995

Beach Sequence

From “Par-Delà Les Nuages/Beyond The Clouds” (Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders, Italy)

“Beach Sequence” is pretty much an instrumental with the exception of one line that comes in a minute-and-a-half into the song, “Time shoots on by”. An alternate recording is mentioned in Propaganda which opens with a bird song, and the “Time shoots on by” is repeated over and over in the song at that stage of development. The end product just has the line once, and the bird is gone, but perhaps not forgotten, we can hear the birds in a later Eno / U2 collaboration, “Unknown Caller” on the No Line on the Horizon album.

The Edge shares, “That’s Bono playing the piano. That’s another piece that, I think I was putting some chords together, and we left it, and Bono had this piano idea, and he went and put the piano on top, and it really works. You know, a lot of things, we didn’t go back to them, we just would move forward onto the next idea and then in Westside we sometimes worked on five pieces in one day. I think over the two weeks we generated something, like 40 hours of music.” (1)

The song, like “Your Blue Room” was developed for Par-Delà Les Nuages/Beyond The Clouds, the film by Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders. The song is featured in the film. A special film write up is not included with the song in the liner notes as the film it would be used in is already covered.

In 2020, Brian Eno released a compilation called Film Music 1976-2020 which includes “Beach Sequence”. It was the only Passengers track included on the compilation, and although close to the original, the version included is an alternate edit. On the original Passengers album, the song that comes before “Beach Sequence” includes atmospheric noises that blend into the noises at the start of “Beach Sequence.” On this newer compilation album by Eno, there has been a fade added into the track. The track is also mastered at a louder volume than the original 1995 album. And it also fades out earlier than the 1995 album.

1. “Some Selected Highlights from Original Soundtracks 1” (The Irish Times, October 1995)

Miss Sarajevo

From The Film “Miss Sarajevo” (Bill Carter, USA)
Bill Carter’s award winning documentary “Miss Sarajevo” chronicles one of the more bizarre events of the war in former Yugoslavia – when several artists mounted an elaborate beauty contest under mortar fire. The camera follows the organizers through the tunnels and cellars of the city, giving a unique insight into life during a modern war, where civilians are the targets. The film captures the dark humour of the besieged Sarajevans, their stubborn refusal to be demoralised, and suggests that surrealism and dadaism are the appropriate responses to fanaticism.

“Miss Sarajevo” is considered by many to be the classic track from this album.

Eno discusses the development of the song in his diary, “Bono starts to form the idea that this could be a song about being besieged, people trying to carry on doing ordinary things (playing piano, buying shoes) while their city is being shelled. Interesting evolution of a vocal idea: he starts with a line that goes, ‘Is there a time for cutting hair?’, this gradually moving into ‘Is there time for this and that and the other?’, in his new list-making style of writing. Then I suggest that other voices do the first half of each line – I’m thinking Motown – so Edge and I (no known as the E-Notes) sing, ‘Is there a time…’ and Bono responds with the rest of the line.” (1) In Propaganda Bono shares that the ‘lyrical idea behind the song invokes “and maybe undoes” the spirit of the book of Ecclesiastes, a “time for everything under heaven”. (2)

As “Miss Sarajevo” was further refined Bono shares, “The track’s about a beauty pageant they put on there. [Sarajevo] They turned this shelter into a discotheque and they just play music at deafening volume to drown out the sound of the shells and, you know, they watch MTV and play our music and other people’s music…they put on this beauty pageant where the girls came out. They want to use their beauty as a weapon to defend themselves and they walk out on the stage with this, ‘Do you really want to kill us?’. It’s a great surreal act of defiance.” (3) The beauty pageant can be seen in Bill Carter’s documentary Miss Sarajevo, yes, it is a real film. Carter’s journey to document the war in Sarajevo has more recently been documented in the documentary Kiss the Future, which also shares U2’s journey in becoming involved with the city.

The song features Craig Armstrong on strings. Armstrong, a Scottish musician and composer also worked on U2’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” that came out the same summer as the Passengers album, and has worked with the band on a number of occasions since. The song features Luciano Pavarotti on vocals, the Italian operatic tenor, widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. Pavarotti was hounding Bono to join him in Modena for the Pavarotti and Friends concert that he organized. Eventually Bono offered to write him a song, and he, as well as the Edge and Brian Eno joined the Pavarotti concert in Modena that fall.

