"Silver Lining" (1979)
Demo Song
Background Information
“Silver Lining” was an early song title used in the development of the song “11 O’Clock Tick Tock”. In late 1979 and early 1980, U2 were playing a song live in concert that they would refer to as “Silver Lining”. Musically it is similar to “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” but the lyrics were different.
In a session in studio in February 1980, U2 developed the song to the point they did an early recording, which they then took to Martin Hannett to look for his agreement to produce their next single. He must have enjoyed it as he did sign on and he did produce the song under its new name, “11 O’Clock Tick Tock”.
We have taken an in depth look at U2’s pre-Island Records demo sessions in two parts. Part One dealt with 1978 – February 1979. Part Two dealt with the latter part of 1979 until early 1980. “Silver Lining” is discussed in Part Two.