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40-419: Mysterious Ways may refer to: "Mysterious Ways" (song) , a song by U2 from the 1991 album Achtung Baby Mysterious Ways (TV series) , science-fiction television series which ran from 2000 to 2002 Mysterious Ways , a 1990 album by Steve Ashley Mysterious Ways , a 2001 album by Michael Whalen See also [ edit ] In Mysterious Ways ,

80-611: A 1985 album by John Foxx 1985 " God Moves in Mysterious Ways ", hymn by William Cowper (1731–1800) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Mysterious Ways . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mysterious_Ways&oldid=746971948 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

120-493: A couple of rhythmic scratches and two notes" played in a key of B ♭ . The verses follow a chord progression of B ♭ –E ♭ –B ♭ –F. The song's lyrics are addressed to a man living without romance, which was in line with a proposed title for the album, Fear of Women . The lyrics describe how women often entrance and dominate men; Bono said, "At times, I do tend to idealize women", explaining that his wife Ali sometimes complains that he puts her on

160-510: A drum track near the end of the sessions, introducing a "much groovier beat" that "demonstrated the difference between a drum machine and a real drummer". Bono calls the song "U2 at our funkiest ... Sly and the Family Stone meets Madchester baggy ". Lanois provided additional percussion by playing the congas . "Mysterious Ways" and the track it inspired, "One", were the only two songs that were primarily completed at Hansa Studios before

200-443: A full-length album. With the evolution of the access to software allowing musicians to produce high quality music on their own, the amount of music released every day has skyrocketed. With over 100,000 new songs released on Spotify every day, the level of quality required for demos to convince record labels has also increased, and the limits between demos and actual finished recordings have become blurrier. Demos are seldom heard by

240-478: A pedestal. Some have found religious interpretations for the song. Scholar Atara Stein, in an essay analysing U2 songs, describes "Mysterious Ways" as one of several Achtung Baby tracks that idealizes women and creates a false illusion of them. Stein found religious meaning in the line "She moves in mysterious ways" and Bono's request to the woman to "Lift my days, light up my nights". According to her, "Paradoxically, this process of idealization simultaneously elevates

280-457: A piano interlude by the Edge. Both the added intro and outro featured additional lyrics by Bono, much of which were sung in falsetto . The group continued playing "Mysterious Ways" on their following concert tour, 1997's PopMart Tour , performing it at each of the tour's 93 shows. On 2001's Elevation Tour , the song was excluded from some shows but was still performed at the majority of concerts. In

320-542: A picture of the band members driving a Trabant is formed. The music video for "Mysterious Ways" has a belly dancing theme, which includes distorted shots of Bono dancing, and other mystical images. It was filmed by French director, photographer, film producer and actor Stéphane Sednaoui in Fez, Morocco . The belly dancer is portrayed by Morleigh Steinberg . Upon the release of Achtung Baby , "Mysterious Ways" received positive reviews from critics. Rolling Stone called it

360-598: A simple recording for publishing or copyright purposes. Demos are typically recorded on relatively crude equipment such as "boom box" cassette recorders , small four- or eight-track machines , or on personal computers with audio recording software. Songwriters' and publishers' demos are recorded with minimal instrumentation, usually just an acoustic guitar or piano and the vocals. Both Elton John and Donovan gained studio experience early in their careers by recording publishers' demos for other artists since their managers also handled music publishing, as did Garth Brooks , who

400-502: A standout track among the new dance-influenced songs, praising its "ebullient hook and a guitar solo in which the Edge segues from one of his signature bursts of light into an insidious funk riff". Steve Morse of The Boston Globe called it an "exceptional love song ... with a rapturous chorus" and noted that even though Bono's vocals on the album differ significantly from his previous style, "Mysterious Ways" features him returning to his "yearning self". The New York Times praised

440-472: A very low price. Amateur (and some professional) musicians may choose to make demos available to interested listeners through websites such as SoundCloud or Bandcamp in order to share new ideas, receive feedback and/or provide fans with "behind the scenes" access to the songwriting process. In 1977, punk band the Sex Pistols released an album of demos called Spunk , which has been comparared favourably to

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480-542: Is "structured like a gospel chant" and "maintains its deep groove with the assistance of some chunky guitar riffing, a persistent percussive beat, and what sound like spontaneous vocal bursts by Bono in the R&;B tradition". In a review of the album's 20th anniversary reissue , Kit O'Toole of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said "Mysterious Ways" exemplified the evolution of the band's sound. In her opinion, despite

520-410: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Mysterious Ways (song) " Mysterious Ways " is a song by Irish rock band U2 . It is the eighth track from their 1991 album, Achtung Baby , and was released as the album's second single on 2 December 1991, two weeks after the album. The song began as an improvisation called "Sick Puppy", with

560-624: The Modern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks Billboard charts . It peaked at number eight on the Dutch Top 40. "Mysterious Ways," however, is one of few U2 songs to miss the top ten in the UK Singles Chart , where it only reached number 13. When the single covers to " Even Better Than the Real Thing ", " The Fly ", " Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses ", and "Mysterious Ways" are arranged,

600-471: The 2003 concert film U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, Ireland , in a bonus track performance of "Mysterious Ways", Bono calls out his daughter's name, Eve, several times while performing this song. She then joins him on stage and dances with him while he sings during the last half of the song, and during Edge's slide guitar solo outro. Over the next two tours, the Vertigo and U2 360° Tours , performances of

640-461: The Edge combined two of the chord progressions, inspiring the rest of the group to join him and improvise the new song "One". The band made progress on "Mysterious Ways" after the Edge began experimenting with the "Funk Wah" setting on a Korg A3 guitar effects unit and Bono told him to use it for the song. Bono said it made an "envelope of sound which would turn a guitar chord into the funkiest of jackhammers". Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. recorded

680-456: The Edge during the tour, and the two married in 2002. During performances, the Zoo TV video screens displayed revolving images of Marilyn Monroe 's head with tape over it. Performances from this tour were extended beyond the length of the original studio version of the song, with a slide guitar solo after the point in the song where the studio version ends, and a longer introduction that included

720-611: The Machine (" What the Water Gave Me ", among others) and Cults on the EP Sunday Jams . The event of a demo tape appearing on eBay has happened in the past, with the recordings being leaked onto the internet. In rare instances, a demo may end up as the final released recording of a song, as was the case with Foster the People 's " Pumped Up Kicks ". The version of "Pumped Up Kicks" that

760-575: The Vertigo Tour. U2 performed "Mysterious Ways" during their 2023–2024 U2:UV Achtung Baby residency at the Sphere in the Las Vegas Valley. During these performances, the venue's LED screen displayed moving bars of light that David Barbour of Lighting & Sound International said "creat[ed] a kind of Zoetrope effect". The Edge has always used a Rickenbacker 330/12 to play this song live. On

800-518: The Zoo TV, PopMart, Elevation and Innocence + Experience Tours he has used a Fireglo coloured model, while on the Vertigo and U2 360° Tours, he has used a Mapleglo coloured one. U2 Additional performers Technical Sales figures based on certification alone. Snow Patrol reworked the song for the 2011 tribute album AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered . "As much as it's a thrilling live-set stormer," remarked Gary Lightbody , "we've always seen

840-427: The album sessions moved to Dublin in 1991. Much like they did for other songs from Achtung Baby , U2 continued to work on "Mysterious Ways" up to the recording deadline, adding a guitar overdub after the mix was already finished. Several different verses were written, but the Edge advocated those with a "nursery rhyme feel", such as "Johnny, take a walk with your sister in the moon / Let her pale light in to fill up

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880-560: The band liking only the bass part that bassist Adam Clayton composed. The band struggled to build a song from it, with vocalist Bono and producer Daniel Lanois arguing intensely during one songwriting session. The song's breakthrough came after guitarist the Edge began experimenting with the Korg A3 effects unit. "Mysterious Ways" features a danceable beat, funky guitar hook , and conga -laden percussion, as well as mystical lyrics by Bono about romance and women. "Mysterious Ways" reached

920-589: The band's musical evolution on the album. A music video for the song was filmed in Morocco and incorporated distorted images of Bono and a belly dancer , Morleigh Steinberg , who eventually married the Edge. "Mysterious Ways" made its live debut on the Zoo TV Tour in 1992, when performances were accompanied by an on-stage belly dancer. The group has continued to perform the song on subsequent tours. "Mysterious Ways" began as an improvised demo called "Sick Puppy" that

960-474: The demos into the hands of the people who make decisions for the record company. Many signed bands and artists record demos of new songs before recording an album. The demos may allow the artist to provide sketches for sharing ideas with bandmates, or to explore several alternate versions of a song, or to quickly record many proto-songs before deciding which ones merit further development. Demos may include as few as one or two songs or as many as would be contained on

1000-485: The group recorded at STS Studios in Dublin , as vocalist Bono , guitarist the Edge , and bassist Adam Clayton jammed over a drum machine . The band liked Clayton's bassline , which originated during their recording of a cover version of " Night and Day " and for a while, consisted of little more than a "one-note groove". However, the band had difficulties completing the remainder of the song melodically. Bono said that it

1040-460: The opening night of the Zoo TV Tour , and it was subsequently played at every show on the tour. Zoo TV performances of the song featured a belly dancer on-stage, who would tempt Bono and the Edge. The 1992 indoor legs featured Florida resident Christina Petro as the dancer. Tour choreographer Morleigh Steinberg assumed the role starting with the Outside Broadcast leg; Steinberg began dating

