One Tree Hill

"One Tree Hill"
Single by U2
from the album The Joshua Tree
Released	March 1988
Format	7" vinyl, cassette
Recorded	Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland 1986
Genre	Rock
Length	5:23
Label	Island
Producer	Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois
U2 singles chronology
"In God's Country" (North America only) (1987) "One Tree Hill" (New Zealand only) (1987) "Desire" (1988)
Music video "One Tree Hill" at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)

"One Tree Hill" is a song by Irish rock band U2 and the ninth track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. It was released as the album's fifth single exclusively in New Zealand in March 1988, where it became the band's third #1 in that country. The song was written in memory of lead singer Bono's personal assistant, Greg Carroll, a New Zealand native. The title of the song refers to One Tree Hill, a volcanic peak in Auckland, New Zealand. At the time of the song's release, a single Monterey pine tree stood on the hill. The tree was removed in 2000, 6 years after being chainsawed by a Māori activist.

"One Tree Hill" was included as a bonus track on the Japan release of U2's first compilation album, The Best of 1980-1990. The music video was also released on the video version of "The Best of 1980-1990". The video was shot during the production of Rattle and Hum, and was part of an unreleased cut. The original CD pressings of The Joshua Tree incorrectly indexed the ending of "One Tree Hill" at 4:43 and the beginning of "Exit" at 4:53, although the track times were correctly noted on the back of the album. This error has been corrected on later editions.

The song also was taken and made the title of the popular CW Network show, One Tree Hill.

Meaning

The song was written in memory of Bono's personal assistant and close friend, Greg Carroll (to whom The Joshua Tree was dedicated), a native of New Zealand, who died in a 1986 motorcycle crash in Dublin: he was delivering Bono's motorcycle and the accident was in rain. The lyrics also reference Chilean folk singer Victor Jara. Bono felt he could perform this only once, and did just one take in the studio.

Live performances

The song debuted live on 10 September 1987 and was played frequently at the start and finish of the Joshua Tree Tour's third leg (though with a two month absence in the middle) and throughout the Lovetown Tour, with its last performance in Rotterdam on 9 January 1990. It was not played again until 2006, when it was played twice in Auckland during two Vertigo Tour shows and twice at two of the following shows in Tokyo. It has been performed a total of forty times.^[1] The two 2006 Auckland performances notably occurred within sight of the song's namesake, One Tree Hill.

Track list

The B-sides and cover art are identical to the North America-only single release of "In God's Country".

Chart

See also

• List of covers of U2 songs - One Tree Hill

References

External links

• U2.com entry