Mothers of the Disappeared
Encyclopedia
"Mothers of the Disappeared" is a song by rock
band U2
. It is the eleventh and final track on their 1987 album The Joshua Tree
. The song was inspired by lead singer Bono
's experiences in Nicaragua and El Salvador in July 1986, following U2's involvement on Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope tour. He learned of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children had been "disappeared"
by the Argentinean
and Chilean dictatorships. While in Central America, he met members of COMADRES
, a similar organization whose children had been disappeared by the government in El Salvador. Bono sympathized with the Madres and COMADRES and wanted to pay tribute to their cause.
The song was written on a Spanish guitar
, and the melody lifted from a piece Bono composed in Ethiopia in 1985 to help teach children basic forms of hygiene. The lyrics contain an implicit criticism of the Reagan Administration, which backed two South American regimes that seized power during coup d'états and which provided financial support for the military regime in El Salvador. Thematically it has been interpreted as an examination of failures and contradictions in US foreign policy.
"Mothers of the Disappeared" was played seven times on the 1987 Joshua Tree Tour
, and some recordings were considered for the ending sequence of the 1988 film Rattle and Hum
. It was revived for four concerts on the 1998 PopMart Tour
in South America, and the Madres joined the band onstage for the performance on two of those occasions, one of which was broadcast on television in Chile. Bono used the opportunity to ask General Pinochet to reveal to the Madres the locations of their children's bodies. The song was played a further three times on the U2 360° Tour
; one performance was dedicated to Fehmi Tosun, an ethnic Kurd who was forcibly disappeared in Turkey in 1995. The track was favourably received by critics, who variously described it as "powerful", "a moving tribute", and containing "stunning beauty and sadness". Bono re-recorded the song a cappella
in 1998 for the album ¡Ni Un Paso Atras!.
's A Conspiracy of Hope tour. Following the first concert in San Francisco, lead singer Bono
met René Castro, a Chilean mural artist. Castro had been tortured and held in a concentration camp for two years by the dictatorial Chilean government because his artwork criticised the Pinochet
-led regime that seized power in 1973 during a coup d'état. Castro showed Bono a wall painting in the Mission District that depicted the ongoing plight in Chile and Argentina. He also learned of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children were forcibly disappeared by the Argentinian government. The Madres' children were students who had opposed the government during the Dirty War
, and the coup d'état that brought Jorge Rafael Videla
into power. The Madres joined together to campaign for information regarding the locations of their children's bodies and the circumstances of their deaths, believing them to have been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered.
Inspired by the mural, Bono took an extended break from recording into July, travelling to Nicaragua
and El Salvador
with his wife, Alison Hewson, to see firsthand the distress of peasants bullied by political conflicts and US military intervention. While there, they worked with the Central American Mission Partners (CAMP), a human rights and economic development organization. In El Salvador they met members of the Comité de Madres Monsignor Romero (COMADRES
: Committee of the Mothers Monsignor Romero), an organization of women whose children were forcibly disappeared by the El Salvadoran government during the Salvadoran Civil War because they opposed the military regime that was in power. At one point during the trip, Bono, Alison, and a member of CAMP were shot at by government troops while on their way to deliver aid to a group of farmers. The shots were a warning and, according to author John Luerssen, the incident made Bono realize that "they didn't care for their intrusion and they could kill them if they felt compelled."
In 2006, Bono recounted another experience he had in El Salvador, where he had seen a body thrown from a van into the road. He remarked, "People would just disappear. If you were part of the opposition, you might find an SUV with the windows blacked out parked outside your house.... If that didn't stop you, occasionally they would come in and take you and murder you; there would be no trial." Bono understood the cause of the Madres and COMADRES and wanted to pay tribute to it. His experiences in Central America inspired the lyrics of "Mothers of the Disappeared" and another track from The Joshua Tree, "Bullet the Blue Sky
".
"Mothers of the Disappeared" was created and mixed
at guitarist The Edge
's newly-bought home, Melbeach, which U2 used as a recording studio. Bono wrote the song on his mother-in-law's Spanish guitar, and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. created a drum loop that was sampled by producer Brian Eno
. The melody came from a song that Bono wrote in Ethiopia in 1985 to teach children about basic methods of hygiene. Producer Daniel Lanois
was the principal mixer of the song. Bono, likening the studio itself to an instrument, described Lanois's mix as a 'performance'.
