Get on Your Boots
Encyclopedia
"Get On Your Boots" is a song by Irish
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 rock
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...

 and the sixth track from their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. The song was released as the album's first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 on 23 January 2009. The physical format was released on 16 February. The video received its premiere on 6 February 2009.

The lyrical delivery of the song's verses has been said to resemble Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "Subterranean Homesick Blues
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records, catalogue 43242. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also...

", while the song has also been compared to "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

.

Writing and recording

Originally known as "Four Letter Word" and later as "Sexy Boots", "Get On Your Boots" originated as a demo that 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...

 recorded at his home with the software GarageBand
GarageBand
GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iOS that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. as a part of the iLife software package on Mac OS X.-Audio recording:...

. The song went through many iterations, and at one point the main guitar riff was dropped, leading producer Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite is an English Grammy Award winning record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited for working on over 500 records and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel,...

 to describe it as "a Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

 B side" that could have been cut from the album. Throughout the documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

 It Might Get Loud
It Might Get Loud
It Might Get Loud is a documentary by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim. It explores the history of the electric guitar, focusing on the careers and styles of Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. The film received a wide release on August 14, 2009 in the U.S...

, The Edge is shown working on the song's guitar riffs, while experimenting with their sounds and effects.

"Get On Your Boots" was one of several songs recorded by a fan outside of Bono's house during the No Line on the Horizon sessions. The clip was subsequently uploaded to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

, but removed at the request of Universal Music.

Thematically, the song is about Bono taking his family on vacation to France and witnessing warplanes flying overhead at the start of the Iraq War; some of the lyrics are from the perspective of a man writing a letter to his first love as he relates witnessing the same event. The "let me in the sound" chant was developed comparatively late in the recording sessions. It was also used in the opening section of "Fez – Being Born". "Get On Your Boots" was one of three songs that the band were considering to open the album with, along with "Fez – Being Born" and "No Line on the Horizon". "No Line on the Horizon" was eventually chosen.

Composition

At a speed of 150 beats per minute, "Get On Your Boots" is one of the fastest songs the band have ever recorded. It was described by Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

 as "demented electro grunge employs a proto-rock n'roll riff, but propelled into the future, before taking a sudden hip-hop twist midway through." 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...

magazine has called it a "blazing, fuzzed-out rocker that picks up where 'Vertigo' left off." 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...

described the song as "[...] a thoroughly contemporary, intense electro grunge exercise, with Adam Clayton's powerful bass to the fore, which mixes hip hop influences with shades of the Rolling Stones, Queen, Bob Dylan and The Beatles."

The song was remixed by the French duo Justice
Justice (French band)
Justice is a French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay . The duo is one of the most successful groups on Ed Banger Records and is managed by the label's head, Pedro Winter...

 and Italian duo Crookers
Crookers
Crookers are an Italian DJ/production duo who have worked together since 2003. When the two artists met, both were trying to branch out of their genre and explore dance music. Their first collaboration worked...

.

Release

A bootlegged, early version of the song was partly released to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 during the band's recording sessions at the French resort of Èze
Èze
Èze is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département in southeastern France, not far from the city of Nice.-History:The area surrounding Èze was first populated around 2000 BC as a commune situated near Mount Bastide. The earliest occurrence of the name "Èze" can be found in the maritime books of...

. The poor quality version was subsequently removed from the site at the behest of the band's record label, Universal Records
Universal Records
Universal Records was a record label owned by Universal Music Group, and it is now owned by Manny Patino and Michael Jackson, and operated as part of the Universal Motown Republic Group.-History:...

. Media reports in August 2008 originally referred to the song by the title "Sexy Boots", and later as "Get Your Boots On". It was later revised to "Get on Your Boots".

"Get On Your Boots" was scheduled to receive its world radio premiere on The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show
The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show
The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show was an Irish breakfast radio show, broadcast weekdays on RTÉ 2fm. The show, hosted by Colm Hayes and Jim-Jim Nugent, began broadcasting in March 2007 when the duo moved from rival station FM104....

on the Irish
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 radio station RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's second national radio station. It broadcasts popular music programming aimed at a young Irish audience.- History :...

 at 8:10 on 19 January 2009 by the band's long-time friend and favoured disc-jockey Dave Fanning
Dave Fanning
Dave Fanning is an Irish rock journalist, DJ, retired film critic and veteran broadcaster. He currently hosts The 11th Hour on RTÉ Two and two radio shows: Drivetime with Dave on RTÉ Radio 1 and The Dave Fanning Show on RTÉ 2fm. He also fills in for other presenters on RTÉ Radio, including acting...

. However, after a nearly 30 second sample of the song was leaked onto the Internet, the song was made available in the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

 for purchase an hour before its first play by Fanning, and the band decided to begin streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...

 the song on U2.com later that day. The b-side, "No Line on the Horizon 2", is an altered version of the album's title track.

The track was later included on the British compilation album Now That's What I Call Music! 72
Now That's What I Call Music! 72 (UK series)
Now That's What I Call Music! 72 or Now 72! is a compilation album that was released on 3 April 2009 in Ireland. The album is the 72nd edition of the original series...

.

Music video

The music video was directed by Alex Courtes, who previously co-directed the music videos for "Vertigo" and "City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
"City of Blinding Lights" is a song by the rock band U2. It is the fifth track on their 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and was released as the album's fourth single on 6 June 2005. The song was a top ten hit in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and several other countries...