“Pavarotti’s a father figure,” Bono says. “He’s an extraordinary man. He rang me and asked me to write a song and I said I didn’t think that would be possible because we were working on these two records: this ‘Passengers’ project and the next U2 record. And he just wouldn’t stop calling, which was pretty amazing. Every single day he would ring the house and if he wasn’t called back immediately he would shout at the housekeeper and say, ‘Tell God to give me a call.’ I would go to the band and say, ‘He’s been on again, and we have to write him a tune,’ and they’d just say, ‘Oh fuck off.’ He (Pavarotti) would say things like ‘I will call you every day, every hour, I will be with you in your dreams. I will speak into the ear of your children.’ But it’s such an honour.” (4)

The story of Pavarotti joining Passengers made it into the film Pavarotti directed by Ron Howard, which included footage of his trek to Dublin, as well as being retold in Bono’s Stories of Surrender film, out this May.

“Miss Sarajevo” was the first song released to radio from the Passengers album, and a commercial single was released on November 27, 1995 in vinyl, cassette and CD formats. The single cover features the participants in the Miss Sarajevo pageant holding the “Don’t Let them Kill Us” sign, although the cassette and 7-inch featured a close up of one of the contestants instead. The single was filled out with a live performance of “One” by Bono, Edge and Brian Eno at the Modena Pavarotti and Friends concert, and two studio B-sides, “Bottoms” (see below) and “Viva Davidoff”. In Ireland the single reached #4 and in the UK it reached #6.

“Miss Sarajevo” has been the Passengers song most associated with U2 since that project. The band performed the song in Sarajevo in 1997, with Brian Eno joining U2 on stage. It also was played on many shows at the Vertigo tour and the U2360 Tour, and would return again for The Joshua Tree 2017 tour, sometimes referred to as “Miss Syria”. U2 have included the song on The Best of 1990-2000, Pavarotti would include it on his Duets album, and it was also contributed to the tribute album, Diana, Princess of Wales. For release, a single version and a radio edit of the song were both released, multiple videos were released, including one featuring the live concert in Modena and the other featuring shots from the “Miss Sarajevo” documentary. Live performances from Buenos Aires, 2011 (From the Ground Up) and Milan, 2005 (“All Because of You” single, U2.Communication, U218 Singles Deluxe) have been released. A live performance from the Modena 1995 performance appears on the Pavarotti and Friends Together for the Children of Bosnia home video)

The Italian part that Pavarotti sings?

It’s said that a river
Finds the way to the sea
And like the river
You shall come to me
Beyond the borders
And the thirsty lands
You say that as a river
Like a river…
Love shall come
Love…
And I’m not able to pray anymore
And I cannot hope in love anymore
And I cannot wait for love anymore

The Italian lyrics were written by Bono with Anna Coleman (thanked as Anna Mazzarotto in the liner notes), wife of Marc Coleman, a former assistant to U2, who worked with the band for a number of years.

The “Miss Sarajevo” single was released for charity in Ireland and the UK. In the UK artist royalties and profits were donated to the Warchild charity. In Ireland the proceeds were donated to Cradle instead. Cradle, like War Child, helps children in “war-torn and crisis hit regions.” The new 30th anniversary edition of the album will also see a contribution to War Child in the UK, with 1 pound from every sale donated to the charity.

One notable cover of “Miss Sarajevo” was released in 1999 by George Michael, on his Songs from the Last Century album. The song was the lead single from the album in the USA. Jacknife Lee named “Miss Sarajevo” as a favourite U2 song when hosting a show where he chose his U2 favourites on U2 X-Radio.

1. Brian Eno. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Faber and Faber. Published 1996.
2. Martin Wroe, Editor. “All Passengers Present and Correct” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995
3. “First of All, I Am God”, New Musical Express, October 21, 1995)
4. “First of All, I Am God”, New Musical Express, October 21, 1995)

Ito Okashi

From “Ito Okashi/Something Beautiful” (Rita Takashina, Fukushima)
Rita Takashina is a Japanese American performance artist active in Japan. Her best-known work “Ito Okashi” is based on Sei Shōnagon’s list of ‘beautiful things’ in the tenth century classic “The Pillow Book”. Takashina’s performance, which she describes as a ‘meditation on mortality’ involves building a construction from some of those things (“the face of a child drawn on a melon, duck eggs, a baby sparrow that comes hopping up when one imitates the squeak of a mouse… “), and then turning them to dust with a sandblasting tool.

