| In 2002 Bono began work on writing a song with Joe Strummer
of the Clash and David A. Stewart of the Eurythmics. This song was
titled "46664 (Long Walk to Freedom)". Unfortunately Joe Strummer
passed away before the song was recorded, but the song was recorded regardless
with Bono lending vocals to the track.
The song itself was named after Nelson Mandela's prison number while
imprisoned in a South African prison. The number was also the name
of a campaign which Mandela helped to organize who's mission was to bring
information about the growing problem of AIDS in Africa to a wider audience.
The song "46664" was released in two ways. One could call a special
country specific number to donate to the 46664
campaign and then you could listen to the song through the phone as often
as you wanted during that call. The other way was through a digital
download at the 46664 site in . This download features a poor quality
transfer and suffers from several audible "clicks" during the song.
It was made available in Windows Media format (.wma) with strong digital
rights management built into the track limiting the number of times it
could be copied or burned. Many users trying to download the track
reported issues downloading and were unable to obtain the track in this
manner.
The song "46664" also became the centerpiece of a huge concert in South
Africa on World AIDS Day in 2003. Bono and the Edge attended this
concert performing several songs. An audio release of this concert
exists ( Disc 1 / Disc
2 / Disc 3 ).
The artwork shown above was taken from the 46664 website at the time
of the download. The track itself did not come with an embedded cover
image. |