". The video features footage of the band performing the song in front of a background consisting of collages of military, astronomy, and female imagery. The video footage of the band was shot in London. The Edge stated that the video is about letting women take over because "men have fucked things up so badly, politically, economically, and socially".

The video was scheduled to premiere on the Irish Independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...

 website on 30 January 2009, but this was later delayed. Universal Music issued a statement saying that the video had not been completed in time for its scheduled airing. Images from a leaked version of the video had Getty Images
Getty Images
Getty Images, Inc. is a stock photo agency, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is a supplier of stock images for business and consumers with an archive of 80 million still images and illustrations and more than 50,000 hours of stock film footage...

 watermarks on them, indicating unresolved copyright issues. The finished version of the video premiered at 17:00 UTC on Friday, 6 February on the newspaper's website.

Live performance history

U2 played "Get On Your Boots" to open the 2009 Grammy Awards and the 2009 BRIT Awards
2009 BRIT Awards
The 2009 BRIT Awards ceremony took place on Wednesday 18 February 2009. It was the 29th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The awards ceremony was held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, and was broadcast live on ITV1 on 18 February at 8pm...

. It was performed at every show 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...

, with the song usually being placed near the start of the show.

On the TV show Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... was a UK/Canadian television series, shown on Channel 4 in the UK, CTV in Canada and the Sundance Channel in the United States. The show features intimate interviews between the host, Elvis Costello, and various musical guests intertwined with performances by...

, Bono, The Edge and Elvis Costello performed a medley of "Pump It Up" and "Get on Your Boots", alternating between the two songs.

Reception and chart performance

"Get On Your Boots" received mixed response. It was favourably received by Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

, which stated that "the song is upbeat and energetic, and its instantaneous chart success (the first No. 1 Triple A debut in Nielsen BDS history and a top 10 debut at Modern Rock) shows that U2's popularity hasn't waned one iota". Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....

said "'Get On Your Boots' is a manic low-end rocker a la 'Vertigo,' with phased ’70s-style synths, buzzing guitar and a breathless vocal from Bono that brings back fond memories of the days when the Edge tried to rap". Allmusic wasn't happy with the song, saying "Contrary to the suggestion of the clanking, sputtering first single 'Get On Your Boots' — its riffs and 'Pump It Up' chant sounding like a cheap mashup stitched together in GarageBand — [No Line on the Horizon] isn't a garish, gaudy electro-dalliance in the vein of Pop". In an interview with Rolling Stone, Adam Clayton stated his thoughts as to why "Get On Your Boots" had such a mixed response: "Interestingly, it's going off live. I think probably what happened was it's a common U2 problem. I think we probably worked on it and worked on it and worked on it, and instead of executing one idea well, I think we had probably five ideas in the song, and it just confused people. They weren't sure what they were hearing."

The song entered the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 Top 40 in its debut week, fell to #96 the following week, then off the chart. However, it did become their sixteenth top-five Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

 hit, debuting in the Top 10, and peaking at #5. It also became their first Top 10 single on this chart since "All Because of You" in 2005. In the UK, "Get On Your Boots" marked the band's 40th UK Top 40 single and their 39th single to enter the UK Top 20. However, it underperformed in comparison with earlier lead singles from U2’s studio albums, peaking at #12 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 and making it the first lead traditional format single by the band prior to its parent album release to fail to reach #1 since "With or Without You
With or Without You
"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, and was released as the album's first single on 21 March 1987...

" in 1987, the first lead single to miss the Top 10 since "Gloria
Gloria (U2 song)
"Gloria" is a song by U2. It is the opening track and second single from the band's 1981 album, October.It features a chorus in Latin, from the liturgical "Gloria in Excelsis Deo." It was one of their lowest-charting singles, peaking at #55 on the UK singles chart.-Composition:"Gloria" highlights...

" in 1981, and the worst debut for a U2 single since "If God Will Send His Angels
If God Will Send His Angels
"If God Will Send His Angels" is the fifth single from U2's 1997 album, Pop, released on 8 December 1997. It was also featured on the City of Angels soundtrack.-Track listings:...

" in 1997. It also broke a string of 14 consecutive UK Top 5 singles for U2. On its second week, the single dropped to #20 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, then #30 before leaving the chart; it remained in the UK Top 100 only for 5 weeks. "Get On Your Boots" made a "Hot Shot Debut" at #3 on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...

 for the week of 7 February based on the large number of downloads, making it the band's 12th top five hit in the country.

Track listing

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

26
Austrian Singles Chart 11
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)
Ultratop 50
Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995...

14
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)
Ultratop 40
Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization...

13
Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...

3
Dutch MegaCharts
MegaCharts
MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...

5
French Singles Chart
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...

6
German Singles Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

19
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

1
Italian Singles Chart
Federation of the Italian Music Industry
The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy....

4
Japan Hot 100 Singles 2
New Zealand Singles Chart
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...

20

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Norwegian Singles Chart
VG-lista
VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...

5
Spanish Singles Chart 20
Swedish Singles Chart
Sverigetopplistan
Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....

8
Swiss Singles Chart 65
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

12
European Hot 100 6
U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

37
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 26
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks 5
U.S. Billboard Pop 100
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009...

40
U.S. Billboard Triple A
Adult album alternative
Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....

 Tracks
1
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...

21


Year-end charts

Chart (2009) Position
Hungarian Singles Chart 143
Italian Singles Chart 100

See also

  • List of covers of U2 songs - Get on Your Boots

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK