U2, the preview of a song from the new album

The latest news from a few weeks ago was that U2’s new album was “almost finished”. Although we still have to wait until at least 2026 to hear it, Bono and The Edge have given some updates on the work on the awards ceremony awarded by the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Receiving the award named after the great singer-songwriter Bono and The Edge they played some songs by the band and read part of the lyrics of a song in progress, entitled “One life at a time”, telling them that Larry Mullen has recovered his form after the neck operation that had excluded him from the concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas. U2 said they would also have liked to play the new song “but without Adam and Larry we couldn’t”.

Bono read the lyrics of the song like this, recounting its genesis: “There was a terrible moment. I don’t know if anyone has ever seen this film called No Other Land. It was very successful, it won an Oscar… They made this film. In July one of the men who worked on this film, a man called Awdah Hathaleen, was killed in the most brutal way by an out-of-control settler in the hills south of Hebron. I heard the history, he left behind his daughters. The film’s director said upon his passing: “They’re trying to erase us, they’re trying to wipe us off the face of the earth ‘one life at a time. I told Edge that this ‘one life at a time’ thing is so powerful because you can make or break the world one life at a time. So I thought it would be cool and wrote it that week. We were envious because Neil Young I think wrote ‘Ohio’ about Kent State University and released it in Crosby Stills quickly. We don’t. Because we haven’t finished it. But I have a version of it.”

Here is the text read by Bono, reported on the band’s official website

One father shot
three children crying
if there is no law
there is no crime
if there is no hope
what’s there to rhyme
history is written
one life at a time
ONE LIFE AT A TIME

According to U2songs, Bono recited other verses of the song

Look around
What you see depends on where you stand
How you fall depends on where you land
What you know is more than you’ve been told
What you are feeling shapes all that you see
Lose the map, find the territory
What you forget might set your spirit free
You say you’re gonna save the world
Well how are you gonna get that right?
You say you’re gonna save the world tonight
You say you’re gonna save the world
And perfect love drives out all fear
Well how’s that going to happen here?
One life at a time
One life at a time.

When it arrives, U2’s new album will be the first unreleased project since 2017, the year “Songs of Experience” was released. Again according to what U2songs reported last summer, the goal was to close the recordings by the end of 2025. Considering the technical times necessary for the physical production of the vinyl, it will take at least 6 months between the closing of the master and distribution in stores. The release of the album is therefore conceivable for the second half of 2026. But, given that the work is still in progress, it cannot be ruled out that the timing could slip further, moving the publication to 2027.

When Rockol interviewed Bono last spring, the singer summed up the inner workings of the band this way: “Springsteen said a funny thing about bands: “Democracy is needed for places like Iraq. But not for a rock band.” He is always amazed by the fact that the four of us U2 divide everything equally and that we are still very democratic. He has a band, but there’s only one Boss. In U2 there are four bosses.” A dynamic that explains well the long lead times and many discussions behind each project.