Composition and Theme
"One Tree Hill" runs for 5:23 (5 minutes, 23 seconds). It is played in common time at a tempo of 120 beats per minute. The song begins with a highlife-influenced riff by The Edge on guitar, which repeats in the background throughout the song. Percussion from drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. enters after two seconds. At 0:07, a second guitar enters. At 0:15, Clayton's bass and Mullen's drums enter, and at 0:31, the verse chord progression of C–F–B♭–F–C is introduced. The first verse begins at 0:47. At 1:32, the song moves to the chorus, switching to a C–B♭–F–C chord progression. The second verse then begins at 1:49, and after the second chorus, a brief musical interlude begins at 2:36, in which The Edge's guitar is replaced by the Raad strings. The third verse begins at 3:07, and The Edge's guitar resumes at 3:38 in the chorus. A guitar solo begins at 4:16 and is played until the instrumentation comes to a close at 4:36. After two seconds of silence, the Raad strings fade in and Bono proceeds to sing the coda. The final lyric and strings fade out over the final six seconds.
Clayton called it part of a trilogy of songs on the album, along with "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Mothers of the Disappeared", that decry the involvement of the United States in the Chilean coup. McGuinness stated that the imagery in the song described the sense of tragedy felt by the band over Carroll's death. Colm O'Hare of Hot Press believed The Edge's guitar riff personified the lyric "run like a river runs to the sea". Thom Duffy of the Orlando Sentinel felt the song reflected the seducation of a lover. Richard Harrington of the Washington Post acknowledged the tribute to Carroll, adding that it demonstrated U2's belief that music could spur change.
Like many other U2 songs, "One Tree Hill" can be interpreted in a religious manner. Hot Press editor Niall Stokes called it "a spiritual tour de force", saying "it is a hymn of praise and celebration which described the traditional Māori burial of their friend on One Tree Hill and links it poetically with themes of renewal and redemption." Beth Maynard, a Church rector from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, felt the song "vows faith in the face of loss, combining elegiac lines about a friend ... and the martyred Chilean activist and folk singer Victor Jara, with a subtle evocation of end-time redemption and a wrenching wail to God to send the pentecostal Latter Rain." Matt Soper, Senior Minister of the West Houston Church of Christ, believed the lyrics were an attempt by Bono to understand God's place in the world. Steve Stockman, a chaplain at Queen's University of Belfast, felt that the song alluded to "transcendent places beyond the space and time of earth". Music journalist Bill Graham noted "the lyrics, with their reference to traditional Māori burial ceremonies on One Tree Hill, indicated that the band's faith didn't exclude an empathy with others' beliefs and rituals. Their Christianity wouldn't plaster over the universal archetypes of mourning."
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