"If God Will Send His Angels" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the fourth track on their 1997 album, '' Pop'', and was released as its fifth single on 8 December 1997. It was also featured on the '' City of Angels'' soundtrack.

B-sides

The "If God Will Send His Angels" singles were backed with the following

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

"Slow Dancing"

"Slow Dancing" is a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

song written by Bono for

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

in 1989. Its first release was on a 1993 single, "

Stay (Faraway, So Close!) "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" is a song by rock band U2. It is the fifth track on their 1993 album, '' Zooropa'', and was released as the album's third single on 22 November 1993. The song reached number one in Ireland and reached the top 10 in ...

", and performed solely by Bono and

the Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

. In 1997, U2 had the opportunity to record it with Nelson. This version features the entire band, in addition to vocals by Nelson and harmonica by Mickey Raphael. Bono and Brian Eno provide backing vocals.

"Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad"

This song was written by Bono and

for Frank Sinatra in 1992. It is a jazzy lounge song written in the style of Sinatra's music. This performance was recorded live by Bono and the Edge in a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

studio for Sinatra's 80th birthday. It was played for Sinatra in the United States at a televised birthday tribute on 19 November 1995 and was likely recorded a few days earlier. It has a string arrangement by Craig Armstrong. Although Frank Sinatra never got a chance to record it himself, his daughter,

Nancy Sinatra Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer and actress. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra ( Barbato), and is best known for her 1966 signature hit " These Boots Are Made for Walkin'. Nancy Sinatr ...

, cut a version for her 2004 album ''

''. U2's

Adam Clayton Adam Charles Clayton (born 13 March 1960) is an English-born Irish musician who is the bass guitarist of the rock band U2. He has resided in County Dublin, Ireland since his family moved to Malahide in 1965, when he was five years old. C ...

and Larry Mullen Jr. play bass and drums respectively for the track (they did not appear on the original recording). Sinatra changes the pronouns in the lyrics from a first-person perspective to a third-person, presumably to refer to her father. Canadian singer Matt Dusk recorded the song for his album, '' Two Shots''.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live from Sarajevo)"

The performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was recorded live at the band's PopMart show at

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

, Bosnia-Herzegovina on 23 September 1997. Because Bono lost his voice early in the show, guitarist the Edge sang the song, accompanied only by his guitar. It is a quiet, pensive performance of the song, a stark contrast from the fiery original on ''

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

''. This was the first time the song was performed this way, replacing Edge's nightly

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...

song in the set (with the exception of the immediately subsequent shows in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, this set list change would continue until the end of the PopMart tour).

"Mofo (Romin Mix)"

This version of the song was remixed by Johnny Moy.

Alternative versions

There are three versions of this song: *The album version, which appears on ''Pop''. This is the original and the longest version of the song. *The single version, which appears on the single, the ''City of Angels'' soundtrack, and the music video. Its choruses are arranged in the opposite order (moving the climax nearer to the end of the song), and it has a different ending (with actual lyrics replacing the

scat singing In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...

of the original), shortening the track by 50 seconds. *The "Big Yam Mix" (also known as the "Grand Jury Mix"), a remix of the song that appears on the " Mofo" single as well as the B-sides disc of '' The Best of 1990-2000''.

Music video

The song was promoted with a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

directed by

Phil Joanou Phil Joanou (born November 20, 1961) is an American director of film, music videos, and television programs, known in part for his ongoing relationship to the band U2. Biography Joanou was born in La Cañada Flintridge, California, and began m ...

. The video takes place in a restaurant. The screen is split horizontally, showing Bono in the top half and the person sitting across from him in the bottom half. The lighting brightly lights up each person's face (in contrast to the dim backgrounds). As Bono sings the song, numerous different people sit down at his table, talk for a while, and leave (including the three other members of the band at one point). The video was filmed at a slower speed and sped up; thus, Bono had to learn how to sing the song slowly in order to properly synchronize with the song. The other people in the video spoke and moved at regular speed, so they appear sped up in the video. The video appears on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

for '' The Best of 1990-2000'', along with director's commentary. An alternate cut of the video, in which scenes from the movie ''City of Angels'' are interspliced, was also released.

Live performances

"If God Will Send His Angels" was performed solely on the

PopMart Tour The PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 1997 album ''Pop'', the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks in 1997 and 1998. Much like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart w ...

at 23 of the 35 shows on the tour's first leg. It debuted at the tour's first show, on 25 April 1997 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, and segued out of " Until the End of the World". This was the only time the full band played the song. All 22 subsequent performances were played just by Bono and the Edge, though the segue out of "Until the End of the World" was retained. Its last performance was on 27 June 1997 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and it was replaced by " New Year's Day" the next night. A chocolate advent calendar was distributed to promote the single.

Formats and track listings

All tracks performed by U2, except "Slow Dancing" by U2 featuring

, and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1997 singles U2 songs Island Records singles Songs written by Bono Songs written by the Edge Songs written by Adam Clayton Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr. Song recordings produced by Flood (producer) Music videos directed by Phil Joanou