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In God's Country

"In God's Country"
In gods country cover.jpg
North American single picture sleeve
Single by U2
from the album The Joshua Tree
Released 17 November 1987 (1987-11-17)
Format
Recorded 1986
Studio Windmill Lane Studios (Dublin)
Genre Rock
Length 2:57
Label Island
Composer(s) U2
Lyricist(s) Bono
Producer(s) Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
U2 North American singles chronology
"Where the Streets Have No Name"
(1987)
"In God's Country"
(1987)
"Desire"
(1988)

"In God's Country" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the seventh track from their fifth studio album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's fourth single in November 1987 in North America only.

"In God's Country" was a difficult song for the band to record, which they attributed to not being trained musicians, and they do not speak very highly of it. During The Joshua Tree sessions, they knew it was not going be one of their best songs but they needed more uptempo songs. It was developed out of Bono's frustration at trying to get "a bit of rock 'n' roll out of [U2 guitarist] the Edge". Bono tried to inspire the Edge by teasing and playing on his competitive instincts by claiming to be a better guitarist. Of the song, Bono said "[My] lyric was really good, the tune is pretty good, and the hook is pretty average - thanks to the Edge."

"In God's Country" was recorded in the basement of the Edge's house, which producer Daniel Lanois called a "muggy little room where everything sounds dead" and "not a particularly inspiring place". Despite the location, he said the recording worked because of the "spontaneity and lack of pressure", which contributed to a good take, a quality Lanois favours to overplanning the recording setup. In producing the song, he used a collection of channels in the mixing console designated as sound treatments to adjust the tone of the Edge's guitar to give it a "beautiful shimmer", which he thought contributed to the song's mood. Lanois said, "What was a fairly straightforward rock track is now undermined by a mood of unrest", which inspired lead vocalist Bono to change his lyrics to give them more dimension.

Bono has stated that he originally didn't know whether the song was about Ireland or the United States, but eventually dedicated it to the Statue of Liberty. The song characterises the United States as a "desert rose" and a siren whose dress is torn in "ribbons and bows." The lyric speaks of a lack of political ideas in the West which Bono later contrasted to the revolution in Nicaragua where he had travelled during the recording of The Joshua Tree. Along with "Where the Streets Have No Name," the lyrics and sound of "In God's Country" reference the desert in accordance with the band's wish for The Joshua Tree to have a "cinematic" sense of location.


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