"One Tree Hill" is a song by rock band U2. It is the ninth track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. It was released as the album's fifth single exclusively in New Zealand in March 1988, where it became the band's third #1 in that country. The song was written in memory of lead singer Bono's personal assistant, Greg Carroll, a New Zealand native.
Meaning
The song was written in memory of Bono's personal assistant and close friend, Greg Carroll (to whom The Joshua Tree was dedicated), a native of New Zealand, who died in a 1986 motorcycle crash in Dublin while delivering Bono's motorcycle in the rain.Vorlage:Citation needed The lyrics also reference Chilean folk singer Victor Jara, a protest singer assassinated by orders of general Pinochet in the Chiles Stadium,after the military coup in 1973. Bono felt he could perform this only once, and did just one take in the studio.Vorlage:Citation needed
The title of the song refers to One Tree Hill, a volcanic peak in Auckland, New Zealand. At the time of the song's release, a single Monterey pine tree stood on the hill. The tree was removed in 2000, 6 years after being chainsawed by a Māori activist.[1]
Live performances
The song debuted live on 10 September 1987 and was played frequently at the start and finish of the Joshua Tree Tour's third leg (though with a two month absence in the middle) and throughout the Lovetown Tour, with its last performance in Rotterdam on 9 January 1990. It was not played again until 2006, when it was played twice in Auckland during two Vertigo Tour shows and twice at two of the following shows in Tokyo. It has been performed a total of forty times.[2] The two 2006 Auckland performances notably occurred within sight of the song's namesake, One Tree Hill.
Release
"One Tree Hill" was included as a bonus track on the Japan release of U2's first compilation album, The Best of 1980-1990. The music video was also released on the video version of "The Best of 1980-1990". The video was shot during the production of Rattle and Hum, and was part of an unreleased cut. Some CD pressings of The Joshua Tree incorrectly indexed the ending of "One Tree Hill" at 4:43 and the beginning of "Exit" at 4:43, although the track times were correctly noted on the back of the album. This error was introduced when PolyGram purchased Island Records and new pressings were made; it was not present on earlier pressings nor on later issues.
Music video
As "One Tree Hill" was only released as a single in New Zealand, the record company didn't provide a video for it. This became a problem when TVNZ realised they didn't have a video to show for the top-selling single. The issue was resolved when TVNZ put together their own video for the song, which consisted of footage from the Unforgettable Fire and With or Without You videos, Greg Carroll's funeral, the Whanganui River, and One Tree Hill itself.[3]
A live video of the song was also included on the video release of The Best of 1980–1990.
Track list
The B-sides and cover art are identical to the North America-only single release of "In God's Country".
Chart
| Chart (1988) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Singles Chart[4] | 1 |
See also
References
External links
Vorlage:The Joshua Tree Vorlage:U2 singles
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/993105.stm
- ↑ U2-Vertigo-Tour.com, All performances of One Tree Hill, accessed 9 April 2007.
- ↑ http://u2newzooland.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=40&limitstart=4
- ↑ U2 - One Tree Hill. In: Ultratop. Abgerufen am 24. November 2009.