"A Man and a Woman" is the seventh track on U2's eleventh studio album, ''

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb ''How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'' is the eleventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 22 November 2004 in the United Kingdom by Island Records and a day later in the United States by Interscope Records. Much like their pr ...

''. An acoustic version of the song showed up on the " All Because of You" single. It has been performed live only once at the Clinton Foundation.

Writing and composition

"A Man and a Woman" emerged after U2's engineer was trying a mix of something the band had recorded.McCormick (2006), p. 409 Lead singer Bono liked it and soon started to play the bass guitar and singing. The acoustic guitar that

the Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

is playing in the song was taken from another completely different song, they chopped it up and connected together with the new one. It was inspiring to Bono to keep working on that.McCormick (2006), p. 409-410 Bono cites

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...

founding member Phil Lynott as the influence for the style in which he sings the song.Stokes (2009), p. 158 Bono, who has been interested in the distance that lies between men and women, wrote this song about ''rediscovering a kind of flirtatious and romantic love''. The Edge classes "A Man and a Woman" as the wild card on ''

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb ''How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'' is the eleventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 22 November 2004 in the United Kingdom by Island Records and a day later in the United States by Interscope Records. Much like their pr ...

''.

Personnel

U2 * Bono –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

, additional percussion *

Adam Clayton Adam Charles Clayton (born 13 March 1960) is an English-born Irish musician who is the bass guitarist of the rock band U2. He has resided in County Dublin, Ireland since his family moved to Malahide in 1965, when he was five years old. C ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Larry Mullen, Jr. Laurence Joseph Mullen Jr. (; born 31 October 1961) is an Irish musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2. Mullen was born in Dublin, where he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School. In 1976, he co-founded U2 ...

– drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Additional performers *

Jacknife Lee Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including the Cars, U2, R.E.M., the Killers, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, AFI, the Hives, Weezer, One Dir ...

– synthesizers Technical *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

–

*Additional production –

Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Bi ...

, Carl Glanville *

Recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

– Glanville *Recording assistance – Chris Heaney * Mixing – Lee *Mix

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

– Simon Gogerly, Greg Collins

References

Footnotes Bibliography * *

External links

A Man and a Woman lyrics
at U2.com {{Authority control Man and a Woman, A Man and a Woman, A Man and a Woman, A Man and a Woman, A Man and a Woman, A Man and a Woman, A Man and a Woman, A