Sunday Bloody Sunday

Bass Guitar Tabulature for U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pulled from Olga

Song: Sunday Bloody Sunday
Band: U2
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tune down half a step


Intro is guitar


Main Verse


G   --------------------------------------------------
D   --------------------------------------------------
A   2-2--5-5-5-5--------------------------------------
E   --------------3-3-3-3-3-3-------------------------

Chorus 

G   --------------------------------------------------
D   --------------------------------------------------
A   3--------------5--------------------------5---------
E   ---------------------------5-----------------------

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While this is already an amazing song, I thought the emotional impact was increased tenfold, when during a live performance in Denver, Colorado, on Nov. 8, 1987, (the night of the bombing of a war memorial service in Enniskillen in which 11 people died and more than 60 were injured) Bono said the following while the rest of U2 played in the background:

"And let me tell you something. I've had enough of Irish Americans who haven't been back to their country in 20 or 30 years and come up to me and talk about the resistance, the revolution back home. And the glory of the revolution, and the glory of dying for the revolution. Fuck the revolution! They don't talk about the glory of killing for the revolution. What's the glory in taking a man from his bed and gunning him down in front of his wife and his children. Where's the glory in that? Where's the glory in bombing a Remembrance Day parade of old age pensioners, their medals taken out and polished up for the day. Where's the glory in that? To leave them dying or crippled for life or DEAD, under the rubble of the revolution, that the majority of the people in my country don't want."

Something I thought was quite ironic; at their first concert in Slane Castle, Co. Meath last year (2001), U2 played Sunday Bloody Sunday. And it went on for about 15 minutes. Most of which was Bono singing "How long must we sing this song?".

Don't get me wrong; I agree with the song's sentiments, but geez........singing "How long must we sing this song" for fifteen minutes is a little too post-modern for me.

Still. It's a wonder the concert went ahead at all. Bono was quite overwrought due to the recent death of his father, Larry Hewson; he dedicated One to his memory, and most of their set was quite moving.

Following on the bass tabulature above, here's the guitar tab for "Sunday Bloody Sunday." It's pretty easy to play and even easier to fake: tune down half a step to follow the recording.

Verse:

E-------2-------2-------0-------0-------
B-----3---3---3---2---3---3---3---3-----
G---4-------2-------0-------0------0----
D---------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------

(If you're not that proficient, you can play this for the entire duration of the song: it makes the tune feel a bit more haunting, if mechanical.)

Bridge:

E--2-----0-----2-------------------------
B--3-----3-----3-----5-------------------
G--4-----0-----4-----4-------------------
D--------------------2-------------------
A----------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------

Finally, the chorus:

E--7--7---10-10-10----------------------------
B--7--7---10-10-10---12-12--12-12-12-12-12----
G--7--7---11-11-11---12-12--12-12-12-12-12----
D--9--9---12-12-12---12-12--12-12-12-12-12----
A--9--9---12-12-12---10-10--10-10-10-10-10----
E---------------------------------------------

E--7--7---10-10-10----------------------------
B--7--7---10-10-10---12-12--12-12-12/14\12----
G--7--7---11-11-11---12-12--12-12-12/14\12----
D--9--9---12-12-12---12-12--12-12-12/14\12----
A--9--9---12-12-12---10-10--10-10-10/12\10----
E---------------------------------------------