All is quiet on New Year's Day.
A world in white gets underway.
I want to be with you, be with you night and day.
Nothing changes on New Year's Day.
On New Year's Day.
I... will be with you again.
I... will be with you again.
Under a blood-red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspaper says, says
Say it's true, it's true...
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one.
I... I will begin again
I... I will begin again.
Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.
Oh, maybe the time is right.
Oh, maybe tonight.
I will be with you again.
I will be with you again.
And so we are told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
Though I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes
On New Year's Day
On New Year's Day
On New Year's Day
Composed by U2 / Bono
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About "New Year's Day (Under A Blood Red Sky)"
From the original U2 Album "Under A Blood Red Sky" (21 November 1983)
This song is driven by Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and The Edge's keyboard. It was the band's first UK hit single, peaking at #10 on the singles chart, #11 on the Dutch Top 40 and charting on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in their career. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed the single at #427 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
History
The lyric had its origins in a love song from Bono to his wife, but then was reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement.
The video was their first to see heavy rotation on MTV. It was filmed in Sweden in December 1982 and directed by Meiert Avis. The band only appeared in the performance scenes of the video as it was filmed in the dead of the Swedish winter. U2 guitarist Edge revealed in the official U2 biography that the four people riding on horseback in the video that appeared to be the four U2 members were in fact four Swedish teenage girls disguised as the members of U2 riding on horseback with masks over their faces. This was done as the band were frozen from shooting the video in sub-freezing temperatures the day before. Their biography states that Bono refused to wear any headgear despite the cold weather and had a lot of trouble mouthing the lyrics. The video also features footage of Soviet troops advancing in winter during World War II.
In 1983, Bono said of the song, "It would be stupid to start drawing up battle lines, but I think the fact that 'New Year's Day' made the Top Ten indicated a disillusionment among record buyers. I don't think 'New Year's Day' was a pop single, certainly not in the way that Mickie Most might define a pop single as something that lasts three minutes and three weeks in the chart. I don't think we could have written that kind of song."
Live
"New Year's Day" is U2's third most frequently performed live song, with The Edge switching back and forth between piano and guitar during the song. In some early performances, Bono also plays guitar. It has been a standard on every U2 tour since its debut on 1 December 1982 at the first show of the War Tour's Pre-Tour. During the 1980s, The Edge used a Fender Stratocaster to perform this song, along with a keyboard. During the 1990s and 2000s, he has alternated between a Gibson Les Paul Custom and Les Paul Standard. Coincidentally, the Les Paul the Edge used to write this song was sold for charity. Up until the Elevation Tour, Clayton normally used a chorus effect on his bass guitar for this song live. [From Wikipedia]
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