Beautiful Day - Writing and Recording

Writing and Recording

"Beautiful Day" was written in several stages, originating from a composition called "Always" (later released as a B-side) that the band created in a small room at Hanover Quay Studio. However, they were initially unimpressed with it, as guitarist The Edge said, "As a straight rock song, it was pretty ho-hum." After lead vocalist Bono came up with the "beautiful day" lyric, the song went in a different direction. The Edge's backing vocals for the chorus were improvised one night with co-producer Daniel Lanois, an addition he called "the key" to the chorus and its new lyrics.

During the recording process for the All That You Can't Leave Behind album, the band decided to distance themselves from their 1990s experimentation with electronic dance music in favour of a "return to the traditional U2 sound". At the same time, the band was looking for a more forward-looking sound. This led to debate amongst the band when The Edge was playing the song on his Gibson Explorer guitar with a tone used in much of their early material up to their 1983 album War. Bono was particularly resistant to the guitar tone The Edge was playing with, but The Edge ultimately won the disagreement. As he explains, "It was because we were coming up with some innovative music that I felt a license to use some signature guitar sounds." Although the group wished to establish a more stripped-down, conventional sound, one of the song's breakthroughs came after co-producer Brian Eno provided "electronification of the chords with a beat box" and a synthesised string part to the beginning. The Edge believes the contrast between these more electronic qualities of the track and his backing vocals with Lanois benefited the song.

The mixing process proved difficult, lasting two weeks. Several changes were made during this period; Bono added a guitar part that played the song's chord progression to double the bass, an addition that "solidified everything", according to The Edge. The Edge also changed the bass line in the chorus and converted a keyboard idea of Bono's into a guitar part that added a "sour quality" to balance the track's positivity. Lanois described the completed song as "one of those little gifts where you think, my god, we've got it!"