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I don't think we were in danger, but I knew there were lives in danger or being lost close to us, and I felt for them. He said, "I remember the ground shaking, and I remember the smell, I suppose, of being near a war zone. The trip angered Bono and formed the basis of the song's lyrics. In July 1986, Bono and his wife Ali travelled to Nicaragua and El Salvador, where they saw firsthand the distress of peasants bullied by political conflicts and United States military intervention. Still, the song was discarded for some time until producer Brian Eno, who described it as a "homeless riff", convinced the band it was worth working on. Compared to the final version of the song, the Edge described the demo as "much more bare-boned, like a heavy funk track". After the take was completed, the band listened to playback in the control room and realised that the demo was "absolutely brilliant". He thought to himself, "What the fuck are they doing?", and considered stopping the jam. The guitarist became irritated, as the rhythm section was playing much differently than how he thought they should. Lead vocalist Bono recalled that Clayton was also playing in a different key from the Edge. Bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. It eventually became the chorus for "Bullet the Blue Sky". While listening to a song by English rock band the Fall, U2 guitarist the Edge tried to emulate its guitar riff, but instead came up with his own part that was, in his approximation, "uptempo, like real hard-hitting". "Bullet the Blue Sky" first originated as a demo that U2 recorded during a jam session at STS Studios in Dublin with producer Paul Barrett, prior to the proper Joshua Tree recording sessions.
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