U2 Drop 'Beautiful Day' Rework

U2 have unveiled a reworked version of one of their most well-known singles, Beautiful Day, for their upcoming album of rerecorded tunes, Songs Of Surrender. The album will be released on 17 March via Interscope/Island Records. Pre-order it here.

The reworked Beautiful Day contains swelling strings, a capella opening lines from Bono, and a tenderness that’s missing in the original track. 

This version doesn’t go for those somewhat overwrought heights. It instead opts for new instrumental layers and current-day Bono finding emotion in a different range of his voice. Check it out below.

U2 revealed this project last month - the news was announced after fans received letters from the band’s guitarist, The Edge, teasing the new release. 

In it, he explained, “When a song becomes well known, it’s always associated with a particular voice. I can’t imagine Tangled Up In Blue without the reedy timbre of Bob Dylan or All The Time In The World without the unique voice of Louis Armstrong. So what happens when a voice develops and experience and maturity give it additional resonance?”

He went on to admit that most of U2’s work “was written and recorded when we were a bunch of very young men” and that the songs “mean something quite different to us now.

“Some have grown with us, some we have outgrown, but we have not lost sight of what propelled us to write those songs in the first place. The essence of those songs is still in us. But how to reconnect with that essence when we have moved on and grown so much?”

Songs Of Surrender also acts as a companion piece to Bono’s memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.

The stories range from the beginnings of U2, his father, what he thought of the band's Live Aid performance, and getting to know the Obamas. Most interestingly, however, is Bono's reflection on the infamous Songs Of Innocence saga: that time when U2 put their 13th album on our iPhones in 2014.

Reflecting, he wrote, "On 9 September 2014, we didn't just put our bottle of milk at the door but in every fridge in every house in town. In some cases we poured it on to the good people's cornflakes. And some people like to pour their own milk. And others are lactose intolerant... I take full responsibility.

"At first I thought this was just an internet squall... The part of me that will always be punk rock thought this was exactly what the Clash would do. Subversive. But subversive is hard to claim when you're working with a company that's about to be the biggest on Earth."

You can buy the book here.