"Gloria" is a song by rock band 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.[1]
Allmusic cited the song as an example of "when U2 marry the message, melody, and sound together... the results are thoroughly impressive",[2] while Pitchfork said the song "displays some musical dynamism, but its Latin-language chorus tempers its anthemic qualities."[3]
Contents[]
- 2 Live performances
- 3 Music video
- 4 Track listing
- 5 Chart positions
- 6 See also
- 7 References
- 8 External links
Composition[edit][]
"Gloria" highlights bassist Adam Clayton as it features three styles of playing in one song (using a pick for the most part, playing with fingers during the slide guitar by The Edge, then a "slap & pop" solo towards the end).
The chorus "Gloria in te Domine / Gloria exultate" translates to "Glory in you, Lord / Glory, exalt [him]" with "exalt" in the imperative mood, a reference to Psalm 30:2 (in te Domine, speravi). The song also contains references to Colossians 2:9-10 ("Only in You I'm complete") and James 5:7-9 ("The door is open / You're standing there").
The song also references Van Morrison's 1964 love song "Gloria". Bono is quoted in the 1994 book Race of Angels:
"I actually really like that lyric. It was written really quickly. I think it expresses the thing of language again, this thing of speaking in tongues, looking for a way out of language. 'I try to sing this song... I try to stand up but I can't find my feet.' And taking this Latin thing, this hymn thing. It's so outrageous at the end going to the full Latin whack. That still makes me smile. It's so wonderfully mad and epic and operatic. And of course Gloria is about a woman in the Van Morrison sense. Being an Irish band, you're conscious of that. And I think that what happened at that moment was very interesting: people saw that you could actually write about a woman in the spiritual sense and that you could write about God in the sexual sense. And that was a moment. Because before that there had been a line. That you can actually sing to God, but it might be a woman? Now, you can pretend it's about God, but not a woman!
Live performances[edit][]
"Gloria" has been played in concert over 350 times. It was debuted on the October Tour prior to the release of the album, and was introduced as "Gloria and Gloria" by Bono. It was played on every tour up to and including the Lovetown Tour, after which it was not played for fifteen years until the Vertigo Tour where it made several appearances. Its most recent performance was on 14 December 2005.[4]
Live recordings of the song appear on Under a Blood Red Sky and the Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky DVD. A live version from the Hammersmith Palais is also available on the October (Special Edition) CD.
Music video[edit][]
The "Gloria" video, written and directed by Meiert Avis, was filmed in October 1981 on a barge in Grand Canal Basin in Dublin near Windmill Lane. "Gloria" was the first U2 music video that received heavy airplay on MTV. The video featured U2 playing on a barge while a crowd of onlookers danced. Neither the song nor the video has been included in any of the band's compilations.
Track listing[edit][]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gloria" | 4:12 | |
| 2. | "I Will Follow" (Live from Boston, March 6, 1981) | 3:48 |
Chart positions[edit][]
| Chart (1981) | Peak
position |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart[5] | 10 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[6] | 15 |
| UK Singles Chart[1] | 55 |