I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

The song grew from a demo called The Weather Girls or Under the Weather, recorded in a jam. Clayton called its melody a one-note groove and the Edge compared it to Eye of the Tiger played by a reggae band, but the band liked Mullen's tom-tom pattern, and Lanois encouraged him to develop it. They worked on it at Danesmoate House, adding layers piece by piece. The Edge wrote a chord sequence on acoustic guitar, Bono sang a soul-style melody in a jam, and the Edge remembered a phrase from his notebook that morning, I still haven't found what I'm looking for, and handed it to Bono as he sang.

Bono's interest in spiritual doubt was fed by Eno's love of gospel and by records from the Swan Silvertones, the Staple Singers and Blind Willie Johnson. He sang in the top of his range, and the Edge, Lanois and Eno provided the multi-tracked backing vocals. The Edge added a chiming arpeggio and a chrome bells guitar hook. Lanois and the Edge made the final mix at Melbeach, on top of an earlier mix by Lillywhite. The demo came out as Desert of Our Love on the 2007 remaster of the album.

Release

Red Hill Mining Town had been planned as the second single, so this became a late choice. It was released in May 1987, reached number one on the Hot 100 on 8 August 1987 for two weeks and was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it reached 6, and in Ireland, where it was number one. The video was shot on Fremont Street in Las Vegas on 12 April 1987. The song was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1988 Grammys, and Rolling Stone placed it at 93 on its 2010 list.