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Bono Celebrates 60th Birthday by Sharing Playlist of 60 Songs That Saved His Life
Bono Celebrates 60th Birthday by Sharing Playlist of 60 Songs That Saved His Life
Bono Celebrates 60th Birthday by Sharing Playlist of 60 Songs That Saved His Life
Bono's playlist, available on Spotify, YouTube Music and other music services, features
some classics: "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley, "I Want to Hold your Hand" by The
Beatles and "Mother" by John Lennon.
But it also has some pop songs you might not expect from a rock star who hails from
Ireland, such as such as Billie Eilish's "everything I wanted," Kanye West's "Black Skinhead"
and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."
"These are some of the songs that saved my life," Bono said in a statement. "The ones I
couldn't have lived without... the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60... through
all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly... and the joy, mostly
joy."
Because the songs mean so much to him, Bono added that he will write a "fan letter to
accompany each song to try and explain my fascination."
The first six letters, posted Sunday on U2's website, were written to Eilish, David Bowie,
Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, Luciano Pavarotti and Massive Attack.
In his letter to 18-year-old Eilish and her brother, Finneas, who co-wrote the song, Bono
wrote, "My ears long for such empty spaces to wander... to sneak away from the density of
digital surfaces with too much information... I step inside your song and it's a black beauty,
achingly awesomely vulnerable and terrifying."
Bono wrote this fan letter to Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, who co-wrote "Everything
I Wanted."
Bono's letter regarding David Bowie's "Life on Mars?" is written to Bowie's son, Duncan.
"When I heard your Dad's song LIFE ON MARS? on the radio in 1973, I was hiding under
the covers of my bed in 10 Cedarwood Road listening to a pirate radio station called Radio
Caroline," Bono wrote. "The song was answering a much more important question when I
was 13... Is there intelligent life on earth? It was proof as far as I'm concerned."