“Ito Okashi” opens the second half of the album. The lyrics are in Japanese, written and sung by Holi.

Originally the Passengers project was put together to record a soundtrack for The Pillow Book, a film by Peter Greenaway. That film title refers to a Japanese diary written by Sei Shōnagon. She was a court lady to the Empress of Japan in the 10th Century, and the book was her collection of observations, inspired by her daily life, and often composed in lists. One of those lists, as the film description mentions, was a list of things of beauty. Although the band didn’t end up soundtracking the film, which only uses Sei Shōnagon’s lists in passing, they did get some inspiration from those lists. The film “Ito Okashi/Something Beautiful” and the director Rita Takashina are fabrications.

Although over the years fans have taken “the face of a child drawn on a melon” as a U2 reference to Cosmo, the Achtung Baby doodle U2 used through the 1990s on album artwork, but it is an actual reference to Shōnagon’s lists, this one taken from a list of “Adorable things”.

The lyrics to “Ito Okashi” are drawn from Shōnagon, and translated they read:

“Let’s talk about something beautiful
On the face of this earth, something very close to you
About something that is tasteful
Like something that makes the heartbeat faster
Certainly something is very pleasant”

Eno shares, “This was the very first thing she sang, which was totally improvised, no rehearsal or anything. We had a bit of Japanese writing, it was a list of beautiful things, from Sei Shōnagon’s 10th century Pillow Book, and she just took that list and… sang it. And in fact we did several things together in four hours. Some of the other pieces are really lovely too, and I’m sure will see the light of day. But she was absolutely fantastic.” (1)

Eno arranged for Holi to join them in studio. He reached out to his wife, who was able to find Holi through family connections, and who was able to join them in studio within the hour. She was not told that U2 were the client. And she was nervous when she figured out it was U2. “However,” Eno shares, “Bono, being the charming person that he is, put her completely at ease immediately. (2)

Those other tracks recorded with Holi that Eno suggested would come out someday remain unreleased.

1. “Some Selected Highlights from Original Soundtracks 1” (The Irish Times, October 1995)
2. “Some Selected Highlights from Original Soundtracks 1” (The Irish Times, October 1995)

One Minute Warning

From “Ghost In The Shell” (Mamuri Oshii, Japan)
“Ghost In The Shell” was an animation feature directed by Mamoru Oshii in 1995. It was adapted from Masamune Shirow’s graphic novel where an internationally notorious computer criminal surfaces in Japan. Codenamed “The Puppet Master” for his ability to manipulate people’s minds, this unique and mysterious ‘super-hacker’ is suspected of a multitude of offences including stock market manipulation, illegal data gathering, political manoeuvring, terrorist acts and infringement of cybernetic ethics. Section 9, Japan’s elite secret service is called in to capture this elusive criminal, but only to discover that the elaborate web of evidence leads back to Japan’s own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a computer virus secretly created by them as the ultimate tool in political and commercial espionage.

Holi makes a second appearance on the album. Her voice can be heard on “One Minute Warning” a bit buried in the mix. Larry Mullen is credited with drums, percussion and rhythm sequence on the song. Additional synthesizer on the track is provided by Holger Zschenderlein. The song “One Minute Warning” originated from a demo titled “Fleet Click” as well as U2’s “Love is Blindness”.

Eno shares in his diary, “Fascinating day. ‘Fleet Click’ – revealed to have some amazing overdubs from the London sessions I did with Holger Zschenderlein. Immediately great, but much time spent on trying to fix Bono’s original guitar (which is the only instrument suggesting chordal movement) and then deciding to use it and edit the track round it. The extraordinary development was that a strange and wonderful song appeared – suddenly, after six minutes of music. Did backing vocals. Everyone helping – cooperation at its best. (Des came up with a gorgeous sample – from ‘Love is Blindness’)” (1)

