Bono's song was apology to his wife

I heard U2's song, "Sweetest Thing," on the radio recently and I was reminded how much I really like it. Its simple and clean arrangement allows Bono to pour all his emotion into his lyrics, which remain hopeful and optimistic despite the obstacles described. I'm sure there is a story behind the song and hope you can tell me what it is.

Released in 1987 as the B-side to the hit song, "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Sweetest Thing" was written and recorded as a huge mea culpa to his wife, Alison (Ali) Hewson.

To fully appreciate the song's depth of feeling, it's instructive to know a little about Bono's relationship with his wife. They were married in August 1982 in what U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr., has described as "a mix between a traditional Protestant wedding and a born-again Plymouth Brethren Baptist ceremony."

In their book, "U2 by U2," Bono wrote, "I'm a bit of a stray dog. I would not have been in the queue to get married had I not met someone as extraordinary as Ali. I always felt more myself with her than with anybody." He describes the first time he saw her: "I thought she looked Spanish, a rose for sure, dark with blood-red lips."

Now, fast forward to March 1986. Bono is in the studio with his mates, engrossed in recording what would become "The Joshua Tree" album. Guess what happens? He forgets his wife's 25th birthday.

In an act of contrition, he wrote this song. To understand just how sorry Bono was, we highly recommend watching the song's video, which opens with a shot of Bono's clearly peeved wife climbing into an open-air carriage. The camera then focuses on Bono as he takes a three-minute ride down a Dublin street as various peace offerings appear behind and around him.

In the end, Ali extracted one final concession from her husband. When it was re-released as a single in 1998, Bono agreed to donate all profits from the single to his wife's favorite charity, Children of Chernobyl. In an age where some celebrity marriages last only a matter of days, we're pleased to report that Bono and Ali have been married for 29 years.

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I'm a fan of Daniel Radcliffe of "Harry Potter" fame. I came across a YouTube video of him singing Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" song. Although Radcliffe was singing unaccompanied, the tune is familiar to me. Where have I heard that tune before?

Tom Lehrer wrote "The Elements" as an exercise to see if he could set the names of the first 102 chemical elements of the periodic table to song. Such a nerdy exercise makes sense only when it is noted that Lehrer, a classically trained pianist, graduated from Harvard with a degree in mathematics at the age of 19. He later taught mathematics at Harvard, MIT, Wellesley and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

During the 1950s and '60s, Lehrer turned his talent for writing bitingly satirical songs into a short-lived nightclub routine. "The Elements" is set to the tune of "The Major-General's Song," written by Sir Arthur Sullivan, the musical half of the comic opera duo, Gilbert and Sullivan, for their operetta, "The Pirates of Penzance." They were pretty talented satirists in their day, too.

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Brady and Maron are freelance music writers based in Raleigh, N.C. Questions about songs, albums and the musicians who make them may be sent to them at ontherecord99@aol.com.