"Hawkmoon 269" is the fourth track from U2's 1988 album, Rattle and Hum. The organ heard at the beginning of the track is thought to be played by Bob Dylan.^[1]

1 Meaning of the title
2 Performance history
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Meaning of the title

In an interview, Bono said the song was titled "Hawkmoon 269" in part as a tribute to writer Sam Shepard, who had released a book entitled Hawk Moon. Shepard's second book is titled Motel Chronicles, which is probably where the 269 comes from. Bono also said that the band mixed the song 269 times. This was thought to be a joke for years until it was recently confirmed by The Edge in U2 by U2, who said that they spent three weeks mixing the song. He also conflicted Bono's assertion about Shepard, saying that Hawkmoon came from a section of a town in the midwestern United States.

[edit] Performance history

"Hawkmoon 269" was one of six different songs used to open the 47 Lovetown Tour concerts, and all eight of its performances were in this role.^[2] It debuted live at the first Lovetown show on 21 September 1989 in Perth, and the live version was considerably different from the studio version, with the most distinctive difference being an extended guitar intro played by The Edge.^[3] Its final live performance took place on 18 December 1989 in Amsterdam, and this was the song's sole live performance outside Australia.^[4]

After the Lovetown Tour, it has only made one live appearance of any sort, as a short sniper. At the 12 July 2001 concert in Eau de Cologne on the Elevation Tour, Bono sung some of its lyrics at the start of "Desire".^[5]