1080-570: The public, although some artists do eventually release rough demos in compilation albums or box sets , such as the album Demolicious by Green Day . Other demo versions have been unofficially released as bootleg recordings , such as the Beatles ' bootleg demos and the Beach Boys ' Sea of Tunes series. Several artists have eventually made official releases of demo versions of their songs as albums or companion pieces to albums, such as Florence and

1120-412: The quiet storm of gospel in 'Mysterious Ways'." See also: Footnotes Bibliography Demo (music) Musicians often use demos as quick sketches to share with bandmates or arrangers , or simply for personal reference during the songwriting process; in other cases, a songwriter might make a demo to send to artists in hopes of having the song professionally recorded, or a publisher may need

1160-418: The record he's making as much and more than any band or artist he's working with." The song " One ", which proved to be breakthrough in the difficult recording sessions for Achtung Baby , began after a moment of inspiration as the band worked on "Mysterious Ways". The Edge caught Lanois' attention while toying around with various chord progressions for the bridge of "Mysterious Ways". Encouraged by Lanois,

1200-399: The room". He also composed the chorus' reassuring line, "It's all right / It's all right / It's all right", wanting to prove a point since no prior U2 song contained the line. "Mysterious Ways" is played in a 4/4 time signature at a tempo of 99 beats per minute. The introduction to the song, which features the song's well-known guitar hook , consists of "one seventh-fret barre chord ,

1240-508: The song as the album's best track, commenting that it is "full of rhythmic cross-currents and fuzz-toned murk" and citing it as an example that the band had "taken Bo Diddley and James Brown lessons for its new syncopated dance songs". The Austin Chronicle singled out the song's "conga-laced funk" as one of three moments on the record where U2 have never sounded better. Denise Sullivan of Allmusic praised "Mysterious Ways", saying it

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1280-446: The song became less common. The band also stopped playing an extended slide guitar solo at the end of the song during the U2 360° Tour, with the song finishing with an extended version of the album outro. The extended introduction to the song was removed for the Vertigo and 360° Tours. However, as the 360° Tour continued, "Mysterious Ways" once again became a set list staple. Live performances of

1320-485: The song often involve a female member of the audience joining Bono on stage to dance. The song was played at every show of the Innocence + Experience Tour as one of the songs on the e-stage. Much like previous tours, a member of the audience was usually bought onstage to dance with the band. The song was played occasionally on The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 , which saw the return of the slide solo that had been absent since

1360-575: The song's sonic flourishes, "this departure does not jar longtime fans, as it retains the core of U2—loud, swooping rock guitar, a huge voice, and powerful drums. Quite simply, it's a textbook example of how artists can alter their sound without compromising their essential beliefs." The song flourished and finished tied for 25th place on the "Best Singles" list from The Village Voice ' s 1991 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. "Mysterious Ways" made its live debut on 29 February 1992 in Lakeland, Florida on

1400-402: The song. When Bono arrived, he began singing and contributing vocal ideas, but this conflicted with what Lanois had in mind for the track. Bono and a frustrated Lanois proceeded to argue intensely for over two hours, worrying sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy that a physical altercation would ensue. Bono looks back on the episode with a sense of humour: "That's why I love Danny so much. He cares about

1440-633: The top ten on the singles charts of several countries, including Canada and the band's native Ireland, where it went to number one. In the United States, the song topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks charts and peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 . It received praise from critics after the release of Achtung Baby , many of whom called it one of the album's standout tracks and one that best illustrated

1480-577: The woman as an idol to be worshipped while presenting her as a potentially dangerous force the singer must control." "Mysterious Ways" was released as the album's second single on 25 November 1991. In the U.S., the song reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 , making it one of the band's highest-charting singles in the U.S.; only three other U2 singles (" With or Without You ", " I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For ", and " Desire ") have reached higher positions. "Mysterious Ways" also topped both

1520-472: Was "a bass line in search of a song", while the Edge stated that "the key to the song was finding ways to mess around with chords on top without having to change the bass". As U2 continued to struggle with the song, the tense atmosphere of the recording sessions at Hansa Studios in Berlin took its toll. Producer Daniel Lanois arrived at the studios early one morning before the band to work on ideas he had for

1560-545: Was released as a single and subsequently became a hit was a demo recorded by frontman Mark Foster alone, before he had formed the group. In 1982, Bruce Springsteen recorded ten demo songs in his bedroom that he intended to later record with his E Street Band , but he subsequently decided that he preferred the acoustic demos and released them as the 1982 album Nebraska . In more underground forms of music, such as noise music , black metal or punk rock , demos are often distributed by bands to fans as self-releases or sold at

1600-593: Was so impressed when recording the demo of " Friends in Low Places " that he asked to release the song himself. Many unsigned bands and artists record demos in order to obtain a recording contract . These demos are usually sent to record labels in hopes that the artist will be signed onto the label's roster and allowed to record a full-length album in a professional recording studio . However, large record labels usually ignore unsolicited demos that are sent to them by mail; artists generally must be more creative about getting

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