Bullet the Blue Sky

"Bullet the Blue Sky" is a song by Irish rock band U2, and is the fourth track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. Lyrically, the song was inspired by a trip that lead vocalist Bono made to Nicaragua and El Salvador, where he saw firsthand how local peasants were affected by United States military intervention in the region. Angered by what he witnessed, Bono asked guitarist the Edge to "put El Salvador through an amplifier." "Bullet the Blue Sky" is one of the band's most overtly political songs, with live performances often being heavily critical of political conflicts and violence. "Bullet the Blue Sky" first originated as a demo that U2 recorded during a jam session at STS Studios in Dublin with producer Paul Barrett, prior to the proper Joshua Tree recording sessions. While listening to a song by English rock band the Fall, U2 guitarist the Edge tried to emulate its guitar riff, but instead came up with his own part that was, in his approximation, "uptempo, like real hard-hitting". It eventually became the chorus for "Bullet the Blue Sky". Bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. then joined in playing at half-time. Lead vocalist Bono recalled that Clayton was also playing in a different key from the Edge. The guitarist became irritated, as the rhythm section was playing much differently than how he thought they should. He thought to himself, "What the fuck are they doing?", and considered stopping the jam. After the take was completed, the band listened to playback in the control room and realised that the demo was "absolutely brilliant". Compared to the final version of the song, the Edge described the demo as "much more bare-boned, like a heavy funk track". Still, the song was discarded for some time until producer Brian Eno, who described it as a "homeless riff", convinced the band it was worth working on. In July 1986, Bono and his wife Ali travelled to Nicaragua and El Salvador, where they saw firsthand the distress of peasants bullied by political conflicts and United States military intervention.