"I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR" ● U2

U2 / Bono - Rattle and Hum 1988 / Principle Management Ltd. - photo credit: Bill Rubinstein / IVOX MEDIA collection

"I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR" ● U2

The Song● I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Writers● U2

Producers● Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois

Recorded● 1986 at Adam Clayton's house, Windmill Lane Studios, the Edge's house, and S.T.S., all in Dublin, Ireland

Released● March 1987 (album), May 1987 (single)

Players●
:: Bono -- lead vocal
:: The Edge -- guitar, backing vocal
:: Adam Clayton -- bass
:: Larry Mullen, Jr. -- drums (possibly Eno and/or Lanois on guitars)

Album● The Joshua Tree (Island, 1987)

Also On●
:: Rattle And Hum (Island, 1988)
:: Best Of 1980-1990 (Island, 1998)

The Joshua Tree ● U2

The Joshua Tree is U2’s fifth studio album. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. The Joshua Tree received critical acclaim, topped the charts in over 20 countries, and became the fastest-selling album in British history. The Joshua Tree is one of the world's best-selling albums, with over 25 million copies sold.

The song, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was the second single from U2's The Joshua Tree. Both it and "With Or Without You" reached Number One and spent 13 weeks each in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Its highest chart position in England was Number Six.

The album reached Number One on both sides of the Atlantic. The song that became "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" originally had a different melody and was titled "Under The Weather."

Of the album in general, singer-guitarist the Edge said, "Two ideas were followed simultaneously. They collided, and this record was born." The two ideas were lead singer Bono's urge to explore rock's American roots and the Edge's desire to continue the "expressionistic experimentalism" of the band's previous studio album, The Unforgettable Fire.

The song was partly inspired by a tape of blues and gospel songs that writer Dermot Stokes gave to Bono. The Edge said of the album, "Brian (Eno) strongly suggested that we do it all ourselves. We felt inclined to bring people into the sessions -- at times it would have been nice to have pedal steel or background vocals -- but he always felt we could do it. There was a great wisdom in that decision."

Bono described "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" as "an anthem of doubt more than faith." He also said, "I used to think that writing words was old-fashioned, so I sketched. I wrote words on the microphone. For The Joshua Tree, I felt that the time had come to write words that meant something, out of my own experiences."

The live version of the song on Rattle And Hum features backup vocals by a New York gospel choir. The Joshua Tree made U2 superstars. In the wake of its success, PolyGram subsequently bought Island Records to acquire the band's contract.

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