U2 took the photograph on the album cover for “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” with long-time photographer Anton Corbijn in the departure terminal Roissy Hall 2F of the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France.

Early versions of the cover released to the press show a departure sign that reads “F21-36″ (below), however, this was changed to J33-3 in reference to the Bible verse Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me and I will answer thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” Bono referred to it as God’s phone number.  The lyric “3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face” also appears on the song “Unknown Caller” from the group’s 2009 album “No Line on the Horizon.”

Here’s what the Roissy Hall 2F of the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France look like on a normal busy day…

raul U2 Bono, U2

We did this story before on Liam Gallagher & Bono sharing a kiss -  “The Infamous Liam Gallagher And Bono Kiss” But it seems like Tommy Lee takes “man kissing” to another level.

Tommy Lee & Dave Navarro

Tommy Lee & Criss Angel

Tommy Lee & Lukas Rossi (Rockstar Supernova)

raul Quick Tidbit Bono, Dave Navarro, Liam Gallagher, Motley Crue, Tommy Lee

This kiss between Liam Gallagher and Bono happened on March 28, 1996.  Please help feelnumb.com find out where and why?

raul Oasis, U2 Bono, Liam Gallagher, Oasis, U2

In the book U2 by U2, The Edge talks about the early stages of writing the songs that would become “The Joshua Tree” . In this passage he talks about a “dreadful” song that never saw the light of day called “Womanfish”.

The Edge: “There were some very rough versions of what became ‘With Or Without You,’ ‘Red Hill Mining Town‘; a song of Bono’s called ‘Trip Through Your Wires,’ and a song called ‘Woman Fish‘ that mercifully never saw the light of day, other than on an Irish TV show that we agreed to do in a moment of dementia. We hadn’t shot ourselves in the foot for a while, so with two songs half written we decided it was the perfect time to go to the nation to showcase our ‘new direction.’ It was dreadful, the worst in a long line of ropey TV appearances. The idea, if there was one, was to try out the new material in front of a live audience. We found out instantly that we had a long way to go. We tried later to bribe the staff of RTE to give us the tapes, but it turned out they had shared our opinion of the performance, and hadn’t thought it worth keeping.”

Here is the performance on TV Gaga on January 30, 1986

“Womanfish”
Hangman hang, hangman hang for me
Hangman hang, hang from your tree
Hangman, Hangman
Hangman hang, hangman hang for me

One horse town, one wind coming down
One horse town, the breeze will come and blow us down
One thin man, help me if you can
One thin man, the breeze will come and blow us down

Love is all you’re needing, Love is all
Love is all you’re needing, Love is all
Love is all you’re needing, Love is all
Love is all you’re needing, Love is all

Hangman hang, Hangman hang for me
Hangman hang, Hang from your tree
One horse town, breeze will blow us down
One horse town, the breeze will come and blow us down

raul U2 Bono, The Edge, U2

U2’s Bono is reportedly about 5″6 (five foot six) and frequently seeks ways to gain a few inches.  Check out some shots of Bono out and about wearing his lifts and “Getting On His Boots”.

Official figures put Bono at 5ft 8 in (thats has to be with the lifts on), fans who have stood alongside Bono claim he is shorter.  Get over it man…You are Bono.

raul U2 Bono, U2

Paul Hewson and his friends were part of a surrealist street gang called “Lypton Village“.  The gang had a ritual of nickname-giving.  Paul had several names: first, he was “Steinvic von Huyseman“, then just “Huyseman“, followed by “Houseman“, “Bon Murray“, “Bono Vox of O’Connell Street“, and finally just “Bono“.  Bonavox was the name of a hearing aid shop they regularly passed on North Earl Street, just off O’Connell Street, in Dublin.

Coincidence???  Notice the reflection below the Bonavox sign.  It says “Boy” in reverse, which is the name of U2’s first album.

Initially, Bono disliked the name.”Bono Vox”.  However, when he learned it loosely translated to “good voice” in Latin (bono) meaning “good”, (vox) meaning “voice”.   He then accepted it and has been known as Bono since the late seventies.  Although he uses Bono as his stage name, close family and friends also refer to him as Bono, including his wife and fellow band members.

raul U2 Bono, U2

“Boy” the debut album from U2, was released October 20, 1980.  The boy on the cover was a kid who lived across the street in front of Bono’s house in Dublin named Peter Rowen. Peter later became skate-board champion of Ireland, works in a skate-board shop and has also had various acting parts, notably in the movie The Commitments. The original cover was censored / edited by Warner Records for fear of Pedophilia claims.  Here is the North American cover for “Boy“.

Peter also appeared on the covers of “Three“, “The Best of 1980–1990“, and “Early Demos“.  Bono described the reasoning behind the covers: “Instead of putting tanks and guns on the cover, we’ve put a child’s face. War can also be a mental thing, an emotional thing between loves. It doesn’t have to be a physical thing.”

In 2008, the original artwork of “Boy” the 1980 UK release cover with Peter owas made the standard cover worldwide.

raul U2 Bono, U2