‘New Year's Day’ is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track on their 1983 album War and was released as the album's lead single in January 1983. With lyrics written about the Polish Solidarity movement, ’"New Year's Day’ is driven by Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and the Edge's piano and guitar playing. It was the band's first UK hit single, peaking at number 10, and was also their first international hit, reaching for number 9 in Norway, number 11 on the Dutch Top 40, number 17 in Sweden, and number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, becoming the band's first single to chart in the US.
The song almost didn't make the album because Bono was having fits writing the lyrics. At least he didn't lose them like he did when working on their previous album, October. In 2004, the song was ranked 427th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It was also included in the Pitchfork 500.
The lyrics had their origins in a love song from Bono to his wife, but was subsequently reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement. The bassline stemmed from bassist Adam Clayton trying to figure out the chords to the Visage song "Fade to Grey" during a soundcheck.
In 1983, Bono said of the song, "It would be stupid to start drawing up battle lines, but I think the fact that 'New Year's Day' made the Top Ten indicated a disillusionment among record buyers. I don't think 'New Year's Day' was a pop single, certainly not in the way that Mickie Most might define a pop single as something that lasts three minutes and three weeks in the chart. I don't think we could have written that kind of song.
The video was one of their first to see heavy rotation on MTV. It was filmed in Sälen and Mora, Sweden in December 1982. The band only appeared in the performance scenes of the video as it was filmed in the dead of the Swedish winter. U2 guitarist Edge said in the official U2 biography that the four people riding on horseback in the video that appeared to be the four U2 members were in fact four Swedish teenage girls disguised as the members of U2 riding on horseback with masks over their faces, because the band were frozen from shooting the video in sub-freezing temperatures the day before. Their biography states that Bono refused to wear any headgear despite the cold weather and had a lot of trouble mouthing the lyrics. The video also features footage of Soviet troops advancing in winter during World War II.
Labels – CBS Ireland, Island
Songwriters – U2
Producer – Steve Lillywhite
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Yeah
[Verse 1]
All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you, be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day
[Chorus]
I will be with you again
I will be with you again
[Verse 2]
Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspaper says, says
[Pre-Chorus]
Say it's true, it's true
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one
[Chorus]
I, I will begin again
I, I will begin again
[Post-Chorus]
Yeah, oh, oh-oh-oh
[Instrumental Break]
[Pre-Chorus]
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
Oh, maybe the time is right
Oh, maybe tonight
[Chorus]
I will be with you again
I will be with you again
[Verse 3]
And so we're told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
Though I want to be with you, be with you night and day
Nothing changes New Year's Day
[Outro]
On New Year's Day
On New Year's Day
On New Year's Day