The Wanderer (U2 Song)
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"The Wanderer" 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, and the tenth and final track from their 1993 studio album, ''
Zooropa ''Zooropa'' is the eighth studio album by Irish rock band U2. Produced by Flood, Brian Eno, and the Edge, it was released on 5 July 1993 on Island Records. Inspired by the band's experiences on the Zoo TV Tour, ''Zooropa'' expanded on many o ...
''. It is one of the few U2 songs without
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 ...
on lead vocals, instead featuring
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 the ...
singer
Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
. Based on the
Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
's Book of
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...
and its narrator "The Preacher", the song lyrically describes the narrator wandering through a post-apocalyptic world "in search of experience", sampling all facets of human culture and hoping to find meaning in life. Cash's haggard voice is juxtaposed against a synthesised bassline and mostly electronic instrumentation.


Background

Cash recorded the vocals for the song in Dublin in February 1993 during the ''Zooropa'' sessions. The song underwent several provisional titles, including "The Preacher" and "Wandering". Producer
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 ...
tried to get Bono to sing the song, but Bono maintained it was Cash's voice he imagined singing the song. Bono and Cash had previously worked on a song called "Ellis Island".


Composition

The lyrics describe a man searching for God in a post-Apocalyptic world. He expresses concern over society's diminished view of
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
; "They say they want the
Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
but they don't want God in it." There is little guitar from the Edge, and
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. Cla ...
's synthesised bassline is the prominent musical sound throughout the song. However, Larry Mullen's soft drumbeats can be heard. As previously noted, this is one of the few songs not to be sung by Bono, but he does provide a falsetto vocal towards the song's ending. In an interview,
Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
, one of the song's producers, singled out "The Wanderer" as one of ''Zooropas highlights; "For me, that's a great song and it translates emotionally brilliantly, yet there's a load of sonic experiments going on there. There's the idea of this person sort of wandering through this desolate landscape, but there's an air of nonchalance. Everything about the lyric, the delivery, the sound of his voice, the music -- it just seems fantastic. It delivers on all levels". At the end of the song (on most versions of ''Zooropa''), there are 30 seconds of silence (4:45–5:15). Following this, an alarm-sound fades in at 5:15. The alarm sound repeats, even once it has completely started (at about 5:20). The alarm sound finishes at 5:41. Apparently, this is the same sound some DJs hear after 10 seconds of
dead air Dead air is an unintended period of silence that interrupts a broadcast during which no audio or video program material is transmitted. Radio and television Dead air occurs in radio broadcasting when no audio program is transmitted for an extend ...
on the radio.


Live performances

Johnny Cash performed "The Wanderer" on at least one occasion at the Nevada County fairgrounds in Grass Valley, California, in August 1993. U2 played it in a television special entitled ''I Walk the Line: A Night for Johnny Cash'', following Cash's death in 2003. Bono performed the song in a similar fashion to Cash's rendition, with
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 ...
adding dramatic
falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
background vocals that were not on the original recording. On 2 July 2011, U2 performed an extended snippet of the song, running for two verses, in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
as a part of their
U2 360° Tour The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 2009 album ''No Line on the Horizon'', the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. The concerts featured the band playing "in the round" o ...
. Bono explained to the audience they chose to play the song in Nashville as a tribute to Cash and his wife
June June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...
. "The Wanderer" was used as the
intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with an entr'acte (F ...
song during U2's 2015
Innocence + Experience Tour The Innocence + Experience Tour (styled as iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour) was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the band's 2014 album '' Songs of Innocence'', the tour visited arenas throughout 2015. It was U2's firs ...
. An extended version of the song including an extra verse is included on the soundtrack to the film ''
Faraway, So Close! ''Faraway, So Close!'' (german: In weiter Ferne, so nah!) is a 1993 German fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The screenplay is by Wenders, Richard Reitinger and Ulrich Zieger. It is a sequel to Wenders' 1987 film '' Wings of Desire''. Actors ...
'' The extended version is 5:16 in length. The song was included on the Johnny Cash compilations, '' The Essential Johnny Cash'' (Legacy/Columbia, 2002) and ''
The Legend of Johnny Cash ''The Legend of Johnny Cash'' is a single-disc compilation album of American musician and singer Johnny Cash's career. It is the first such album to contain material from Cash's American Recordings era in addition to songs from his time at Sun ...
'' (American/Island, 2005) and '' The Legend''.


Reception

According to William Richey and Kevin J.H. Dettmar, U2 "skillfully exploited the image of Johnny Cash in a... provocative way", clarifying that "they seemingly imbue their vision of a postapocalyptic wasteland with a deeper sense of poignance and sincerity because Cash's storied voice is associated in the public mind with a man whose very public struggles with drugs, alcohol, and love prove that he has 'walked the line'." Other reviews of the song have been mixed. In Spin's 20th anniversary review of ''Zooropa'', Rob Harvilla described "The Wanderer" as being "... monumentally incongruous and gets a little sassy about the separation of church and state."
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
's
Annie Zaleski Annie Zaleski is an American music journalist and author. Career Zaleski is a regular writer for mainstream media outlets such as The A.V. Club and NPR Music, and a columnist at ''Salon''. She is based in Cleveland, Ohio where she has won firs ...
described it as "surprisingly shapeless, despite faint bass twang, sighing background vocals, and minimal drums."


References

Footnotes Bibliography * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wanderer, The U2 songs Johnny Cash songs 1993 songs 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 Flood (producer)