"I Will Follow" is a song by rock band U2. It is the opening track from their debut album, ''

Boy A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man. Definition, etymology, and use According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is ...

'', and it was released as the album's second single in October 1980. Lead singer

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...

wrote the lyrics to "I Will Follow" in tribute to his mother, who died when he was 14 years old. "I Will Follow" is the only song that U2 have performed on every tour since they released their first album. The song was U2's first music video, directed by

Meiert Avis Meiert Avis is an Irish music video and commercial director. Avis has directed videos for artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Alanis Morissette, Flyleaf, Jennifer Lopez, New Found Glory and Josh Grob ...

in Dublin, Ireland. The song was issued five times, first in 1981 on a 7" vinyl in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, second on the same format in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, third in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1982 with a track from 1981's ''

October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôct ...

'', in 1983 with a live version of the song, and finally in 2011 with a live version of the song recorded at the

2011 Glastonbury Festival The 2011 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts was held from 22–26 June 2011. Tickets for the festival went on sale from 9 am on Sunday 3 October 2010, over 37 weeks before the festival was set to begin, with a deposit of £50 b ...

Composition

"I Will Follow" was written three weeks before U2 began recording ''Boy''. During early rehearsals of the song, the group frequently had loud arguments, as lead vocalist

was struggling to convey the aggression for the guitar

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

that he was envisioning. Frustrated, he took

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 ...

's guitar from him and "hammer daway" on the two-stringed chord the Edge had created to show his bandmates the urgency he wanted.McCormick (2006), pp. 96–101Stokes (2005), pp. 9–10 Bono said, "It was literally coming out of a kind of rage, the sound of a nail being hammered into your frontal lobe". Producer

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 ...

stated that

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine ...

guitarist John McKay's playing on the song "Jigsaw Feeling" (1978) was a point of reference for the Edge on "I Will Follow", calling the beginning of both songs "almost identical". Bono has said that he wrote the lyrics from the perspective of his mother Iris, who died in 1974 when he was 14 years old, and that they were about the unconditional love a mother has for her child. The song features a

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The gloc ...

to provide what Bono called "underlying instrumental colouring"; it was added at his suggestion, and was played during the ''Boy'' recording sessions by him and the Edge. For the middle eight section of the song, Lillywhite recorded the sounds of

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...

rubbing against the spokes of a spinning wheel on an upturned bicycle, as well as Bono smashing bottles.

Release

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record W ...

'' reviewed the original single release in 1980, describing the song as an "electronic rocker" in which the "urgent vocals match the intense keyboard pulse." "I Will Follow" had a second single release as a live version in the

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in 1982, and a third release in the United States in 1983, taken from the ''

Under a Blood Red Sky ''Under a Blood Red Sky'' is a live album by Irish rock band U2, produced by Jimmy Iovine and released on 21 November 1983. The record's eight tracks were compiled from three concerts during the group's 1983 War Tour, including two songs fro ...

'' album. It appeared on both the compilation album and video collection '' The Best of 1980–1990'', and in some countries, on the ''

U218 Singles U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pr ...

'' compilation. The song is included in the 2015

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

Rock Band 4 ''Rock Band 4'' is a 2015 music video game developed and published by Harmonix. ''Rock Band 4'' allows players to simulate the playing of music across many different decades and genres using instrument controllers that mimic playing lead and bas ...

'' as a playable track.

Live performances

It is the band's second most frequently performed song with over 1000 performances, only behind

Pride (In the Name of Love) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the second track on the band's 1984 album, ''The Unforgettable Fire'', and was released as its lead single in September 1984. The song was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lano ...

. It has been performed at every concert of

The Joshua Tree ''The Joshua Tree'' is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release, ' ...

PopMart Tour The PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 1997 album ''Pop'', the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks in 1997 and 1998. Much like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart w ...

Innocence + Experience Tour The Innocence + Experience Tour (styled as iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour) was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the band's 2014 album '' Songs of Innocence'', the tour visited arenas throughout 2015. It was U2's firs ...

and Experience + Innocence Tours. It has been played extensively on every tour; exceptions to this are the

Zoo TV Tour The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1991 album '' Achtung Baby'', the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 to 1993. It was intended to mirror ...

(where it was performed infrequently as part of the acoustic set), the

U2 360° Tour The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 2009 album ''No Line on the Horizon'', the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. The concerts featured the band playing "in the round" o ...

(where it wasn't played until the third leg) and

The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 and The Joshua Tree Tour 2019 were two worldwide concert tours by rock band U2 commemorating the 30th anniversary of their 1987 album ''The Joshua Tree''. The 2017 tour visited stadiums over four legs: North America f ...

(where it was sporadically performed as the concert closer). For The Joshua Tree Tour 2019 however, it was again played regularly as the second song of the show. The song appears on the live recordings/films ''

'', '' U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky'', ''

Live from the Point Depot ''Love: Live from the Point Depot'' is a digital live album by U2 released through the iTunes Music Store on November 23, 2004 as part of the digital box set, '' The Complete U2''. The show was recorded during U2's Lovetown Tour on New Year's E ...

'', '' PopMart: Live from Mexico City'', '' Elevation 2001: Live from Boston'', '' Live from Boston 1981'', '' Live from Paris'', and '' U22''. It also appears on '' Vertigo 05: Live from Milan'', the bonus DVD that is included with the ''

'' compilation and as a bonus track for UK/Australia releases of the CD. U2 performed the song on the

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

television show ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

'' in 1981. The performance was later released on DVD on a compilation of performances from the show.

Reception and legacy

In 2005, ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

'' ranked the song at number 214 on its list "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". The magazine wrote, "The first song on U2's first album introduced the guitar sound that would define their work. ..The arena-ready clarion call also established Bono's trademark lyrical earnestness, one of the reasons the song remains a fan favorite and a staple of the band's recent tours."

Formats and track listings

Note *The Netherlands release was recorded for the Veronica TV concert series ''Countdown'', and was reissued in Germany in 1983. The cover of the Canadian and U.S. releases feature the same image as the North American release of ''Boy''. The 1983 release was in a generic red sleeve with no cover artwork.

Personnel

–

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 ...

, glockenspiel *

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 string ...

, backing vocals *

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 A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Charts

1981 release

1982 release

1983 release

References

Footnotes Bibliography * *

External links

Will Follow'' Lyrics

{{authority control 1980 singles 1981 singles 1983 singles U2 songs Columbia Records singles Island Records singles Live singles Commemoration songs Songs written by Bono Songs written by the Edge Songs written by Adam Clayton Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr. Song recordings produced by Steve Lillywhite Music videos directed by Meiert Avis 2011 singles 1980 songs