At the conclusion of the lyrics sheet for the song in the liner notes of The Joshua Tree, U2 listed addresses for several branches of Amnesty International, and proceeds from the song were donated to the organization. In 1998, Bono re-recorded the song a cappella
in English and Spanish for the album ¡Ni Un Paso Atras! (Not One Step Back!), along with a recitation of the William Butler Yeats
poem "Mother of God". The album was created by the Madres in commemoration of the disappearance of their children. The tracks were also recorded for the 1999 film 20 Años... 20 Poemas... 20 Artistas (20 Years... 20 Poems... 20 Artists).
in a key
of A
. The song begins with the sound of rain hitting a roof, which fades in over the first fourteen seconds alongside Clayton's bass and a processed
drum loop beat by Mullen which reverberates in the background. Thirty-two seconds into the song, Mullen's drums enter, playing a sporadic beat every four to five seconds. At the fifty-second mark the drums play a more regular beat, and The Edge's guitar, accompanied by Eno's synthesizer
, enters. The first verse begins at 1:28, and introduces the chord progression of A5–E5–Fm–D–A5, which is played in the verses. At 2:41 Eno's keyboards enter, and the song begins to follow a D–D5–A5 chord progression, while Bono begins falsetto vocals. The second verse then begins at 3:01. The lyrics end at 3:37, and the song returns to the chord progression of D–D5–A5. The harmony gradually grows in volume until 4:33, at which point the song enters into a coda
; the keyboards come to a finish and the guitar returns to playing A notes before fading over the next eight seconds alongside the bass. The synthesizer, drums, and drum loop conclude the song, fading out slowly over the last thirty-one seconds.
Eno used a piano as a percussive instrument and mixed the result with the drum loop through a PCM70
effects unit
to create a sound that Clayton called "eerie and foreign and scary". Lanois stated that the processing of Mullen's beat, which resulted in a drone-like sound, became the song's backbone and personality. Bassist Adam Clayton
described it as "evocative of that sinister death squad darkness". Colm O'Hare of Hot Press
felt it was "the key sonic element" because it "[evokes] an abstract sense of evil and dread".
In December 1986, Bono stated that he had a love–hate relationship with America, and that this influenced his work on the album. Speaking of his encounter with COMADRES in El Salvador and their impact on the song, he said, "There's no question in my mind of the Reagan Administration's involvement in backing the regime that is committing these atrocities. I doubt if the people of America are even aware of this. It's not my position to lecture them or tell them their place or to even open their eyes up to it in a very visual way, but it is affecting me and it affects the words I write and the music we make." In 2007, Clayton noted "We were looking at this America through a European lens, at a time when Britain was under Margaret Thatcher
who was breaking the miners.... So we were singing from the same hymn sheet as The Clash
but with our spotlight focused on injustice inside and outside America." He said "'Mothers of the Disappeared' was not just a reflection on what had happened under the military government in Chile but also at the US which had supported that government", and described Bono's vocals as "prehistoric", saying "it connects with something very primitive."
Greg Garrett, an English professor at Baylor University
, saw the song as an effort to "[respond] to growing interests in doing justice—and calling to attention American failures in that regard", noting that the regimes in South America had been supported by the United States because of their anti-communist positions, even though their tactics were in opposition to the democratic values that "America claims to champion around the world". Lisa Hand of the Sunday Independent
noted the influence of America on the track, remarking, "[it] does not confine itself simply to the music, but also extends to some of the lyrics. However, far from being a tribute to the star-spangled banner, the words highlight the political untruths and ambiguities which exist within the U.S. 'Mothers of the Disappeared' and 'Bullet the Blue Sky' both take a hard look at the American involvement in South America". Richard Harrington of The Washington Post
described the song as "a simple lament of great beauty and sadness pleading for the realization that ideological battles about right and left obscure the more important issue of right and wrong." Author David Kootnikoff described it as a "[portrait] of the American Dream gone rancid".
, where it closed the concert in place of the band's long-time finale "40". It was performed three more times on the leg; twice to open the encore and once to conclude the main set. U2 revived the song seven months later on the third leg, playing it in the encore at three of the final four concerts on the tour.
The final two performances, in Tempe, Arizona, on 19 and 20 December 1987, were filmed for the 1988 film Rattle and Hum. U2 sang the refrain "el pueblo vencerá", which means "a people united will overcome" in Spanish, at the conclusion of the song. Bono noted that the Madres use the phrase for motivation. The Edge said "we're so close to a Spanish speaking part of the world, we felt that maybe people at the concert might pick up on this lyric." Bono added that they had closed every concert since 1983 with the song "40", and so they were looking to replace it with "Mothers of the Disappeared" from that point on. He explained, "If the people of Arizona sing this, and if it goes into the film and onto the record, wherever we go in a way for the next few years, that will be taken up again. It'll be an interesting experiment...". The footage was considered for the closing sequence of the film, but the band eventually decided against including it. "Pride (In the Name of Love)
" was used as the final live song, and "All I Want Is You" was chosen to play over the credits.