In Bill Flanagan’s book U2 at the End of the World he references his time with the band in Tokyo when talking of the song. “‘Fleet Click’ staggers like those nights in the neon back alleys, but what’s impressive is that, unlike almost every rhythm track I’ve ever heard a rock band cook up, it does not suggest any limitation on what could sit on top of it. The piece could go anywhere.” (2)

The film referenced in the liner notes is Ghost in the Shell, a real animated film released in 1995 based on a anime popular in Japan. The film is set in Japan of the future. A soundtrack to the film contained an alternate mix of the Passengers song with an alternate vocal track by Holi, including the lyrics at the end which are in a male voice on the original. The song also includes alternative instrumentation. The film was executive produced by Andy Frain, who founded Manga Entertainment, and who worked as a former marketing director for Island Records where he worked with U2. Ghost in the Shell is the third and final real film mentioned in the liner notes. The film premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October 1995, and at the London Film Festival on November 11, 1995. In Japan the film ended with a song by Kenji Kawai, but the Passengers song was substituted on English versions of the film. The film itself contains the version found on the Passengers album, and it is only the soundtrack released to celebrate the one year anniversary of the film that features the alternative version.

1. Brian Eno. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Faber and Faber. Published 1996.
2. Bill Flanagan. U2 At the End of the World. Delacorte Press. Published June 1995.

Corpse (These Chains are Way Too Long)

From “Gibigiane/Reflections” (Aldo Gianniccolo, Milan)
Gianniccolo’s last film Gibigiane” is also his most tautly argued. At just over ninety minutes long it is certainly not the huge canvas he used so devastatingly in ‘Mirages’(1984, 4 hrs, 20 mins) or ’11 Vento’(1987, 5 hrs, 9 mins), but is in its comparatively modest way just as satisfying. Its title is the word used in Venice for the quixotic shards of light reflected onto walls from canals, and features only those images in a series of 10 minute sequences which are leaved over one another by means of slow dissolves. The film opens at real speed, but each sequence is about 15% slower than the one preceding it, so that the last ten minute section is less than one eighth real speed. The original film was silent, but a lengthy section from it with this music was used as the title sequence to an Italian TV detective series ’11 Pendolo’) set in Venice.

Demo tapes from the Passengers album suggest that this song started development as “After the Jungle”, a song rarely mentioned in the Eno diary, but there is a brief mention in Propaganda, “Meanwhile, the search is on for something called ‘After the Jungle,’ or at least a version of this that everyone liked — and approved — last week. ‘We could do another version,’ someone says. ‘We don’t want ninety-four fucking mixes to choose from,’ says Eno, throwing his hands up in the air in mock theatrical horror.” (1)

The vocal on the song is by The Edge, one of only a handful of vocals that he had done over the years, prior to the recent Songs of Surrender and How to Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb. Of the lyrics Bono shares, “I love the idea behind that. Most blues are about the chains that bind people. But this is the opposite. This is a complaint that the chains are too long.” (2)

The film in the liner notes is an imaginary one, but the title “Gibigiane/Reflections” comes from an Italian term which defines the glow of light reflected on water or in a mirror. It was also used as the title of Brian Eno’s art exhibit in 2024 at the Galleria Michela Rizzo in Venice. One of the pieces of artwork included in the exhibit was his Turntable II artwork, a round version of the original Turntable art that inspired U2’s recent stage at Sphere. Aldo Gianniccolo may have roots in name of Fiach Cooling, the “Cooling” is definitely there, as are a few other letters, maybe one that just didn’t work out. Fiach assisted on the recording of the album.

1. Martin Wroe, Editor. “All Passengers Present and Correct” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995
2. Niall Stokes. “Into the heart”. Carlton Books, Published 1996.

Elvis Ate America

From The Film “Elvis Ate America” (Jeff Koons, New York)
After finishing “Popcorn”, his first film, in 1978, Jeff Koons continued his emerging exploration of pop iconography with the now legendary “Elvis Ate America” – a four minute work using a fragment of super 8 footage shot by the teenage Koons at one of Presley’s Las Vegas ‘Rhinestone’ concerts in the early seventies. The final edit of the film was destroyed by fire but Koons is considering remaking it.

