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"A Day Without Me" is the lead single from U2's debut album, Boy and was released in August 1980. Its lyrics are a clear contemplation of suicide and relate to the lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis, who killed himself in May 1980. The B-side was an instrumental song called "Things To Make And Do". After DJ Carter Alan of WBCN in Boston heard "A Day Without Me" in a record store, he became a U2 fan and included the song in his playlist. Alan's subsequent promotion of the band was instrumental in introducing a US audience for U2. "A Day Without Me" was played live during the first half of the 1980s. On the Boy Tour, it did not have a firmly defined setlist position, initially appearing in the main set before moving to the encore. It did not appear on the October Tour until November 1981, when it was paired with "I Threw A Brick Through A Window", a song from the October album. The two songs were linked by a drum segue leading from the end of "I Threw A Brick Through A Window" into "A Day Without Me", and this pairing lasted until April 1985. Since then, neither song has been played live. "Things To Make And Do" is the only instrumental ever played live by U2, and it regularly followed "The Electric Co." on the Boy Tour. It has only been played once since the end of that tour, at an early date of the October Tour on 31 August 1981.
Version 1 This was the regular 7" version released on Ireland, the UK and The Netherlands. A French edition of this single had "I Will Follow" as the B-Side. | ||||||||
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