Following the seven performances on the Joshua Tree Tour, U2 did not perform "Mothers of the Disappeared" until 1998, on the fourth leg of the PopMart Tour
. It was played at three concerts in Argentina and once in Chile, concluding all four shows. Bono sang "el pueblo vencerá" at the end of each performance. The first rendition was on 5 February 1998 in Buenos Aires, where it was performed with the Madres accompanying them on stage. The song was played by just Bono and The Edge and was set against footage of the Madres on the video screen. At the conclusion of the song, the band members faced the Madres and applauded, an act in which the rest of the audience joined. Part of the performance was later included on the television documentary Classic Albums: The Joshua Tree.
The cost of the tickets was too high for many fans in South America, so the band broadcast the 11 February concert in Chile live on television. Knowing that many people in the country would be watching, they played "Mothers of the Disappeared" in place of "Wake Up Dead Man". The stadium in which the concert was held had been used as a prison camp by Pinochet's regime following the coup d'état. Again it was performed solely by Bono and The Edge against footage of the Madres, and they invited the women to join them on stage a second time. The Madres held up photographs of their children and spoke about them briefly during the performance, an act which received a mixed reception from the audience. Bono made a plea to Pinochet, asking him to "tell these women where are the bones of their children."
"Mothers of the Disappeared" was performed again on the fourth leg of the Vertigo Tour
, on 26 February 2006 in Santiago and 2 March in Buenos Aires. Although it was rehearsed by the full band, it was played only by Bono and The Edge in an arrangement similar to the one from the PopMart Tour. The Edge performed the song on a charango
that Chilean President Ricardo Lagos
had given to Bono earlier that day. It was played at three concerts on the third leg of the U2 360° Tour
in place of "MLK
". One performance in Istanbul, Turkey, was dedicated to Fehmi Tosun, an ethnic Kurd who was kidnapped in October 1995 and subsequently disappeared. The abduction was witnessed by his wife and daughter; no information regarding his disappearance has ever been released.
called the song "powerful" and described the backing vocals as tender and choirlike. Don McLeese of the Chicago Sun-Times
described it as a "hymn to human rights". Adrian Thrills of NME
called it "a simple, plaintive lament of stunning beauty and sadness". Nicholas Jennings of Maclean's
felt that it was The Joshua Trees "most topical song". Music journalist Andrew Mueller
felt the track was a "wilfully downbeat finale". In Rolling Stone
, Steve Pond said "'Mothers of the Disappeared' is built around desolate images of loss, but the setting is soothing and restorative—music of great sadness but also of unutterable compassion, acceptance and calm." Lennox Samuels of The Dallas Morning News
stated that there was "an ineffable sadness in Bono's vocals and images where 'Night hangs like a prisoner / Stretched over black and blue' ", calling it "a moving tribute" to people around the world who had lost loved ones to warfare and conflict. He added "[w]hat's remarkable about the song is that despite the intrinsic pain, it remains eerily cleansing. Even in the midst of decay and excess and horror, Bono can find hope and absolution." In 2006 Bono described it as "a beautiful end to the album", saying, "That song means as much to me as any of the songs on that album, it's right up there for me," and noting that it is a song "I'm very proud of to this day."
Barbara Jaeger of The Bergen Record
likened "Mothers of the Disappeared" to "New Year's Day
" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)", stating that the band used all three to "stir political consciousness and to urge social commitment." Thirteen years later, Ryan Jones, in his review of U2's 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind
for the same publication, said the song "Peace on Earth
" contained echoes of "Mothers of the Disappeared" in its lyrics and the tone of the instrumental prelude. In reviewing the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, Mueller said the closing "Cedars of Lebanon" "maintains this essentially optimistic group's counter-intuitive tradition of ending their albums with rueful comedowns", likening it to "Mothers of the Disappeared". McLeese believed that the song had its roots in "the folklike purity of traditional Irish music". According to Luerssen the song is "notorious" in Central and South America, and it is often "played as an act of defiance" by the Madres. Art for Amnesty cited the song, and the effect it had in spreading Amnesty International's human rights message, as one of the reasons why U2 were awarded the Ambassador of Conscience Award
by the organization in 2005.
