The Troubles
by U2 (featuring Lykke Li)

Album: Songs of Innocence (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song about personal redemption finds Bono singing about learning to move on from his own problems. The closing track on Songs of Innocence it features guest singer Lykke Li repeating the refrain, "somebody stepped inside your soul."
  • Lykke Li is the last voice we hear on the track and also on the album, a trick U2 previously pulled when Johnny Cash closed Zooropa with "The Wanderer."
  • Lykke Li recorded the song twice twice, first without the band and then again with them in the studio Speaking to Rolling Stone, the Swedish singer revealed details of the song's recording process. "Bono was very kind," she said "He was kind of like the quiet leader, instructing me how to sing in tune – which I usually don't."

    "Mostly, they let me do my own thing," Li continued, "but we tried different things like to whisper it to someone or to scream it to someone, but it was all about creating intimacy. We turned off all the music and sang only to the drums, so it was really getting to what the core of the song meant. I had a wonderful time."
  • Speaking during a RTE Songs of Innocence special, Bono described this as "an uncomfortable song about domestic violence." He added about Lykke Li's contribution: "She puts us all under a spell with her music. We needed a feminine spirit; she was the right one."
  • It was producer Danger Mouse who reached out to Lykke Li. She downplayed her talents, telling Bono she was "slightly tone deaf." He gave her a shot of encouragement, and told her to sing it "like Nina Simone."

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