Released 19 November 1991 Length 3:53 | Genre Rock Label Island | |
Producer(s) Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World"
(9) "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)"
(10) | ||
"Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" is the ninth track from U2's 1991 album, Achtung Baby. It is a tongue in cheek song about stumbling home drunk from a night out on the town. It is dedicated to the Flaming Colossus nightclub in Los Angeles. The album version includes keyboard playing by producer Brian Eno.
During live performances on 1992-93's Zoo TV Tour, lead singer Bono would spray a bottle of champagne towards the audience. It was played 136 times out of the 159 times on the tour, but has not been performed since then. However, it was snippeted at three concerts during the final leg of the U2 360 Tour in July 2011.
The song was edited out of the live video release Zoo TV: Live from Sydney; it was later revealed that the concert ran long and the song needed to be edited in order to fit the concert into a two-hour timeslot. The line "a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" is a quotation from Irina Dunn.
Covers
The song was reworked for the 2011 tribute album AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered by The Fray. The Denver quartet had supported U2 on the seventh leg of the 360° Tour, during which The Fray's Isaac Slade celebrated his 30th birthday. "They gave me a ping-pong table," he recalled, "and a ping-pong paddle with sunglasses drawn on it."