Reflecting on the applause given to the Madres during the PopMart concert in Buenos Aires, the U2 magazine Propaganda called the result "about the most moving thing I've ever seen on a rock stage. It was one of those ideas that really could have gone either way, but the obvious empathy of the audience towards these women made it an unforgettable moment." Following the televised concert in Chile, Bono said "it was amazing and confounding to discover that on our most 'pop' of tours some of the best shows were in political hotspots like Santiago, Sarajevo, Tel Aviv ... anywhere music meant more than entertainment". He added "to be able to address General Pinochet from the stage on live television in Chile and say give the dead back to the living. Please, General Pinochet, tell these women where the bones of their sons and daughters are. That was an extraordinary moment ... certainly in my life and U2's." When asked if the negative reaction from some of the audience had disappointed the band Bono said it had not, stating "it's proof to me that a rock 'n' roll audience are not lemmings.... If they don't agree with you, they will let you know — but that doesn't mean they're not fans.... I was flattered that we weren't just playing to people who agreed with us." U2's performance was later credited with inspiring a protest in the Chilean Parliament against Pinochet, who was in the process of becoming a Senator for life
after relinquishing his position as head of the armed forces. The opposition party brought in the Madres, who again held pictures of their disappeared children and asked for information on the location of their bodies.
"Mothers of the Disappeared" has been covered
several times. The Vitamin String Quartet included it on their 2004 tribute album The String Quartet Tribute to U2's The Joshua Tree. Paddy Casey
recorded a version for the tsunami relief album Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 3
in 2005.
Additional performers
Technical
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
. It is the eleventh and final track on their 1987 album The Joshua Tree
The Joshua Tree
The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by 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 The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...
. The song was inspired by lead singer Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
's experiences in Nicaragua and El Salvador in July 1986, following U2's involvement on Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope tour. He learned of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children had been "disappeared"
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
by the Argentinean
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
and Chilean dictatorships. While in Central America, he met members of COMADRES
COMADRES
COMADRES is the committee of mothers and relatives of prisoners, the disappeared and the politically assassinated of El Salvador. It was established in December, 1977, with the help of the Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador and the Archbishop Óscar Romero, to discover the truth behind the...
, a similar organization whose children had been disappeared by the government in El Salvador. Bono sympathized with the Madres and COMADRES and wanted to pay tribute to their cause.
The song was written on a Spanish guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
, and the melody lifted from a piece Bono composed in Ethiopia in 1985 to help teach children basic forms of hygiene. The lyrics contain an implicit criticism of the Reagan Administration, which backed two South American regimes that seized power during coup d'états and which provided financial support for the military regime in El Salvador. Thematically it has been interpreted as an examination of failures and contradictions in US foreign policy.
"Mothers of the Disappeared" was played seven times on the 1987 Joshua Tree Tour
Joshua Tree Tour
The Joshua Tree Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place during 1987, in support of their album The Joshua Tree. The tour was depicted by the video and live album Live from Paris.-Itinerary:...
, and some recordings were considered for the ending sequence of the 1988 film Rattle and Hum
Rattle and Hum
Rattle and Hum is the sixth studio album by rock band U2 and companion rockumentary directed by Phil Joanou, both released in 1988. The film and the album feature live recordings, covers, and new songs...
. It was revived for four concerts on the 1998 PopMart Tour
Popmart Tour
The PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 1997 album, Pop, the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks from 1997 through 1998...
in South America, and the Madres joined the band onstage for the performance on two of those occasions, one of which was broadcast on television in Chile. Bono used the opportunity to ask General Pinochet to reveal to the Madres the locations of their children's bodies. The song was played a further three times on the U2 360° Tour
U2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. It was named for a stage configuration that allowed the audience to almost completely surround the stage...
; one performance was dedicated to Fehmi Tosun, an ethnic Kurd who was forcibly disappeared in Turkey in 1995. The track was favourably received by critics, who variously described it as "powerful", "a moving tribute", and containing "stunning beauty and sadness". Bono re-recorded the song a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
in 1998 for the album ¡Ni Un Paso Atras!.
Inspiration, writing, and recording
Recording sessions for The Joshua Tree began in January 1986 in Danesmoate House in Dublin, Ireland, and continued throughout the year. U2 briefly interrupted these sessions in June to join Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's A Conspiracy of Hope tour. Following the first concert in San Francisco, lead singer Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
met René Castro, a Chilean mural artist. Castro had been tortured and held in a concentration camp for two years by the dictatorial Chilean government because his artwork criticised the Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
-led regime that seized power in 1973 during a coup d'état. Castro showed Bono a wall painting in the Mission District that depicted the ongoing plight in Chile and Argentina. He also learned of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children were forcibly disappeared by the Argentinian government. The Madres' children were students who had opposed the government during the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
, and the coup d'état that brought Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo is a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...
into power. The Madres joined together to campaign for information regarding the locations of their children's bodies and the circumstances of their deaths, believing them to have been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
with his wife, Alison Hewson, to see firsthand the distress of peasants bullied by political conflicts and US military intervention. While there, they worked with the Central American Mission Partners (CAMP), a human rights and economic development organization. In El Salvador they met members of the Comité de Madres Monsignor Romero (COMADRES
COMADRES
COMADRES is the committee of mothers and relatives of prisoners, the disappeared and the politically assassinated of El Salvador. It was established in December, 1977, with the help of the Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador and the Archbishop Óscar Romero, to discover the truth behind the...
