"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" is a song by Irish
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
U2. It appears in the 2000 film ''
The Million Dollar Hotel
''The Million Dollar Hotel'' is a 2000 Drama (film and television), drama film based on a concept story by Bono and Nicholas Klein, directed by Wim Wenders, and starring Jeremy Davies (actor), Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, and Mel Gibson. The fil ...
'', which was produced by U2 lead vocalist
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
, and the song was included on
the film's soundtrack. Author
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
is credited as the lyricist, as the words are taken from his 1999 book ''
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
''The Ground Beneath Her Feet'' is Salman Rushdie's sixth novel. Published in 1999, it is a variation on the Orpheus/Eurydice myth, with rock music replacing Orpheus's lyre. The myth works as a red thread from which the author sometimes stra ...
''. Written during the recording sessions for U2's album ''
All That You Can't Leave Behind
''All That You Can't Leave Behind'' is the tenth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and was released on 30October 2000 through Island Records and Interscope Records. Following the band's experiment ...
'' (2000), the song features
Daniel Lanois, who played
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
. A different mix from the soundtrack version appears in the film. "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" was released as a promotional single in February 2000, reaching number two on the US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Adult Alternative Songs chart, number 22 in Canada, and number one in Iceland.
Writing
Author
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
's novel ''
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
''The Ground Beneath Her Feet'' is Salman Rushdie's sixth novel. Published in 1999, it is a variation on the Orpheus/Eurydice myth, with rock music replacing Orpheus's lyre. The myth works as a red thread from which the author sometimes stra ...
'' contains lyrics for a song of the same name. In the novel, the fictional character Ormus Cama writes the lyrics as a lamentation for his lover, Vina Apsara.
After completing the novel, Rushdie sent a copy of the manuscript to U2 lead vocalist
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
and asked him to set the song lyrics to music.
According to Bono, he developed the song's melody as soon as he first read the lyrics. During a dinner break in the recording sessions for U2's album ''
All That You Can't Leave Behind
''All That You Can't Leave Behind'' is the tenth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and was released on 30October 2000 through Island Records and Interscope Records. Following the band's experiment ...
'' (2000), Bono and producer
Daniel Lanois remained in the studio and recorded a version of the song. Bono said, "I sang the melody and it was all there." Lanois said: "It's a lovely song to sing with just an acoustic guitar. That's the mark of a good song, isn't it? That's probably the way the song should have been presented." Lanois played
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
on the song, and guitarist
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 ...
added a guitar riff.
[Stokes (2005), p. 143] U2 manager
Paul McGuinness
Paul McGuinness (born 16 June 1951) is the founder of ''Principle Management Limited'', a popular music act management company based in Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland. He was the manager of the rock band U2 from 1978 to 2013.
Early life
...
confirmed in January 1999 that a demo of the song had been recorded and that the group were hoping to release it.
In an April 1999 issue of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', the Edge said: "The bones of it are there, but we're still in development. We're very excited about it."
Ultimately, the rest of the band were unconvinced by the song. They pejoratively called it a "salad" (the group's term for a
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
) and questioned whether they needed another one for ''All That You Can't Leave Behind''.
The Edge said the song seemed unnecessary because the band "already had so many great ballads".
[McGee (2008), pp. 217–218] Bono subsequently received permission to use the song for ''
The Million Dollar Hotel
''The Million Dollar Hotel'' is a 2000 Drama (film and television), drama film based on a concept story by Bono and Nicholas Klein, directed by Wim Wenders, and starring Jeremy Davies (actor), Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, and Mel Gibson. The fil ...
'', a motion picture he was producing.
The Edge thought it was the perfect use for the track, since it was not intended for U2's pending record.
Rushdie, himself, was very pleased with the song, claiming it had "some of the most beautiful melodies
ono
ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to:
Places Fiji
* Ono Island (Fiji)
Israel
* Kiryat Ono
* Ono, Benjamin, ancient site
Italy
* Ono San Pietro
Ivory Coast
* Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District
Japan
* Ōno Castle, Fukuoka
* Ō ...
had ever come up with." In reference to the song, Rushdie said, "So I always knew, you know, that it wasn't going to be an uptempo foot-tapper, because it's a sad song. I think it sounds like, I hope, one of those big U2 ballads for which Bono's voice, actually, is beautifully well suited." U2 uses Rushdie's lyrics almost word for word, except for omitting the following line:
:''She was my ground, my favorite sound, my country road, my city street, my sky above, my only love, and the ground beneath my feet.''
Promotion and releases
McGuinness said that there was interest in releasing the song to promote Rushdie's novel, well before the completion of ''All That You Can't Leave Behind''; one plan called for the song to be published online to coincide with the 13 April 1999 release of the novel as a promotional tie-in.
