Released as a B-side and later elevated to a single, the song is an apology from the leader of U2 to his wife, after forgetting an important commemorative date.
An apology turned into a pop phenomenon. That’s the story of “Sweetest Thing”B side of U2released in 1987 and re-released as a single 11 years later, one of the Irish group’s memorable hits.
“Sweetest Thing” was written by bono during the production of The Joshua Tree, one of U2’s greatest albums. The album would go down in music industry history as a watershed for the band, with hits like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “With or Without You” and “Where the Streets Have No Name”. “, in addition to 235,000 copies sold in the first week alone. For Bono, however, the production took hours in the studio, whole days in fact, which would include his wife’s birthday, Ali Hewsonthat year.
The track would then be composed as an ode to Bono and Ali’s relationship. In the lyrics, the musician included verses like “You can sew it up but you still see the tear” (“You can sew it up but you still see the tear”) and “Ours is a stormy kind of love” (“We have a kind of love tempestuous”), accompanied by an upbeat melody, accompanied by piano notes. “Sweetest Thing” was released on August 31, 1987 as the single’s B-side. “Where the Streets Have No Name”.
Eleven years would pass before “Sweetest Thing” was also elevated to a single in 1998 and included on the disc. The Best of 1980-1990 In the same year. The re-recording was done in five days, with the production of Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois It is Brian Eno.
But the retraction was not only in the song that reached the 3rd position in the United Kingdom: it also became a music video. In it, the band travels on a carriage journey filled with easter eggs from Bono to Ali.
At the beginning of the clip, the boyband Boyzone appears. A boxing trainer encouraging Bono also enters the script. Firefighters on top of the truck, a heart drawn in the sky, different types of dancers and artists accompany the different forms created by Bono to apologize. A waiter, an elephant and even Bono without his then-ubiquitous glasses were featured in the video clip for the portrayal. Watch the video in full below:
To promote the single and the video, the label spread chocolates with the brand “Sweetest Thing” all over Europe.
Another curiosity is related to the royalties from the song. Ali Hewson claimed the rights to “Sweetest Thing” and donated the money to the charity Children Of Chernobylwhich serves survivors of the Ukrainian city contaminated by after a nuclear accident.
Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
