Songfacts®:

• U2's frontman Bono married his high school sweetheart, Ali, in 1982 and has been with her ever since. He can relate to the ups and downs of his own relationship, but he's at a disadvantage when writing about the pain of divorce. For "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," he drew on what his guitarist, The Edge, was going through: splitting from his wife, Aislinn O'Sullivan, with whom he has three daughters, after seven years of marriage. To compound the heartache, divorce was very difficult in Ireland, where it was frowned upon.
  
  Bono was the best man at Edge's wedding. Watching his bandmate go through the breakup inspired much of the lyric. The Edge later married Morleigh Steinberg, a belly dancer on their Zoo TV tour.
• This was very difficult to record. Many techniques and mixes were attempted before it was completed. On the album you can actually hear the audio levels being raised at the beginning of the song. The song was eventually Re-Recorded (The Temple Bar-Remix) and released as a single. The new version, which the band felt was superior, gave the song an acoustic sound. The video actually features the Temple Bar Edit/Remix rather than the actual song that appears on the album.
• The single is a remix of the album version and is the one the band prefers. It replaces the guitar with keyboards.
• Steve Lillywhite, who produced the first two U2 albums, was brought in to help on this song. He, Daniel Lanois, and Brian Eno are all given producer credit on the track.
• The line "Who's gonna taste your salt water kisses?" is a reference to oral sex.
• The song was released in 1992 as the album's fifth and final single. The other B-Sides on the single include covers of "Fortunate Son" and "Paint It Black," and a longer version of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses."
• When the covers to the singles of "Even Better Than the Real Thing," "The Fly," this song and "Mysterious Ways" are arranged, a picture of the band members driving a Trabant is formed. >>>

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