About The Song
“Where the Streets Have No Name” is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album’s third single in August 1987. The song’s hook is a repeating guitar arpeggio using a delay effect, played during the song’s introduction and again at the end. Lead vocalist Bono wrote the lyrics in response to the notion that it is possible to identify a person’s religion and income based on the street on which they lived, particularly in Belfast. During the band’s difficulties recording the song, producer Brian Eno considered erasing the song’s tapes to have them start from scratch.
“Where the Streets Have No Name” was praised by critics and became a commercial success, peaking at number thirteen in the US, number fourteen in Canada, number ten in the Netherlands, and number four in the United Kingdom. The song has remained a staple of their live act since the song debuted in 1987 on The Joshua Tree Tour. The song was performed on a Los Angeles rooftop for the filming of its music video, which won a Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video
The music for “Where the Streets Have No Name” originated from a demo that guitarist The Edge composed the night before the group resumed The Joshua Tree sessions. In an upstairs room at Melbeach House—his newly purchased home—he used a four-track tape machine to record an arrangement of keyboards, bass, guitar, and a drum machine. Realising that the album sessions were approaching the end and that the band were short on exceptional live songs, he wanted to “conjure up the ultimate U2 live-song”, so he imagined what he would like to hear at a future U2 show if he were a fan. After finishing the rough mix, he felt he had come up with “the most amazing guitar part and song of [his] life”. With no one in the house to share the demo with, he recalls dancing around and punching the air in celebration.
Although the band liked the demo, it was difficult for them to record the song. Bassist Adam Clayton said, “At the time it sounded like a foreign language, whereas now we understand how it works”. The arrangement, with two time signature shifts and frequent chord changes, was rehearsed many times, but the group struggled to get a performance they liked. According to co-producer Daniel Lanois, “that was the science project song. I remember having this massive schoolhouse blackboard, as we call them. I was holding a pointer, like a college professor, walking the band through the chord changes like a fucking nerd. It was ridiculous.” Co-producer Brian Eno estimates that half of the album sessions were spent trying to record a suitable version of “Where the Streets Have No Name”. The band worked on a single take for weeks, but as Eno explained, that particular version had a lot of problems with it and the group continued trying to fix it up. Through all of their work, they had gradually replaced each instrument take until nothing remained from the original performance.
Video
Lyrics
I want to run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside
I wanna reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name, ha, ha, ha
I wanna feel sunlight on my face
I see that dust cloud disappear without a trace
I wanna take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name, oh, oh
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We’re still building then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there, I go there with you
It’s all I can do
The city’s a flood
And our love turns to rust
We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust
I’ll show you a place
High on the desert plain, yeah
Where the streets have no name, oh, oh
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We’re still building then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there, I go there with you
It’s all I can do
Our love turns to rust
We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, and I see love
See our love turn to rust
Oh, we’re beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, when I go there
I go there with you
It’s all I can do