Bono was approached to write a preface to the book which would accompany the exhibit “Elvis + Marilyn: 2 X Immortal”. The exhibit, celebrating artwork of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe had opened in Boston at The Institute of Contemporary Art on November 2, 1994 before touring for three years. Bono declined to write the preface, but did write a poem titled “Elvis: American David” which was included. The poem was also the source of the lyrics for “Elvis Ate America”, although the song itself cuts much of the poem out. The poem was also included in the Spring 1995 issue of the band’s Propaganda magazine (issue 22) as a fold out colour poster. It was also produced as a black and white poster by White Fields Press that year and appeared in Q Magazine‘s June 1995 issue (issue 105) as part of a “The Record that Changed My Life” piece contributed by Bono.

“Elvis Ate America” seems to almost not fit with the rest of the album. The piece is driven by Howie B, who came in at the end of the Passengers sessions to work on the mixes of the album. He had initially worked with Bono on his cover of “Hallelujah” for a Leonard Cohen tribute album, and while playing U2’s Kitchen nightclub in Dublin, got drafted into duty for the Passengers album. He would also work with the band on the Pop album and also joined the band as a DJ on the PopMart tour. It is Howie B that can be heard on the song doing the “Elvis” call vocals on the track.

Howie shares, “It was just mad. I was jamming not only with U2, but with Brian Eno – the guy who gave me my driving license in musical terms. He was the guy who’d made me realise I make music without having opened a music book. I have so much respect for him, he’s a cricketer. They’re a gang and you have to infiltrate that. But they are an open gang; they gave me a lot of space and they had respect for me. I realised that it was them who had invited me so I just started talking.” (1)

We had the opportunity to ask Howie B a few questions about the album for the 20th anniversary, and when asked if there was anything he would like to go back and do something with, he shared, “Maybe a falsetto on my backing vocals on ‘Elvis’. For me [the] beauty of that album was it was so off the cuff. It may not sound like that though it was. So for me it’s untouchable. Make part 2 yeah!!!” (2)

Bono’s poem, “American David” had life beyond the album as well. In 2002, as part of the television special Elvis Lives Bono appears on the special reading the lyrics, much the same as the ones heard on the album. It’s a pretty straightforward reading of except for an echoing multi-voice effect on a few lines. The show aired at Thanksgiving on NBC in North America to celebrate the release of Elvis 30 #1 Hits.

In 2009 the BBC aired a 15-minute presentation titled “Elvis By Bono” on Radio 4. The show aired at 11pm on May 13. Again, Bono is reading the lyrics from “Elvis Ate America” but this time he has added to the lyrics considerably, and most of what was originally published in Propaganda is included. In 2006 Bono had been part of a BBC documentary on Sun Studios, the Memphis studio where parts of Rattle and Hum had been recorded. At the end of the interview he read the full poem and it was recorded, but never broadcast. In 2009 the BBC layered a soundscape of Elvis quotes, songs, and some original music behind the piece composed by Chris O’Shaughnessy, and aired it in full. Reviewing the piece, longtime friend Neil McCormick wrote, “I am used to defending Bono. I have taken on all comers considering his talent…his ego…his charitable and political activism…and his music. But I must admit, his Elvis poem has had me stumped.” (3)

One of these extended lines stands out, “Elvis turned America into a church when he sang ‘Love Me Tender’”. U2 included “Love Me Tender” in their residency at Sphere, turning that little piece of America into a church for a few minutes. Even Priscilla Presley took in the show. And speaking of church? The passage Corinthians 13 is mentioned in the song lyrics. It is said that when Elvis was away from his bible that he would leave the book open to that passage, so it was what he would see when he picked up the book again. It is a passage on love, and shares “and now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

The film Elvis Ate America is another fake film, however the director mentioned is not. Jeff Koons is an American artist who was known to the band at the time. In fact, looking for a different idea for the album cover for Pop they turned to Koons for suggestions, and Koons came back with an idea to have four kittens hanging in socks from a clothes line. The band went another route. In 1995 Eno reached out to Koons to ensure he was ok with the mention in the liner notes, and to ask him to go along with things if anyone asked about the film.

1. Martin Wroe, Editor. “Howie B. Good” Propaganda Magazine. Published 1995
2. Aaron J. Sams. “Howie B. Talks Original Soundtracks 1“ U2Songs.com. Published November 6, 2020.
3. John Lundberg. “Bono’s Poem Draws Fire”. Huffpost. Published June 10, 2009.

