Bono has opened up about his childhood and how it influenced U2’s track Cedarwood Row.
Cedarwood Row is where Bono grew up in North Dublin and he reminisces about a rather unpleasant upbringing in his hometown.
“They were very unhappy, they were angry, they were annoyed, these were the people we would meet as young teenagers,” he said.
Cedarwood: Bono reflects on his upbringing | VIPIRELAND.COM
“A lot of my early memories of teenage years were of violence, and the sheer fear of leaving the house, going to catch the bus,” he added.
During that time in the seventies the Seven Towers project was built bringing families who were forced to relocate into the area.
The U2 frontman who used his experiences living in the North of the city to write the lyrics, said that his favourite part of the single is The Edge’s guitar solo.
“That has all the dignity of that neighborhood. Some dark characters indeed, but the general decency of people, the goodness, is in guitar solo. I couldn’t have achieved that,” he told Song Exploder.
Guitar: The Edge plays guitar solo on the track | VIPIRELAND.COM
While Bono had a difficult childhood, he owes the rough and tumble of his youthful days the reason he began a life of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
“Myself and my friends dealt with the kind of skinhead, boot boy culture of the time by creating our own reality, and eventually our own rock and roll band. That’s how we dealt with the fear that we felt.”
The Beautiful Day rocker admits he cannot run away from his past and that it defined his life and his writing.
“When I was writing about Cedarwood, the big revelation for me was that you can’t really leave these things behind because they are who you are, you can never escape your upbringing,” he admitted.