: Committee of the Mothers Monsignor Romero), an organization of women whose children were forcibly disappeared by the El Salvadoran government during the Salvadoran Civil War because they opposed the military regime that was in power. At one point during the trip, Bono, Alison, and a member of CAMP were shot at by government troops while on their way to deliver aid to a group of farmers. The shots were a warning and, according to author John Luerssen, the incident made Bono realize that "they didn't care for their intrusion and they could kill them if they felt compelled."
In 2006, Bono recounted another experience he had in El Salvador, where he had seen a body thrown from a van into the road. He remarked, "People would just disappear. If you were part of the opposition, you might find an SUV with the windows blacked out parked outside your house.... If that didn't stop you, occasionally they would come in and take you and murder you; there would be no trial." Bono understood the cause of the Madres and COMADRES and wanted to pay tribute to it. His experiences in Central America inspired the lyrics of "Mothers of the Disappeared" and another track from The Joshua Tree, "Bullet the Blue Sky
Bullet the Blue Sky
"Bullet the Blue Sky" is the fourth track from U2's 1987 album, The Joshua Tree. The song is one of the band's most overtly politically toned songs, with live performances often being heavily critical of political conflicts and violence....
".
"Mothers of the Disappeared" was created and mixed
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
at guitarist The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
's newly-bought home, Melbeach, which U2 used as a recording studio. Bono wrote the song on his mother-in-law's Spanish guitar, and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. created a drum loop that was sampled by producer Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
. The melody came from a song that Bono wrote in Ethiopia in 1985 to teach children about basic methods of hygiene. Producer Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
was the principal mixer of the song. Bono, likening the studio itself to an instrument, described Lanois's mix as a 'performance'.
At the conclusion of the lyrics sheet for the song in the liner notes of The Joshua Tree, U2 listed addresses for several branches of Amnesty International, and proceeds from the song were donated to the organization. In 1998, Bono re-recorded the song a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
in English and Spanish for the album ¡Ni Un Paso Atras! (Not One Step Back!), along with a recitation of the William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
poem "Mother of God". The album was created by the Madres in commemoration of the disappearance of their children. The tracks were also recorded for the 1999 film 20 Años... 20 Poemas... 20 Artistas (20 Years... 20 Poems... 20 Artists).
Composition and theme
"Mothers of the Disappeared" runs for 5:14 (5 minutes, 14 seconds). It is played in common timeTime signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
in a key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of A
A (musical note)
La or A is the sixth note of the solfège. "A" is generally used as a standard for tuning. When the orchestra tunes, the oboe plays an "A" and the rest of the instruments tune to match that pitch. Every string instrument in the orchestra has an A string, from which each player can tune the rest of...
. The song begins with the sound of rain hitting a roof, which fades in over the first fourteen seconds alongside Clayton's bass and a processed
Audio signal processing
Audio signal processing, sometimes referred to as audio processing, is the intentional alteration of auditory signals, or sound. As audio signals may be electronically represented in either digital or analog format, signal processing may occur in either domain...
drum loop beat by Mullen which reverberates in the background. Thirty-two seconds into the song, Mullen's drums enter, playing a sporadic beat every four to five seconds. At the fifty-second mark the drums play a more regular beat, and The Edge's guitar, accompanied by Eno's synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, enters. The first verse begins at 1:28, and introduces the chord progression of A5–E5–Fm–D–A5, which is played in the verses. At 2:41 Eno's keyboards enter, and the song begins to follow a D–D5–A5 chord progression, while Bono begins falsetto vocals. The second verse then begins at 3:01. The lyrics end at 3:37, and the song returns to the chord progression of D–D5–A5. The harmony gradually grows in volume until 4:33, at which point the song enters into a coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
; the keyboards come to a finish and the guitar returns to playing A notes before fading over the next eight seconds alongside the bass. The synthesizer, drums, and drum loop conclude the song, fading out slowly over the last thirty-one seconds.