Plot 180

From “Hypnotize (Love Me ‘Til Dawn)” (Peter Sedgeley, London)
“Hypnotize (Love me ‘til Dawn)”. An influential and vindictive tabloid journalist (Pila Morgan) is being driven back to London from another successful ‘scoop’. Evans, the chauffeur (Tony Corbin) is new to her, and, in the face of a snowstorm, seems rather too willing to allow the vehicle to become immobilized on a remote moorland road. During the night they spend together, a vortex of apprehension, lust and finally terror draws the film to its inexorable conclusion as the real identity of Evans gradually dawns. Using the austere language of British Structuralist cinema and a screen that is kept almost black throughout the film, Sedgeley generates a tension that is both erotic and deeply menacing.

“Plot 180” is an instrumental track, which developed from the demo, “Unwelcome Jazz”. In his diary, Eno describes the song as “So-called because no one else seems to like it much. Fast, angular, irrational melodies over strong, dense grooves.” (1) He also shares that at one point there was talk of using a vocal by Haris Silajdzic, the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1993-1996, on the track. In the end it remained an instrumental.

The movie mentioned Hypnotize (Love Me ‘til Dawn) is another imaginary film made up by Eno for the liner notes. Tony Corbin, playing the chauffeur in the film is a reference to the sound-alike Anton Corbijn, who had taken photographs of the Passengers for the album sleeves, and who has been working with U2 for many years. Corbin’s character in the film is referred to as “Evans” which is the last name of The Edge. Peter Sedgeley, mentioned of the director of this fake film is indeed a real person, he’s an English artist who works with light and colour, and is an inspiration to Eno’s own art.

Although Hypnotize (Love Me ‘til Dawn) is an imaginary film, “Plot 180” was used at one point in the movie Heat, but the final scene was removed from the film before release.

1. Brian Eno. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Faber and Faber. Published 1996.

Theme from The Swan

From “The Swan” (Joseph Mamat, Hungary)
Mamat’s “The Swan” won the Golden Crown at the Budapest Film Festival, but never achieved a full release in the West. The slow and haunting pace of the film centres round the extraordinarily dreamlike performance of newcomer Anna Tokjaji. Her coming of age, her romance with the ambitious apparatchik Oscar (Emmanuel Radenski), and the slow decline of their relationship stand as metaphors for the metamorphosis of rural society in Hungary under the collective farm regime.

“Theme from the Swan” is another instrumental track. Little is known of the development of the track, but it is likely developed from the demo that went by the name “Antarctica”. The Edge shares, “It’s mostly Brain. He’s playing the cello. The Passengers album was our thank you to Brian, in a way, for him having to do it our way on so many other records. In this case it was ‘OK Brian, we’re going to do it your way’, which made it a far easier record for us to make.” (1)

Although never confirmed, some links have been made to the fictional novel The Swan by supermodel Naomi Campbell that came out in late 1994. Campbell had met Adam Clayton in early 1993, got engaged in April of the same year, and they called off their engagement later that year. But Campbell had remained close to the U2 team for some time, and her album Babywoman released in 1994 included a number of contributions from U2 collaborators Gavin Friday, Youth, Maurice Seezer, and Anton Corbijn. It also included a cover of T-Rex’s “Ride A White Swan”. However, none of the links to Naomi’s work have ever been confirmed in relation to Passengers so it may all be coincidence.

In the film notes, the fictional director Joseph Mamat is an anagram for James Topham, who at the time was managing Opal Records for Brian Eno. Emmanuel Radenski was an alternate name the artist Emmanuel Radnitsky often used, better known as Man Ray. Man Ray worked with light and creating camera-less photographs.

1. Niall Stokes. “Into the Heart”. Carlton Books, Published 1996.

Theme from Let’s Go Native
From “Let’s Go Native” (Rodger Vuijkers, South Africa, Unreleased)
Vuijker’s playful jaunt in the Kalahari Desert “Let’s Go Native” became one of the last films to fall foul of the Apartheid laws in South Africa. It centres round a group of white holidaymakers whose jeep breaks down in the desert and who, with the amused help of some Bushmen nomads, gradually find themselves ‘going native’. Innovative camerawork by Chris Maconoll reveals the stark beauty of the Kalahari, but the touching romantic scene between the teenage boy (Barry Boedders) and the Bushmen girl (Clicky!Kang) – from which this music is taken – proved too close to the bone for the censor’s office.

The final song on the album in most configurations is “Theme from Let’s Go Native”. It is mostly instrumental, although there is a backing vocal from Bono that runs in the background of the song, but is mostly undecipherable Bongolese. Following on from two instrumentals, the album ends with little vocals. Bono calls it “Brian’s editing at it’s best.” (1)

The film itself is fictional, and Barry Boedders who plays the teenage boy is another anagram. This time it unscrambles to Des Broadbery, who was part of the studio crew for the album. Chris Maconoll is almost certainly a reference to Cally, the art director at Island Records, whose full name is Martin Callomon. In this case the last name Maconoll unscrambles to Callomon. Chris is unexplained, but perhaps a nod to Chris Blackwell at Island Records.

1. Niall Stokes. “Into the Heart”. Carlton Books, Published 1996.

Bottoms (Watashitachi No Ookina Yume)

recording studio scene from “Bottoms” (Benny Bernstein, Australia)
Benny ‘BumBum’ Bernstein began his directing career making pop videos in his native Philippines, then move to Australia and found there a lucrative and receptive market for his humorous, ironic skin movies. “Bottoms” the seventy fifth of these, grapples with both the carnal and sonic aspects of that part of the body, and the popular highlight of the film is the astonishing ‘recording studio’ scene where six stout female ‘back-up vocalists’, microphones at thigh level, bouncily contribute to the music with loud, rhythmic farts. “Bottoms” (subsequently released in Japan as ‘Watashitachi no ookina yume – Our Big Dreams’) won the 1993 Golden Horn at the Nagasaki Festival of Light.

In Japan, domestic CDs are expensive to produce, and in an effort to save the Japanese record industry in the 1990s, labels began asking acts for a bonus track to include on Japanese presses of the album. Passengers was the first of U2’s albums released with such a bonus track, and the track was a Brian Eno mix of “Zoo Station”. The vocals have been stripped away and the instrumentation is drastically different, but you can still hear elements of the original in places.

Edge shared “That was one of Brian’s crazy mixes of ‘Zoo Station’. He did different prototype mixes which helped us get to our final version. ‘Bottoms’ was done in Japan, and we just built on that mix. Sometimes you can end up with something completely distinctive.” (1)

The subtitle, “Watashitachi No Ookina Yume” does indeed translate to the phrase “our big dreams” as mentioned in the liner notes. The film “Bottoms” is a fictional one, and the director Benny Bernstein shares a last name with Passenger Howie B.

The song was also released as a B-Side to the single “Miss Sarajevo”.

The 2025 30th anniversary pressing of the album will also include “Bottoms” just as the original Japan release on CD had. The original 7-inch vinyl release of the “Miss Sarajevo” single had included the live version of “One” on the B-Side, so this is the first time that “Bottoms” will be issued on vinyl.

1. Niall Stokes. “Into the Heart”. Carlton Books, Published 1996.

Other Songs from the Era

The only commercial single from the album was “Miss Sarajevo” which featured a single version of the title track, and “Bottoms”, both songs listed above. It also includes a live version of “One” taken from the concert in Modena on September 12, 1995 featuring Bono, Edge and Eno. To round out the single is an instrumental called “Viva Davidoff” developed during the Passengers sessions but eventually determined not to be worthy of the album. Programming on the “Viva Davidoff” track was by Marius de Vries who would return to work with the band on the Pop album, and who had first worked with the band on “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me”.

Radio promotion saw the release of both a radio edit of “Miss Sarajevo” and “Your Blue Room”. As mentioned above a number of alternate versions of songs appeared in film or on soundtrack albums including:

• “Always Forever Now” (Longer mix, Heat soundtrack)
• “Beach Sequence” (Alternate edit, Brian Eno’s Film Music 1976-2

One further tie to the era is Bono’s cover of “Hallelujah” featured on Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen. Bono had struggled with the mix of the song, and it was here that Howie B first came into contact with the band, as he was brought in to remix things. It is the first time Howie B worked with anyone from the band, and he gets credit for additional production and remix on the track.