The song debuted in a performance by Bono and the Edge on a Rushdie-centric episode of the BBC television series ''
Arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
'' that aired on 22 April 1999.
After completion of ''The Million Dollar Hotel'', Bono wanted to release the song as a single to promote the film.
[Jobling (2014), p. 271] Accordingly, 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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
was created, directed by the film's director
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...
. The video was shot in one day in the Sandyford Mountains near Dublin, Ireland; Wenders used a
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
CineAlta
CineAlta cameras are a series of professional digital movie cameras produced by Sony that replicate many of the same features of 35mm film motion picture cameras.
Concept
CineAlta is a brand name used by Sony to describe various products inv ...
HDW-F900 digital video camera at
24 frames per second with specially developed lenses by
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during ...
and captured it on the
HDCAM
HDCAM is a high-definition video digital recording videocassette version of Digital Betacam introduced in 1997 that uses an 8-bit discrete cosine transform (DCT) compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i-compatible down-sampled resolution of 144 ...
format.
Plans for a single release changed after
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
president Marc Marot viewed ''The Million Dollar Hotel''.
He thought the film was poor and recounted the uncomfortable experience of sitting next to Bono in a Dublin theatre having to give his opinion. Marot told McGuinness, "You shouldn't go anywhere near it." He offered to include "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" on
the film's soundtrack but advocated not releasing the single to avoid drawing attention to a film that he thought would not do well, telling Bono, "it will cause you embarrassment". Ultimately, no single was commercially released.
After the song's release on the film's soundtrack, U2 hoped to feature the song on their newest album, ''All That You Can't Leave Behind'', but instead the song was only released as a
bonus track on the United Kingdom, Australian and Japanese releases of the album.
Reception
Steve Matteo of ''
Newsday
''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
'' called the song "a haunting track of rousing, visceral majesty that can stand alongside anything U2 has recorded". Rob Brunner of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' rated the song a C+, calling it "so ordinary" and saying, "Eno's sonic atmosphere can't conceal a serious lack of melodic substance."
Track listing
Personnel
U2
*
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
– vocals
*
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 ...
– guitar
*
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
*
Larry Mullen Jr.
Laurence Joseph Mullen Jr. (; born 31 October 1961) is an Irish musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2.
Mullen was born in Dublin, where he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School. In 1976, he co-founded U2 ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
Additional performers
*
Daniel Lanois –
pedal steel
The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can p ...
*
Craig Armstrong – strings
*Leo Pearson –
programming
*
Danny Saber
Danny Saber (born 1966) is a musician in Los Angeles. He is an audio engineer, record producer, and remixer as well. He is a former member of Black Grape and Agent Provocateur. He plays organ, and keyboards, and is a prominent Los Angeles DJ.
Sa ...
– programming
Production
*Daniel Lanois – production
*
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
– production
*Richard Rainey – engineering
*
Tim Palmer
Timothy J. Palmer (born 4 October 1962, in North Shields) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter of rock music, rock and alternative rock, alternative music. He Audio mixing (recorded music), mixed Pearl Jam's d ...
– mixing
*Mark Howard – additional engineering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Mnemonic version
Members of the London band
Mnemonic
A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding.
Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...
Richard Das and Jonathan Skipp had heard
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
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 ...
perform a verse of this song as they were writing it for the upcoming film ''
The Million Dollar Hotel
''The Million Dollar Hotel'' is a 2000 Drama (film and television), drama film based on a concept story by Bono and Nicholas Klein, directed by Wim Wenders, and starring Jeremy Davies (actor), Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, and Mel Gibson. The fil ...
'' on a television program in September 1999 and then interpolated verses and chorus from the
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
book ''
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
''The Ground Beneath Her Feet'' is Salman Rushdie's sixth novel. Published in 1999, it is a variation on the Orpheus/Eurydice myth, with rock music replacing Orpheus's lyre. The myth works as a red thread from which the author sometimes stra ...
'' to complete their own version of the song. Band members contributed their parts and a final version was mixed and completed in December 1999.
The band released it free on the internet downloadable fro
mnemonicgroove.comin January 2000 before the official U2 version (released on 8 February 2000). Hits on the Mnemonic band website at one point peaked at 97,000+ for one day for the download.
The news of their version of the song spread to global news agencies and this was widely reported on various media and a feature on the band was done by ''The Straits Times''. The release of their version of the song as free downloadable media prompted a "surprisingly favourable" response from the Edge.
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ground Beneath Her Feet (song), The
2000s ballads
2000 songs
U2 songs
Rock ballads
Song recordings produced by Brian Eno
Songs written by Bono
Songs written by the Edge
Songs written by Adam Clayton
Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr.
Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois
Salman Rushdie
Music based on novels
Number-one singles in Iceland