No Line On The Horizon - Composition

Composition

"... it's a very personal album. These are very personal stories even though they are written in character and, in a way, they couldn't be further from my own politics. But, in the sense of the peripheral vision, there's a world out there. As the old blues song goes, a world gone wrong. You can feel it just at the edges—the war in Iraq, the dark clouds on the horizon. But there is also a deliberate shutting out of that in order to focus on more personal epiphanies."

During the Hanover Quay sessions in 2008, Bono indicated that he had become "tired of the first-person", leading him to write songs from the perspective of different characters. He invented "a traffic cop, a junkie a soldier serving in Afghanistan." Although each character tells a personal story, the underlying theme of the album is peripheral vision, events taking place in the wider world, "just at the edges". Bono described it as "central to the understanding of this album". Nevertheless, as the characters narrate there is an intentional "shutting out" of the wider world, so that the focus remains on their "personal epiphanies". The narrative the group originally planned for the album was broken up in the sessions' final weeks with their changes to the track listing. In January 2008, Bono revealed that numbers were significant in many of the songs. In February 2009, he noted that the album was split into thirds; he described the first section as "a whole world unto itself, and you get to a very ecstatic place", and the second as "a load of singles". The final third is composed of songs that are "unusual territory" for the band.

"No Line on the Horizon" stemmed from Mullen's experiments with different drum beats; Eno sampled and manipulated the patterns, and the rest of the band began to play over the beats. The lyrical idea of a place "where the sea meets the sky and you can't tell the difference between the two" and the vocal delivery were both present from the start. Bono noted that the theme behind the song was infinity, and that the track was inherently optimistic. "Magnificent" is an up-tempo song that begins with a synthesizer line by Eno. The band wanted a track that felt euphoric, and the melody, created from a series of chord changes during a jam, was worked on continuously by Bono. The setting in the lyrics was described by Lanois as "New York in the 50s", written from the perspective of "a Charlie Parker kind of figure". The song has been described as "echo The Unforgettable Fire's opening track 'A Sort of Homecoming' in its atmospheric sweep".

The drug addict character appears in the songs "Moment of Surrender" and "Unknown Caller". "Moment of Surrender", improvised and recorded by U2, Eno, and Lanois in a single take, demonstrates gospel influences. Eno and Lanois said the song is the closest to the group's original concept for an album of future hymns. Eno noted, "Apart from some editing and the addition of the short cello piece that introduces it, the song appears on the album exactly as it was the first and only time we played it." In the song, the addict is having a crisis of faith. In "Unknown Caller", the character is suicidal and, while using his phone to buy drugs, begins receiving cryptic text messages with technology-inspired directions. The track was developed early in the Fez sessions. The guitar solo at the song's conclusion was taken from the backing track.

Eno developed "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" during the Fez sessions, under the working title "Diorama". U2 reworked it with Steve Lillywhite during a break from recording with Eno and Lanois. Some of the lyrics were influenced by Barack Obama's presidential campaign, while others referenced Bono. Album reviews described the song as a joyous pop rock composition. "Get on Your Boots" stemmed from a guitar riff The Edge created and recorded at his home. At 150 beats per minute, the song is one of the fastest the band have recorded. Rolling Stone called it a "blazing, fuzzed-out rocker that picks up where 'Vertigo' left off." Thematically, the song is about Bono taking his family on vacation to France and witnessing warplanes flying overhead at the start of the Iraq War. The chant "let me in the sound" was developed late in the recording sessions and became a theme throughout parts of the album.

"Stand Up Comedy" went through numerous iterations; at one point, Lanois noted, "that song was about six different songs". In its original concept, the track featured mandolins playing in a Middle Eastern beat. The riff was altered and a chorus of "for your love" was introduced. This version was discarded as the band came up with a new riff and lyrics, only retaining the "for your love" vocal. U2 liked the result at the end of the sessions, but felt that the song would appear too "crafted"; they instead chose an older mix for inclusion on the album. Several of the song's lyrics, including the line, "Be careful of small men with big ideas", relate to Bono's self-mockery. The guitar sound from the experimental "Fez" portion of "Fez – Being Born" was developed while the band recorded "The Saints Are Coming" during the Rick Rubin sessions. Lanois edited the part, adding a beat developed by Eno, before playing it for the group. The sounds of a Moroccan marketplace were also added. The faster section of the song, "Being Born", was altered into the same key as "Fez" and Lanois placed the two sections together, creating the one song. The "let me in the sound" chant from "Get on Your Boots" is included at the beginning of the track.