Eno used a piano as a percussive instrument and mixed the result with the drum loop through a PCM70
Lexicon (company)
Lexicon is an American audio equipment manufacturing company founded in 1971 and owned by Harman International Industries. Lexicon's roots began in 1969 with the founding of American Data Sciences by MIT professor Dr...
effects unit
Effects unit
Effects units are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically. Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass...
to create a sound that Clayton called "eerie and foreign and scary". Lanois stated that the processing of Mullen's beat, which resulted in a drone-like sound, became the song's backbone and personality. Bassist Adam Clayton
Adam Clayton
Adam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...
described it as "evocative of that sinister death squad darkness". Colm O'Hare of Hot Press
Hot Press
Hot Press is a fortnightly music and political magazine based in Dublin, Ireland founded in 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it had a circulation of 19,215 during 2007...
felt it was "the key sonic element" because it "[evokes] an abstract sense of evil and dread".
In December 1986, Bono stated that he had a love–hate relationship with America, and that this influenced his work on the album. Speaking of his encounter with COMADRES in El Salvador and their impact on the song, he said, "There's no question in my mind of the Reagan Administration's involvement in backing the regime that is committing these atrocities. I doubt if the people of America are even aware of this. It's not my position to lecture them or tell them their place or to even open their eyes up to it in a very visual way, but it is affecting me and it affects the words I write and the music we make." In 2007, Clayton noted "We were looking at this America through a European lens, at a time when Britain was under Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
who was breaking the miners.... So we were singing from the same hymn sheet as The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
but with our spotlight focused on injustice inside and outside America." He said "'Mothers of the Disappeared' was not just a reflection on what had happened under the military government in Chile but also at the US which had supported that government", and described Bono's vocals as "prehistoric", saying "it connects with something very primitive."
Greg Garrett, an English professor at Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
, saw the song as an effort to "[respond] to growing interests in doing justice—and calling to attention American failures in that regard", noting that the regimes in South America had been supported by the United States because of their anti-communist positions, even though their tactics were in opposition to the democratic values that "America claims to champion around the world". Lisa Hand of the Sunday Independent
Sunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...
noted the influence of America on the track, remarking, "[it] does not confine itself simply to the music, but also extends to some of the lyrics. However, far from being a tribute to the star-spangled banner, the words highlight the political untruths and ambiguities which exist within the U.S. 'Mothers of the Disappeared' and 'Bullet the Blue Sky' both take a hard look at the American involvement in South America". Richard Harrington of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
described the song as "a simple lament of great beauty and sadness pleading for the realization that ideological battles about right and left obscure the more important issue of right and wrong." Author David Kootnikoff described it as a "[portrait] of the American Dream gone rancid".
Live performances
U2 debuted "Mothers of the Disappeared" on 14 April 1987 in San Diego, California, on the first leg of the Joshua Tree TourJoshua Tree Tour
The Joshua Tree Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place during 1987, in support of their album The Joshua Tree. The tour was depicted by the video and live album Live from Paris.-Itinerary:...
, where it closed the concert in place of the band's long-time finale "40". It was performed three more times on the leg; twice to open the encore and once to conclude the main set. U2 revived the song seven months later on the third leg, playing it in the encore at three of the final four concerts on the tour.
The final two performances, in Tempe, Arizona, on 19 and 20 December 1987, were filmed for the 1988 film Rattle and Hum. U2 sang the refrain "el pueblo vencerá", which means "a people united will overcome" in Spanish, at the conclusion of the song. Bono noted that the Madres use the phrase for motivation. The Edge said "we're so close to a Spanish speaking part of the world, we felt that maybe people at the concert might pick up on this lyric." Bono added that they had closed every concert since 1983 with the song "40", and so they were looking to replace it with "Mothers of the Disappeared" from that point on. He explained, "If the people of Arizona sing this, and if it goes into the film and onto the record, wherever we go in a way for the next few years, that will be taken up again. It'll be an interesting experiment...". The footage was considered for the closing sequence of the film, but the band eventually decided against including it. "Pride (In the Name of Love)
Pride (In the Name of Love)
"Pride " is a song by Irish rock band U2. The second track on the band's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album's lead single in September 1984...
" was used as the final live song, and "All I Want Is You" was chosen to play over the credits.
Following the seven performances on the Joshua Tree Tour, U2 did not perform "Mothers of the Disappeared" until 1998, on the fourth leg of the PopMart Tour
Popmart Tour
The PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 1997 album, Pop, the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks from 1997 through 1998...
