"Your Blue Room" is a song by
Passengers
A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. Th ...
, a group composed of rock band
U2 and producer
Brian Eno. It is the third track on the group's only release, the 1995 album ''
Original Soundtracks 1
''Original Soundtracks 1'' is a studio album recorded by rock band U2 and Brian Eno under the pseudonym Passengers as a side project. Released on 6 November 1995, the album is a collection of songs written for mostly imaginary films (the excep ...
''. The track was written for the 1995
Michelangelo Antonioni–
Wim Wenders film ''
Beyond the Clouds''. Though Eno made the majority of creative decisions during the recording sessions, "Your Blue Room" was one of the few tracks that the members from U2 tried to craft themselves.
Background
U2 and producer Brian Eno formed Passengers as a side-project during the preliminary recording sessions for U2's 1997 album, ''
Pop''. Their intention was to record a soundtrack for
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are th ...
's 1996 film ''
The Pillow Book
is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 1000s in Heian-period Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002.
The work is a collection o ...
'' as a warm up before the main ''Pop'' sessions.
Though the plan did not come to fruition, Eno suggested they continue recording for imaginary films. U2 were unsure of the idea at first, but agreed after Eno told them that producing radio hits was not the goal of the collaboration.
U2 had frequently improvised in the past, and in the ''Original Soundtracks 1'' sessions they engaged in
free-form jamming to video clips from various films.
Eno stated, "Listening to the original improvisations as they came off the floor, you feel the excitement of the process ... You have to be careful not to disturb the organic flow of the thing." The group brought in producer
Howie B
Howard Bernstein (born 18 April 1963, Glasgow, Scotland), professionally known as Howie B, is a Scottish musician, producer and DJ who has worked with artists including: Björk, U2, Tricky, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soul II Soul, Robbie ...
to cut down and mix some of the tracks after several hours of jam sessions had been recorded.
Part of the group's intent in creating ''Original Soundtracks 1'' had been to make a "night-time" record.
[Stokes (2005), p. 196] Lead vocalist
Bono said, "It feels like it's been set on the bullet train in Tokyo. Every record has a location, a place where you enjoy listening to it, whether that be a bedroom or a club, well this record location is a fast train. It's slo-mo music though. But it has an odd sense of speed in the background." He also noted that when creating works for soundtracks the visual suggestion from the music is more important than the story told by the lyrics. With this in mind the band had tried to create "visual music" when recording, continuing a trend that began with their 1993 song "
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 ...
".
Writing and recording
The song was written for the
Michelangelo Antonioni–
Wim Wenders film ''
Beyond the Clouds''.
Bono describes the song as "based on the idea that sex is a conversation of sorts" but that on another level it is a prayer. He concludes by saying, "It's an incredible thing to say to your lover or your maker: 'Your instructions, whatever the direction.'"
The track features U2's bass player
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 ...
reciting the final verse,
and is the only album recording featuring Clayton as vocalist. (Clayton's only other vocal performance was in 1983 on "Endless Deep," which was released as a
B-side to the "
Sunday Bloody Sunday
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album ''War'' and was released as the album's third single on 21 March 1983 in the Netherlands and West Germany. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted ...
" and "
Two Hearts Beat as One
"Two Hearts Beat as One" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the seventh track on their 1983 album, ''War'', and was released as its second single in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia on 21 March 1983.
History
The music video ...
" singles.) The Edge stated that, while Eno made the majority of creative decisions during the recording sessions, "the only tracks we really dug in our heels and did more work on and tried to craft were '
Miss Sarajevo
"Miss Sarajevo" is a song by U2 and Brian Eno, credited to the pseudonym "Passengers". It was released on 20 November 1995 as the only single from their album ''Original Soundtracks 1''. Luciano Pavarotti makes a vocal appearance, singing the ...
', '
Seibu', and 'Your Blue Room'."
Release
"Your Blue Room" was slated as the second single release for the album following "
Miss Sarajevo
"Miss Sarajevo" is a song by U2 and Brian Eno, credited to the pseudonym "Passengers". It was released on 20 November 1995 as the only single from their album ''Original Soundtracks 1''. Luciano Pavarotti makes a vocal appearance, singing the ...
", but it was cancelled due to poor album sales.
In addition to the Passengers album, "Your Blue Room" was later featured as a B-side on the "
Staring at the Sun" single in 1997, and on the
B-sides disc of ''
The Best of 1990–2000
''The Best of 1990–2000'' is the second greatest hits album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 5 November 2002 through Island Records and Interscope Records. It was issued as both a single-disc CD compilation and as a multi-disc com ...
'' in 2002.
Reception
Jon Pareles of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called ''Original Soundtracks 1'' "a collection of sketched songs and free-form instrumentals" in which "Bono stays quiet and smoky-voiced". Pareles went on to say that "Your Blue Room" "harks back to the
Velvet Underground
Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...
's "
Pale Blue Eyes
"Pale Blue Eyes" is a song written and sung by Lou Reed and performed by The Velvet Underground. He recorded a demo with John Cale in May 1965. It was included on the band's 1969 album ''The Velvet Underground''.
Despite the name, "Pale Blue Eye ...
"".
Jim Faber of New York's ''
Daily News'' was less receptive to the album saying, "It can't speak well of an album when the artists involved won't even put their real names on it." In regards to "Your Blue Room" Faber said it "sounds like one of
Lou Reed's blander ballads from the '70s".
In a 2005 ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' magazine article,
Bono nominated it as one of his favourite U2 songs. Recounting U2's determination to try to craft "Your Blue Room" against Eno's inclination, The Edge said "I think it paid off."
In a 2010 survey conducted by fan site @U2.com, 1513 of 4814 participants (31.43%) labelled "Your Blue Room" their favourite song on the album, ranking it the second most favoured song and the second choice overall behind "Miss Sarajevo" (37.99%), and before no preference (18.53%). Previous fan surveys in 2005, 2006, and 2007 had all also ranked the song the second favourite on the album.
Live performances
"Your Blue Room" made its live debut on 13 September 2009 at
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
in Chicago, during the
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 ...
. It was subsequently played on some of the North American second leg shows of the tour, and featured pre-recorded vocals from
Sinéad O'Connor and a pre-recorded video of astronaut
Frank De Winne
Frank, Viscount De Winne (born 25 April 1961, in Ledeberg, Belgium) is a Belgian Air Component officer and an ESA astronaut. He is Belgium's second person in space (after Dirk Frimout). He was the first ESA astronaut to command a space mission ...
reciting the song's final verse from the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...
. In writing about the live performance in Toronto on 16 September 2009 Mike Doherty of the ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'' said, "When you can play music with someone who’s in space, the idea goes, you’re shrinking our corner of the universe down to size."
The ''
Richmond Times-Dispatch'' was less receptive of the song's performance in
Charlottesville, Virginia, stating how the song ruined the show's mood and was "a plodding rumination that consumed precious set list space".
Track listing
Personnel
;Passengers
*
Bono –
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
*
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 ...
– bass guitar,
narration
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
*
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,
organ
*
Brian Eno – synthesisers
*
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, percussion
;Technical
*Brian Eno –
mixing,
sequencing
*Danton Supple –
audio engineering
References
;Footnotes
;Bibliography
*
*
{{Authority control
1995 songs
Songs written by Brian Eno
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.
Passengers songs