Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car

"Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" was conceived during the band's Zooropa sessions in early 1993. At the time, U2 intended to make Zooropa as an EP, but it quickly evolved into a full album. Bono described writing the song as an "industrial blues" type.{{cite AV media notes|title=Zooropa|others=U2|date=1993|publisher=Island Records|id=314-518 047-2}} The song begins with an introduction of brass instrumentation samples from the introduction to a Russian folk song, "Есть на Волге Утес" ("There's a Rock on the Volga"), performed by the Alexandrov Ensemble and included in a 1976 Melodiya LP box-set titled Любимые песни Ильича (Lenin's Favourite Songs),{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} and MC 900 Ft. Jesus' "The City Sleeps" from the 1991 album Welcome to My Dream.Stokes (2005), p. 118 After the introduction ends, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. start playing guitar and drums, respectively. There are moments of distortion and feedback throughout the song, particularly on Adam Clayton's bassline.

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| quote = "Being involved in it, I always felt it was going to be a better song. Whereas, what it is is, it's a great feeling. I love the whole introduction: it's total experiment. And it sort of seems to lead you into a place that for me, personally, I was never quite sure it achieved where it was going to go to. I know for some people they absolutely love that, because it's not a "song" song, per se. But for other reasons there are so many sonic things on that track that if I detailed what was doing what, you wouldn't believe what was going on."

| source = —Flood, on the production and reaction to the song.@U2/Calhoun (2013){{Cite web|url=http://www.atu2.com/news/the-u2-interview-flood.html|title = @U2}}

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Regarding the song's theme, Bono described it as being about dependence and heroin addiction. The Edge, however, said the meaning was not intended to be heroin but rather a commentary on dependency itself. In an interview with Pulse!, he explained, "It doesn't have to be illegal substances. You can be addicted to applause, you can be addicted to being on the road. I mean, being in U2 can be its own addiction. We have to recognize that. And there's a part of that in the lyrics. The image of Daddy is one of benevolence and in this song it's twisted around and become the thing that you're dependent on and that you look for support from".{{cite journal|title=New 'Zooropa' Revue|journal=Pulse!|first=Hugh|last=Fielder|date=October 1993}}

"Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Parry Gettelman of the Orlando Sentinel felt it was among the better songs on Zooropa.{{cite news|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1993/07/23/u2-58/|title= U2: Zooropa|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|first=Parry|last=Gettelman|date=23 July 1993|access-date=3 December 2012}} The Independent{{'}}s Andy Gill praised the song as one of the best album tracks, noting its resemblance to David Bowie's "Always Crashing in the Same Car".{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/rock--albums-take-the-cash-and-run-andy-gill-on-the-latest-from-u2-is-it-their-most-adventurous-recording-yet-plus-a-single-sugarcube-1482149.html|title=Take the Cash and Run|journal=The Independent|first=Andy|last=Gill|date=1 July 1993|accessdate=3 December 2012}} Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited the song's "quiet menace" as one of the album's highlights.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/zooropa-mw0000098950|title=Zooropa – U2|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|date=1993|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=3 December 2012}} Likewise, Annie Zaleski of The A.V. Club praised the song as "seductive" with "dank beats reminiscent of Beck's chaotic sound collages".{{Cite web|url=http://www.avclub.com/article/in-a-decade-where-u2-got-weird-izooropai-was-the-b-96223|title = In a decade where U2 got weird, Zooropa was the band's weirdest effort| website=The A.V. Club | date=9 April 2013 }} David Fricke of Rolling Stone described the song as "a highly studio-processed piece of metallic dance rock grounded by a corrosive backward bass loop".{{cite journal|title=Tour Energy Spills Over into New U2 Album|journal=Daily Herald|first=David|last=Fricke|author-link=David Fricke|date=12 July 1993}}

In retrospect, Flood admits the song could have been better, saying "I sort of wish it could have been more, but as an entity, it was brilliant."@U2/Calhoun (2013)

After the release of Zooropa, "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" was one of five songs incorporated into the Zoomerang and New Zooland legs of the Zoo TV Tour. The 27 November 1993 performance can be seen on the 1994 concert film Zoo TV: Live From Sydney. During both legs, the song was performed in full for a total of ten times and snippeted at another five shows [http://www.u2gigs.com/Daddys_Gonna_Pay_For_Your_Crashed_Car-s164.html]. As of 2019, it has not been played live since. However, a brief snippet of the song appeared at the 20 September 2005 Vertigo Tour concert, at some shows of the Experience + Innocence Tour and some ones of the Joshua Tree Tour 2019.u2gigs.com

The song was used in the soundtrack of Peter Greenaway's 1996 film The Pillow Book, but it was not included on the official soundtrack CD itself.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/pillow-book-mw0000470194 |title=Pillow Book - Original Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2014-09-19}}

Footnotes

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Bibliography

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• Stokes, Niall. Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song.
• {{Cite web|url=http://www.hotpress.com/archive/2613077.html|title=The Magical Mystery Tour|last=Jackson|first=Joe|date=19 May 1993|work=Hot Press|accessdate=6 May 2011}}

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{{Zooropa}}

{{U2 songs}}

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Category:U2 songs

Category:1993 songs

Category:Songs about heroin

Category:Songs written by Bono

Category:Songs written by the Edge

Category:Songs written by Adam Clayton

Category:Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr.

Category:Song recordings produced by Flood (producer)

Category:Song recordings produced by Brian Eno