U2 – “Ordinary Love (Paul Epworth Version)”
U2’s ballad “Ordinary Love,” the band’s contribution to the new movie Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, is the first collaboration between the band and producer Danger Mouse, who’s handling their forthcoming album, that we’ve heard. (The song has already been nominated for a Golden Globe.) But Danger Mouse isn’t the only producer to do a version of the song. The Adele/Florence And The Machine/Bloc Party producer Paul “Phones” Epworth has also done a mix of the track, turning it into a big sparkling thumper with more emphasis on the backbeat than anything U2 have done since Pop. The changes aren’t huge, but I like it a lot better than the original. Listen to the track and read some words from Bono about it below.
Bono says, “We think Paul Epworth’s mix is a very soulful, uplifting one and we hope our audience will agree. Nelson Mandela’s life and times meant more to me than I can ever tell you, I would need a hundred songs to do that… but this complicated little love song to Winnie and South Africa is the one that landed on our lap.”