“Every Breaking Wave” by U2

"Every Breaking Wave" sits second on Songs of Innocence, U2's 13th studio album, and became its second single, but it had been kicking around for years before that. Bono has said the band started recording it in Sydney and then watched it vanish for seven years. It was meant for No Line on the Horizon in 2009, and Rolling Stone had already previewed it as swelling soul-pop with bright, OMD-flavoured synths, before Chris Martin of Coldplay told them it deserved to be finished and they held it back. Bono also said it was Jimmy Iovine's favourite of what they had on the go.

When it finally surfaced in 2014, Danger Mouse and Ryan Tedder had produced it, with extra production from Declan Gaffney. The Edge's guitar and keyboards shimmer over Adam Clayton's bass and Larry Mullen Jr.'s drums, while Bono sings and even adds hammered dulcimer.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.