A Sneak Peek...
And this time, on the event that inspired the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by "U2".
On Sunday, January 30, 1972, soldiers from the British Paratroopers Unit, shot and killed 13 unarmed Irish civilians who had taken part in a human rights march, in the town of Derry, Northern Ireland.
This massacre of unarmed Catholic boys was nicknamed "Bloody Sunday" and inspired a number of protest songs written about it, including "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by "U2".
In fact, there are two events in Irish history called "Bloody Sunday". The first of which took place in Dublin, on 21 November 1920. In this event British soldiers shot bullets into the crowd at a football match, in response to an operation carried out by the Irish underground, in which British soldiers and secret agents were killed. The "U2" song refers to the second event event that took place today in 1972.
Although the song was written and inspired by the horrifical event, Bono made sure to introduce the song during the band live shows as if it was not a protest song. Or in his words: "This is not a rebel song".
Bono even used to raise a white flag while the song was played in the bands shows, as a sign of peace.
Indeed, Bono's lyrics are more about interpersonal struggles, than about the events of that horrific massacre.
The violin in the recording of the song is played by Steve Wickham, who will later be one of the founders of "The Waterboys".
The unique drum sound in the song was achieved by Larry Mullen Jr. In the stairwell of the studio where the album was recorded.
Guitarist The Edge admitted that he was greatly influenced by the band "The Clash", without which the song would probably would not been born.
The song was included on the excellent album "War", which was released in February 1983 and was released as the third single from it in March 1983. The song is included on the list of the 500 greatest songs of "Rolling Stone" magazine.
We said there were other artists who were influenced by the events and wrote songs about it, well among them you can find Paul McCartney who wrote the song "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" performed by his band "Wings" and his friend John Lennon who wrote the song "The Luck of the Irish", Both were released in 1972.
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