. It was played at three concerts in Argentina and once in Chile, concluding all four shows. Bono sang "el pueblo vencerá" at the end of each performance. The first rendition was on 5 February 1998 in Buenos Aires, where it was performed with the Madres accompanying them on stage. The song was played by just Bono and The Edge and was set against footage of the Madres on the video screen. At the conclusion of the song, the band members faced the Madres and applauded, an act in which the rest of the audience joined. Part of the performance was later included on the television documentary Classic Albums: The Joshua Tree.
The cost of the tickets was too high for many fans in South America, so the band broadcast the 11 February concert in Chile live on television. Knowing that many people in the country would be watching, they played "Mothers of the Disappeared" in place of "Wake Up Dead Man". The stadium in which the concert was held had been used as a prison camp by Pinochet's regime following the coup d'état. Again it was performed solely by Bono and The Edge against footage of the Madres, and they invited the women to join them on stage a second time. The Madres held up photographs of their children and spoke about them briefly during the performance, an act which received a mixed reception from the audience. Bono made a plea to Pinochet, asking him to "tell these women where are the bones of their children."
"Mothers of the Disappeared" was performed again on the fourth leg of the Vertigo Tour
Vertigo Tour
The Vertigo Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the band visited arenas and stadiums from 2005 through 2006. The Vertigo Tour consisted of five legs that alternated between indoor arena shows in...
, on 26 February 2006 in Santiago and 2 March in Buenos Aires. Although it was rehearsed by the full band, it was played only by Bono and The Edge in an arrangement similar to the one from the PopMart Tour. The Edge performed the song on a charango
Charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
that Chilean President Ricardo Lagos
Ricardo Lagos
Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar is a lawyer, economist and social democrat politician, who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. He won the 1999-2000 presidential election by a narrow margin in a runoff over Independent Democrat Union candidate Joaquín Lavín...
had given to Bono earlier that day. It was played at three concerts on the third leg of the U2 360° Tour
U2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. It was named for a stage configuration that allowed the audience to almost completely surround the stage...
in place of "MLK
MLK (song)
"MLK" is the tenth and final song from U2's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. A lullaby to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., it is a short, pensive piece with simple lyrics...
". One performance in Istanbul, Turkey, was dedicated to Fehmi Tosun, an ethnic Kurd who was kidnapped in October 1995 and subsequently disappeared. The abduction was witnessed by his wife and daughter; no information regarding his disappearance has ever been released.
Reception
"Mothers of the Disappeared" was favourably received by critics. Steve Morse of The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
called the song "powerful" and described the backing vocals as tender and choirlike. Don McLeese of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
described it as a "hymn to human rights". Adrian Thrills of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
called it "a simple, plaintive lament of stunning beauty and sadness". Nicholas Jennings of Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
felt that it was The Joshua Trees "most topical song". Music journalist Andrew Mueller
Andrew Mueller
Andrew Mueller is an Australian-born, London-based journalist and author. He is a contributing editor at Monocle, and also regularly writes for The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Financial Times, Esquire, The Guardian, Arena, The Times, Uncut, High Life, Harper's Bazaar, New Humanist,...
felt the track was a "wilfully downbeat finale". In Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Steve Pond said "'Mothers of the Disappeared' is built around desolate images of loss, but the setting is soothing and restorative—music of great sadness but also of unutterable compassion, acceptance and calm." Lennox Samuels of The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
stated that there was "an ineffable sadness in Bono's vocals and images where 'Night hangs like a prisoner / Stretched over black and blue' ", calling it "a moving tribute" to people around the world who had lost loved ones to warfare and conflict. He added "[w]hat's remarkable about the song is that despite the intrinsic pain, it remains eerily cleansing. Even in the midst of decay and excess and horror, Bono can find hope and absolution." In 2006 Bono described it as "a beautiful end to the album", saying, "That song means as much to me as any of the songs on that album, it's right up there for me," and noting that it is a song "I'm very proud of to this day."
Barbara Jaeger of The Bergen Record
The Record (Bergen County)
The Record is a newspaper in northern New Jersey. It has the second largest circulation of New Jersey's daily newspapers, behind The Star-Ledger. Owned by the Borg family since 1930, it is the flagship publication of the North Jersey Media Group. Stephen Borg is the publisher of The Record...
likened "Mothers of the Disappeared" to "New Year's Day
New Year's Day (song)
"New Year's Day" is a song by rock band U2. It is on their 1983 album War and it was released as the album's lead single in January 1983. Written about the Polish Solidarity movement, "New Year's Day" is driven by Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and The Edge's keyboard playing...
" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)", stating that the band used all three to "stir political consciousness and to urge social commitment." Thirteen years later, Ryan Jones, in his review of U2's 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind
All That You Can't Leave Behind
All That You Can't Leave Behind is the tenth studio album by rock band U2. It was released on 30 October 2000 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and Interscope Records in the United States...
for the same publication, said the song "Peace on Earth
Peace on Earth (U2 song)
"Peace on Earth" is a song by rock band U2 and the eighth track on their 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind. Its lyrics were inspired by the Real IRA Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland on 15 August 1998....
" contained echoes of "Mothers of the Disappeared" in its lyrics and the tone of the instrumental prelude. In reviewing the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, Mueller said the closing "Cedars of Lebanon" "maintains this essentially optimistic group's counter-intuitive tradition of ending their albums with rueful comedowns", likening it to "Mothers of the Disappeared". McLeese believed that the song had its roots in "the folklike purity of traditional Irish music". According to Luerssen the song is "notorious" in Central and South America, and it is often "played as an act of defiance" by the Madres. Art for Amnesty cited the song, and the effect it had in spreading Amnesty International's human rights message, as one of the reasons why U2 were awarded the Ambassador of Conscience Award
Ambassador of Conscience Award
The Ambassador of Conscience Award is Amnesty International's most prestigious human rights award. It is given annually to individuals who show exceptional leadership in the fight to protect and promote human rights and human conscience...
by the organization in 2005.
Reflecting on the applause given to the Madres during the PopMart concert in Buenos Aires, the U2 magazine Propaganda called the result "about the most moving thing I've ever seen on a rock stage. It was one of those ideas that really could have gone either way, but the obvious empathy of the audience towards these women made it an unforgettable moment." Following the televised concert in Chile, Bono said "it was amazing and confounding to discover that on our most 'pop' of tours some of the best shows were in political hotspots like Santiago, Sarajevo, Tel Aviv ... anywhere music meant more than entertainment". He added "to be able to address General Pinochet from the stage on live television in Chile and say give the dead back to the living. Please, General Pinochet, tell these women where the bones of their sons and daughters are. That was an extraordinary moment ... certainly in my life and U2's." When asked if the negative reaction from some of the audience had disappointed the band Bono said it had not, stating "it's proof to me that a rock 'n' roll audience are not lemmings.... If they don't agree with you, they will let you know — but that doesn't mean they're not fans.... I was flattered that we weren't just playing to people who agreed with us." U2's performance was later credited with inspiring a protest in the Chilean Parliament against Pinochet, who was in the process of becoming a Senator for life
Senator for life
A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , 7 Italian Senators out of 322, 4 out of the 47 Burundian Senators and all members of the British House of Lords have lifetime tenure...
after relinquishing his position as head of the armed forces. The opposition party brought in the Madres, who again held pictures of their disappeared children and asked for information on the location of their bodies.
"Mothers of the Disappeared" has been covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
several times. The Vitamin String Quartet included it on their 2004 tribute album The String Quartet Tribute to U2's The Joshua Tree. Paddy Casey
Paddy Casey
Patrick "Paddy" Casey is an Irish singer-songwriter from Dublin. Paddy was discovered by Sony A&R Scout Hugh Murray at the International Bar in Dublin, while performing at the singer/songwriter night hosted by Dave Murphy...
recorded a version for the tsunami relief album Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 3
Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 3
Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 3 is an Irish charity two-disc album featuring a variety of artists performing acoustic covers. Despite the title of the series being taken from a U2 song, the previous albums did not contain any U2 covers...
in 2005.
Personnel
U2- BonoBonoPaul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
– lead vocalsLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the... - The EdgeThe EdgeDavid Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Adam ClaytonAdam ClaytonAdam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Larry Mullen Jr.Larry Mullen Jr.Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Mullen, Jr. is an Irish musician best known as the drummer for the Irish rock band U2. He is the founder of U2, which he later described as "'The Larry Mullen Band' for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge." He has worked on...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Additional performers
- Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
– keyboards, synthesizerYamaha DX7The Yamaha DX7 is an FM Digital Synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1986. It was the first commercially successful digital synthesizer. Its distinctive sound can be heard on many recordings, especially Pop music from the 1980s...
Technical
- Daniel LanoisDaniel LanoisDaniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
– mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Flood – recordingSound recording and reproductionSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
See also
- "They Dance AloneThey Dance Alone"They Dance Alone " is a protest song composed by English musician Sting and published first on the 1987 album ...Nothing Like the Sun. The song is a metaphor referring to mourning Chilean women who dancing the Cueca, the national dance of Chile, alone with photographs of their disappeared loved...
" – a song by Sting that treats the same subject