Irish rockers U2 became the latest high-powered musical act to condemn the federal immigration raids with the surprise release Wednesday of a six-track EP that kicks off with a song for slain Minneapolis protester Renee Good.
Following in the footsteps of Bruce Springsteen, Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish and other artists, U2 recorded “American Obituary,” a four-minute plus musical condemnation of the crackdown that left Good, the mother of three, dead on Jan. 7.
“Renee Good, born to die free. American mother of three. Seventh day, January. A bullet for each child, you see,” frontman Bono sings in the high-energy rocker. “The color of her eye. 930 Minneapolis. To desecrate domestic bliss. Three bullets blast, three babies kissed. Renee the domestic terrorist?”
“America will rise against the people of the lie,” the chorus chants.
“I am not mad at you, Lord,” the song continues, an apparent reference to Good’s final words that were captured on video. “You’re the reason I was there. Could you stop a heart from breaking, by having it not care? Could you stop a bullet in midair?”
Titled “Days of Ash,” the EP was released on one of Christianity’s most somber days, Ash Wednesday.
The release also includes a poem set to music called “Wildpeace,” by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, and other songs that focus on the ongoing clashes in Gaza, Iran and Ukraine.
The track “Yours Eternally” features guest performances by British pop singer Ed Sheeran and Ukrainian rocker Taras Topolia, who has been fighting on the front lines against the Russians.
That track, U2 said in a news release to NBC News, will be accompanied by a short documentary that will be released Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Bono, in the release, said that a full-length album with a more “joyful tone” is still in the works but that the band is releasing these songs now because “these EP tracks couldn’t wait.”
“These songs were impatient to be out in the world,” Bono said. “They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. Songs of celebration will follow, we’re working on those now.”
“I’m excited about these new songs,” bass guitarist Adam Clayton said. “It feels like they’re arriving at the right time.”
It is U2’s first record of new studio material since 2017, when it released “Songs of Experience.”
Founded in 1976 in Dublin, U2 is one of the world’s best-selling acts, a four-man band that burnished its reputation as politically and socially conscious rockers with songs like “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” about “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, and “New Year’s Day,” which was inspired by the Solidarity movement in Poland.
Drummer Larry Mullen said in the release “we’ve never shied away from taking a position.”
Guitarist The Edge added: “We believe in a world where borders are not erased by force. Where culture, language, and memory are not silenced by fear. Where the dignity of a people is not negotiable.”