Miracle Drug
"Miracle Drug" is a song by Irish rock band U2, and is the second track on their 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The song's lyrics were written by lead vocalist Bono about a former schoolmate Christopher Nolan, who was paralysed from birth but through a medical breakthrough learned to communicate via a pointer attached to his forehead and eventually wrote several books.
Composition
"Miracle Drug" was written about the late Irish writer Christopher Nolan, with whom the band attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School. Bono said of Nolan:Live performances
"Miracle Drug" was played live at every show of the first and second legs of the Vertigo Tour, with Bono using the song as a means of expressing his appreciation for doctors, nurses, and others in the medical field. Its last performance on the Vertigo Tour was 28 November 2005 in Montreal.The song made a brief return to the live stage in a new, reworked format on the first leg of U2's Innocence + Experience Tour. It opened the first encore in what was meant to be a rotational spot with "City of Blinding Lights".
Personnel
Personnel taken from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb CD booklet.U2
- Bono – lead and backing vocals, additional guitar
- The Edge – guitar, piano, additional vocals
- Adam Clayton – bass guitar
- Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Technical personnel
- Steve Lillywhite – production, mixing
- Carl Gianville – additional production, recording, mixing
- Jacknife Lee – additional production
- Chris Heaney – recording assistance