U2 bandmates Bono and the Edge rewrote the lyrics to their hit song “Beautiful Day” in honor of Oscar-winning musician Glen Hansard.
Hansard died at 56 on July 29 following a motorcycle crash in Dublin. The Irish singer was a longtime friend of the band, whose “Beautiful Day” won three Grammys in 2001, including for Best Original Song. After playing a voicemail tribute from Patti Smith, Bono recited the reworked version at Hansard’s funeral in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. The band posted the new lyrics on Instagram after the funeral.
“See those eyes flashing landing light blue / Seven towers holding up the sky for you / Arrivals and departures, this is what we do / You write your life ‘til the story becomes true / Ginger cake smile, a movie star too / If the street be your stage how come there’s thousands in the queue / McDaid’s feels like a stadium but there’s only me and you,” they wrote in the post. “You left a hangover from hell, of this there is no doubt / But as you wake up in heaven, all the angels will shout.”
The original lyrics are: “See the world in green and blue / See China right in front of you / See the canyons broken by cloud /See the tulip fields clearing the sea out / See the bad boy fires at night / See the oil fields at first light / And see the bird with the lead in your mouth / After the flood all the colors came out.”
Before sharing the new lyrics, Bono celebrated the strength of Hansard’s friendships.
“How do you do that?” he said. “People on the green outside, best friends. People tuning in, best friends. Even people who haven’t met him, best friends. Everyone who met him, they just remember the day they met him.”
An outpouring of grief and support followed Hansard’s death, with iconic musicians including Bruce Springsteen and Hansard’s Once co-star Markéta Irglová posting tributes on social media, and Barack Obama placing Hansard’s Song of Good Hope first on his annual summer playlist. At the funeral, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder performed “Song of Good Hope” with Irglová.
Bono wrote his friend an essay the morning of the crash, calling Hansard an “angelic presence,” a “smiling rascal,” and a “voice of the streets.”
“I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist,” Bono’s essay continued. “For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case.”
