Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)"[1] is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the tenth track from their seventh studio album Achtung Baby. Ostensibly about love and dependency, the song also lends itself to religious interpretations, with listeners finding allusions to the Book of Job and writers finding spiritual meaning in its invocation of the light spectrum.
"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)"
The song's composition and recording incorporate both serious and throwaway elements, in keeping with the rest of Achtung Baby. While not released as a single, the song has appeared in two films and a U2 business venture was named after it. "Ultraviolet" played a featured role during the encores of the group's 1992–1993 Zoo TV Tour, 2009–2011 U2 360° Tour, and the Joshua Tree Tour 2017.
Recording[edit]
"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" began as two different demos, one variously called "Ultraviolet" and "69" (which eventually evolved into the b-side "Lady with the Spinning Head")[2] and an alternately arranged demo called "Light My Way".[3] Over the course of the recording sessions, U2 added various overdubs to the song, but producer Brian Eno believed these additions negatively impacted the track. Eno aided the group in editing down the song, and he explained his assistance as such: "I'd go in and say, 'The song has gone, whatever it is you liked about this song is not there anymore. Sometimes, for example, the song would have disappeared under layers of overdubs."[4]
Reception[edit]
Rolling Stone noted that "Ultraviolet" was one of the album's songs that hearkened more to the group's past than their new sound, saying that Edge's "soaring peals on [it] are instantly recognizable".[20] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that compared to much of the album's grim depictions of personal relations, "Ultraviolet" depicts love as a haven.[21] In contrast, U2 write John Jobling sees "Ultraviolet" as continuing the album's theme of "two people tearing each other apart", despite its "spectral pop" arrangement.[22]
The Boston Globe heard echoes of The Rolling Stones' 1966 song "Out of Time" in the chorus of "Ultraviolet".[23] Entertainment Weekly called it the album's highlight, "where Bono's soaring voice and the Edge's pointillistic guitar meld to create one of those uplifting moments we listen to U2 for".[24] Cedarville University literature professor Scott Calhoun says of one lyrical portion of "Ultraviolet", "That's so evocative and works as beautiful writing away from the music. It can stand on its own on the page and, of course, it's even more effective when accompanied by the music."[25]
Other writers were less enthusiastic. Q magazine felt that the song was weak and that "Bono falls back on his old habit of trying to be 'inspirational' by banging up the heat from simmer to meltdown between the verse and chorus."[26] U2 chroniclers Bill Graham and Caroline van Oosten de Boer also see the song as a throwback to the group's earlier sound, but say that "the band doesn't sufficiently develop the initial idea to warrant the five minutes of 'Ultra Violet'".[6]
While "Ultraviolet" was not released as a single, it was used in a scene at the end of the 2006 Adam Sandler film Click, in which Sandler's character drives home from Bed, Bath and Beyond to happily see his family, and make up for the mistakes he made with his universal remote control. It was also featured in the 2007 film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
The name Ultra Violet was also given to one of U2's improvised mid-1990s business initiatives, a joint merchandising venture with MCA Inc.'s Winterland division; the partnership soon dissolved, but not before producing several hundred thousand pairs of Bono "Fly" glasses.[27][28]
Covers[edit]
The Killers reworked the song for the 2011 tribute album AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered. "Achtung Baby was U2's 'Holy shit!' moment," remarked drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. "I was in high school when it came out and we'd drive around in my friend's mom's car and rock that shit all the time. When we were asked to record a cover, 'Ultraviolet' was a unanimous choice. It's reassuring to know that we're still on the same page after all these years. We brought it back to its bare bones, dumbed it down a little, took it back to the rock song underneath."[39]
The beginning of the song was also sampled by Enigma in their 1994 song "The Eyes of Truth".[40]