Until the End of the World (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Until the End of the World" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by U2 | ||
| From the album Achtung Baby | ||
| Album released | 19 November 1991 | |
| Recorded | ||
| Genre | Rock | |
| Song Length | 4:39 | |
| Record label | Island Records | |
| Producer | Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno | |
| Achtung Baby Album Listing | ||
| One (Track 3) |
Until the End of the World (Track 4) |
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (Track 5) |
| The Best of 1990-2000 Album Listing | ||
| Gone (Track 9) |
Until the End of the World (Track 10) |
The Hands That Built America (Track 11) |
"Until the End of the World" is the fourth track from U2's 1991 album, Achtung Baby. It was also featured (in a different version) on the soundtrack to the movie Until the End of the World.
It has been played on every tour since it was released and was one of the tracks that U2 played when they received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the Brit Awards in 2001, along with "Beautiful Day", "One", and "Mysterious Ways". It was also performed when the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Introduced by Bono as "A little pop diddy - a conversation between Jesus and Judas".
The lyrics reportedly describe a conversation between Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot. The first verse detailing The Last Supper, while the second is about Judas identifying Jesus with a kiss on the lips in the Garden of Gethsemane and the final verse about Judas' suicide after becoming overwhelmed with guilt.
The introduction arguably refers to Jesus and Judas; 4 seconds in you can hear the sound of nails being hammered into the crucifix, lasting 4 seconds until the opening drum beats. It is however very faint, and only audible with the use of headphones, and predominantly comes from the left speaker. Also, the opening of the song features the sound of a wailing guitar, meant to represent Judas crying from guilt.
The song is the 13th most frequently played song in concerts, [1] and has been played on every U2 tour since it debuted on Zoo TV Tour. The song frequently segues into New Year's Day. Only until the most recent Vertigo Tour was it not played every night, and only on the first leg of the tour and has appeared on the concert DVD releases Zoo TV: Live from Sydney, Popmart: Live from Mexico City, Elevation: Live from Boston and U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle. It also appeared on the CD and DVD versions of The Best of 1990-2000 compilation album.
There was a video created for this song which appeared on the video release Achtung Baby: The Videos, The Cameos, and A Whole Lot of Interference from Zoo TV, however, it was never publicly aired. There was also a live video composed of footage from two performances on the Outside Broadcast leg of the Zoo TV Tour, from Yankee Stadium and Houston, which appeared on The Best of 1990-2000 DVD.
Edge has always used a Gibson Les Paul to play this song. On the Zoo TV Tour, he used the Les Paul Custom. On the Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo Tours, he has used the Les Paul Standard. On the last two tours, that guitar has exclusively seen action on "Until The End of the World."
