This is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. An exhibit dedicated to the civil rights leader was on display at the Chicago Peace Museum in 1983 when the band visited.
The song had been intended to be about Ronald Reagan’s pride in America’s military power but writer Bono had been influenced by Stephen B. Oates’s book Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a biography of Malcolm X.
These caused Bono to ponder the different sides of the civil rights campaigns, the violent and the non-violent. In subsequent years, Bono has expressed his dissatisfaction with the lyrics, which he describes, along with another Unforgettable Fire song “Bad”, as being “left as simple sketches”.
He says he was swayed by The Edge and producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who played down the need to develop the lyrics as they thought the impressionistic nature was more important to the songs’ feeling, particularly when heard by non-English speakers.
Released on The Unforgettable Fire album, this song about Jesus (“one man betrayed with a kiss”) and Martin Luther King, Jr., reached number two on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Bono gave his all recording “Pride,” shouting the lyrics from the depths of his soul.
But don’t rely on Bono for a history lesson; the lyric referring to Dr. King (“Early morning, April four/Shot rings out in the Memphis sky …”) is incorrect — King was actually killed around 6:00 p.m. Bono has since realized his mistake and now sings “Early evening, April four” in live shows.
The last song on The Unforgettable Fire is “MLK,” another tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. “MLK” is the tenth and final song from U2’s 1984 album. A lullaby to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., it is a short, pensive piece with simple lyrics. It was because of this song, along with “Pride (In the Name of Love)”, another tribute to King, that earned Bono the highest honor of the King Center, an organization founded by Coretta Scott King.
Pride
One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come here to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love!
One man in the name of love
In the name of love!
What more? In the name of love!
One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resists
One man washed on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love!
What more? In the name of love!
…nobody like you…there’s nobody like you…
Mmm…mmm…mmm…
Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love…
Dr Martin Luther King
(January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968)
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated…………….