U2 - BEAUTIFUL DAY

BEAUTIFUL DAY

BAND U2

SONGWRITERS: ADAM CLAYTON; BONO; LARRY MULLEN, JR. & THE EDGE.

COUNTRY: IRELAND

ALBUM: BEAUTIFUL DAY

LABEL: ISLAND RECORDS

GENRE: POP ROCK

YEAR: 2000

"Beautiful Day" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the first track on their tenth studio album, All That You Can't Leave Behind(2000), and was released as the album's lead single on 9 October 2000. The song was a commercial success, helping launch the album to multi-platinum status, and is one of U2's biggest hits to date.

Like many tracks from All That You Can't Leave Behind, "Beautiful Day" harkens back to the group's past sound. The tone of the Edge's guitar was a subject of debate amongst the band members, as they disagreed on whether he should use a sound similar to that from their early career in the 1980s. The band's lead vocalist Bono explained that the upbeat track is about losing everything but still finding joy in what one has.

The song received positive reviews, and it became the band's 14th number-one single in their native Ireland, fourth number-one in the United Kingdom, and their first number-one in the Netherlands. It also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Finland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Scotland and Spain and reached the top 10 in Austria, Belgium, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland. The song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, the band's highest position since "Discothèque" in 1997.

In 2001, the song won three Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. The group has played "Beautiful Day" at every one of their concerts since the song's live debut on the Elevation Tour in 2001.

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin, formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono(lead vocals and rhythm guitar), the Edge(lead guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals), Adam Clayton(bass guitar), and Larry Mullen Jr.(drums and percussion). Initially rooted in post-punk, U2's musical style has evolved throughout their career, yet has maintained an anthemic quality built on Bono's expressive vocals and the Edge's effects-based guitar textures. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal and sociopolitical themes. Popular for their live performances, the group have staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career.

The band formed as teenagers while attending Mount Temple Comprehensive School, when they had limited musical proficiency. Within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album, Boy(1980). Subsequent work such as their first UK number-one album, War(1983), and the singles "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" helped establish U2's reputation as a politically and socially conscious group. By the mid-1980s, they had become renowned globally for their live act, highlighted by their performance at Live Aid in 1985. The group's fifth album, The Joshua Tree(1987), made them international superstars and was their greatest critical and commercial success. Topping music charts around the world, it produced their only number-one singles in the US to date: "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

Facing creative stagnation and a backlash following their documentary/double album, Rattle and Hum (1988), U2 reinvented themselves in the 1990s through a new musical direction and public image. Beginning with their acclaimed seventh album, Achtung Baby(1991), and the multimedia-intensive Zoo TV Tour, the band integrated influences from alternative rock, electronic dance music, and industrial music into their sound, and embraced a more ironic, flippant image. This experimentation continued through their ninth album, Pop (1997), and the PopMart Tour, which were mixed successes. U2 regained critical and commercial favour with the records All That You Can't Leave Behind(2000) and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb(2004), which established a more conventional, mainstream sound for the group. Their U2 360 Tour of 2009–2011 set records for the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour in history. The group most recently released the companion albums Songs of Innocence(2014) and Songs of Experience(2017), the former of which received criticism for its pervasive, no-cost release through the iTunes Store.

U2 have released 14 studio albums and are one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold an estimated 150–170 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, and in 2005, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and social justice causes, including Amnesty International, Jubilee 2000, the ONE/DATA campaigns, Product Red, War Child, and Music Rising.

The heart is a bloom

Shoots up through the stony ground

There's no room

No space to rent in this town

You're out of luck

And the reason that you had to care

The traffic is stuck

And you're not moving anywhere

You thought you'd found a friend

To take you out of this place

Someone you could lend a hand

In return for grace

It's a beautiful day

Sky falls and you feel like

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

You're on the road

But you've got no destination

You're in the mud

In the maze of her imagination

You love this town

Even if that doesn't ring true

You've been all over

And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

Beautiful day

Touch me

Take me to that other place

Teach me

I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue

See China right in front of you

See the canyons broken by clouds

See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out

See the Bedouin fires at night

See the oil fields at first light and

See the bird with a leaf in her mouth

After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

Beautiful day

Touch me

Take me to that other place

Reach me

I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have, you don't need it now

What you don't know, you can feel it somehow

What you don't have, you don't need it now

Don't need it now

Was a beautiful day.