Music / Zooropa

And I have no compass, and I have no map
And I have no reasons, no reasons to get back

Lemon, see-through in the sunlight
She wore lemon, but never in the daylight
She's gonna make you cry, she's gonna make you whisper and moan
And when you're dry, she draws water from the stone
I feel like I'm slowly, slowly, slowly slippin' under
And I feel like I'm holding on to nothing

—"Lemon"

Zooropa is the eighth studio album recorded by Irish rock band U2. It was released through Island Records on 5 July 1993.

Following the bounceback of their careers with Achtung Baby, they mounted the supporting Zoo TV Tour, a wildly-popular concert series, in 1992. During a six-month break before resuming the tour in Europe, Bono and the Edge were keen on writing a new album, instead of letting themselves get rusty with a long layover.

They brought back Brian Eno and Mark "Flood" Ellis to produce, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again. Though it was originally desired to be a short EP, Bono soon wanted to produce a full-length album.

What came was another Troubled Production, and it dragged on into the beginning of their European tour, which was subtitled "Zooropa". They would resort to shuttling between each tour location and Dublin to finish recording. Toward the end, Flood had to step away because of obligations to produce a Nine Inch Nails album (indirectly connecting this album to The Downward Spiral), leading to the Edge earning a production credit for helping finish the album. This resulted in arguably the band's most experimental album to date.

In one of the odder ventures, one of the songs, "The Wanderer", would have lead vocals from none other than American country megastar Johnny Cash.

In the end, the band eschewed the traditional rock music tracks produced for the album, going entirely experimental. One of those tracks, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me", would later be picked up for the soundtrack to Batman Forever.

Reception for the album was initially critically positive, but not without its faults. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine has said in retrospect that, at times, the album was "unfocused and meandering". While Zooropa sold wildly initially, becoming double-Platinum in the United States and Platinum in the United Kingdom, sales quickly tapered off.

The performance of its four singles—"Numb", "Lemon", "Zooropa", and "Stay (Faraway, So Close)—would betray the ultimate verdict for the album. The first three would not chart in the US, UK, or even their native Ireland. While "Stay" hit #1 in Ireland and #4 in the UK, it stalled at #61 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tracklist

1. "Zooropa" (6:31)
2. "Babyface" (4:01)
3. "Numb" (4:20)
4. "Lemon" (6:58)
5. "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" (4:58)
6. "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" (5:20)
7. "Some Days Are Better Than Others" (4:17)
8. "The First Time" (3:45)
9. "Dirty Day" (5:24)
10. "The Wanderer" (starring Johnny Cash) (5:41)

Personnel

• Bono – vocals, guitar
• The Edge – guitar, piano, synthesisers, vocals
• Adam Clayton – bass guitar
• Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Johnny Cash – vocals (track 10)

"I went out wandering through tropes paved with gold:"

• And Starring: Johnny Cash, in "The Wanderer".
• Disco: "Lemon" is a darker take on it along with straight up Alternative Dance.
• Epic Rocking: "Zooropa" is 6 1/2 minutes, and "Lemon" is 7 minutes.
• Gratuitous German: "Vorsprung durch technik" (translated "progress through technology") in "Zooropa".
• Hidden Track: Zooropa ends with a hidden track consisting of an alarm sound that plays after 30 seconds of silence.
• List Song: "Numb", as The Edge provides a list of "don'ts" in a monotone voice.
• Portmanteau: In case it wasn't clear, "Zooropa" is a portmanteau of "Zoo TV" and "Europa".
• Slogans: "Zooropa" quotes several famous advertising slogans that were prominent in the 1990s, including "Vorsprung durch technik" (Audi), "Be all that you can be" (The United States Army), "Fly the friendly skies" (United Airlines), and "Ring of confidence" (Colgate).
• Step Up to the Mic: The Edge sings the majority of "Numb", with Larry also providing prominent backing vocals throughout the song.
• Title Track: "Zooropa"