U2 is a very, very serious band made up of sober, solemn individuals. But it’s when the group allows itself to go a little wild that things really start to happen in all the right ways. That is, in my estimation, what occurred for the electro-driven and Oriental-inspired “Mysterious Ways,” one of the most important alternative rock songs of the 1990s.
But just what is Bono singing about? How did the song come to be, and how did it further increase U2’s reputation? Here’s what I think happened.
U2’s Road to Making “Mysterious Ways”
I often like to complain about U2, chiefly about their lead singer, Bono. I’ve found that a great number of rock fans like nothing more than doing the same thing.
However, I am also open to acknowledging the Irish groups’ triumphs. In the 1980s, I’m not sure that any group from Ireland or the United Kingdom worked as much at being successful in the U.S. The band toured endlessly, said yes to every promotion opportunity and adopted a quasi-Americana sound.
Still, by the end of the decade, they’d reached an inevitable dead end.
Inspired by their producer Brian Eno and his own artistic history, U2 decided they wanted to chase musical experimentation in old Berlin, just like Eno and David Bowie had done. The attempts started meekly and developed slowly. But by the end of those, they had a bona fide smash hit album, “Achtung Baby”, and the equally, if underrated, in my opinion, “Zooropa.”
“Mysterious Ways” is one of the songs written in Berlin, this dark techno party capital of the world.
Meaning of the Lyrics to “Mysterious Ways”
At the heart of it, “Mysterious Ways” deals with the two topics closest to the heart of Bono – love and religion.
In the song, Johnny receives guidance from above in the form of a beautiful woman who offers him love. Not that, I suppose, isn’t different from a million other songs, some of them also penned by U2.
Interestingly, however, Bono says that he was inspired by spiritual and philosophical discussions about the gender of God. In Judaism, one of the names of the deity is given as “El Shaddai,” which translates literally to “The Breasted One.”
With help from Rev. Jack Heaslip, the guiding counsellor of the four U2 members back in secondary school, and, let’s face it, some confusion over religious delimitations, the object of Johnny’s affections could be God herself.
Explaining his obsession with women and love, Bono said: “At times I do tend to idealise women. It’s easy to fall into the trap of separating them into angels and devils for the sake of the drama. But there’s no way that there’s ever anything anti-women involved. Our songs are not politically correct. They are written from a man’s point of view. He’s wrestling with different things, there’s a flash of anger and hurt here and there. But I don’t think women come out badly.”
However, perhaps the greatest thing that the sessions for “Mysterious Ways” provided was the song “One.” In fact, U2 hastily recorded “One” before returning to their original target.
The Music Video for “Mysterious Ways”
U2 was very successful in the early 1990s at making themselves look cool, hip and with the times, when many of their contemporaries were already beginning to be seen by the public as belonging to a separate era.
Music videos like the one released for “Mysterious Ways” certainly helped create the band’s 90s public image. The promo film was directed by Stephane Sednaoui and shot in Morocco. It features a belly dancer who, ahem, moves in “mysterious ways.”
During live shows, dancer Morleigh Steinberg would appear on stage with the band. Later, Steinberg married guitarist The Edge, and the two have two children together.
The Legacy of U2 and of “Mysterious Ways”
For a while, U2 was the rock band embraced by the EDM scene. “Achtung Baby ” was made, after all, in Berlin under the influence of techno and the city’s nightlife. No wonder that Paul Oakenfold’s dance remix of “Mysterious Ways” became a club hit on its own.
U2 wasn’t just seen as very cool, for a while, at least. Bono was also viewed as a smart, funny man. It’s impossible, for me, at least, to imagine that now. During the very famous Zoo TV Tour, the singer would perform the song in character as The Fly, and later MacPhisto, over the top rock star parodies.
“Achtung Baby” is U2’s second most popular album, after “The Joshua Tree,” having sold over 18 million units. The group’s success ran all the way until the last part of the decade. However, by the start of the new century, the adult contemporary hymns found on “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” had reignited U2’s success. Through all of that, “Mysterious Ways” remains one of U2’s greatest songs.
