October 2013 Archives

Band will release 'Ordinary' and 'Breathe' on 10-inch vinyl

by Kory Grow, Rolling Stone

U2 will release two new songs, "Ordinary Love" and a new version of "Breathe," on 10-inch vinyl as part of Record Store Day's "Back to Black Friday" event on November 29th, according to Billboard. The cover of the 10-inch features a painting of Nelson Mandela because the group wrote and recorded "Ordinary Love" for the biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which is based on the South African president's autobiography and comes out the same day. "Breathe," which originally came out on U2's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, is listed on the Record Store Day website as the "Mandela Version." The vinyl is limited to 10,000 copies.

The band members befriended Mandela years ago and, according to their website, they were inspired to write the songs after seeing early cuts of the film. The movie stars Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther) and Naomie Harris (Skyfall, 28 Days Later . . .) and was directed by Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl). The song appears in the trailer for the film.