U2 Releases a Nelson Mandela-Inspired Song, “Ordinary Love”

Worth a quick men­tion: U2 has released “Ordi­nary Love,” a song writ­ten for the new film Man­dela: Long Walk To Free­dom. “The band saw var­i­ous cuts of the film over the sum­mer and worked dili­gent­ly to write a song that tru­ly reflects Nel­son Man­dela,” The Hol­ly­wood Reporter quotes film pro­duc­er Har­vey Wein­stein as say­ing. And now, accom­pa­ny­ing the song, U2 has put out a “lyric video” direct­ed by Irish illus­tra­tor Oliv­er Jef­fers and Amer­i­can artist Mac Pre­mo. The song itself does­n’t raise my hopes that the band is break­ing out of what feels like a decade-long cre­ative rut. But it’s their first stu­dio track in four years since 2009’s No Line on the Hori­zon. So, if you’re a diehard U2 fan, it will per­haps sate you until next spring, when the band is sched­uled to release its next stu­dio album,

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Nel­son Mandela’s First-Ever TV Inter­view (1961)

Nel­son Man­dela Archive Goes Online (With Help From Google)

Leonard Cohen and U2 Per­form ‘Tow­er of Song,’ a Med­i­ta­tion on Aging, Loss & Sur­vival