Red Hill Mining Town

Though the title of the song may convey an American-based image, Red Hill Mining Town draws inspiration from a landscape much closer to home. The song was inspired by the 1984 British miners' strike, which occurred in response to the British National Coal Board's decision to close down large swathes of the UK's coal-mines, which had become unprofitable. The dispute created one of the most divisive and bitter civil conflicts in the UK in the 20th Century, with violent confrontations between the trade union pickets and the police. In a recent interview with Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2 (see below), Bono explains how the song is about the breakup of a relationship under the stains of the strikes. The closure of the mines, resulted in men not having work, and this sadness, strain and stress was brought back into the home environment, putting pressure on people's relationships, with some people's marriages collapsing (McGee, 2017).

During this same interview, Bono admits the song itself has had a bumpy ride, never actually being performed live. When it was originally written, it was intended to be the band's second single from The Joshua Tree album. However, Bono found it too challenging to sing, which resulted in the song ultimately being shelved from live performances. To mark The Joshua Tree album tour 2017, the band have re-released a remastered version of the song, which Bono says he can now sing, suggesting he has learned how to sing better over the past 30 years (McGee, 2017).

Looking for a moment at the music side of the song, the Edge's opening guitar chords signify a new day. A day where the husband/father/miner goes out again not sure if the day is going to be his last down the mines. Breaking down the song down, musically, the Edge's opening guitar chords signify a new day. Bono's friendships with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, which were forming in the mid-80s, had a massive influence on the lyrics for this song. The "Father" in the first line of the song is possibly referring to a local mining board who are making decisions as to whether to close the last remaining coal mine in Red Hill Town, whilst the "Son" is a reference to the worker who are unsure whether they are soon to be out of work, leaving his family destitute ahead of a long winter (Stokes, 2005). The "faces frozen still" evoke a scene of protesters standing outside the board's building, waiting for a decision to be reached. Despite this impending decision, work continues. Lyrics such as "the coal face cracked", "the lines are long", "through hands of steel"and heart of stone, indicates how the work is still going. You are transported to that place. You can almost see the miners hard at work, deep in a cave, hat lights shining, swinging their pick axes (Alison, 2004) .

"We'll scorch the earth/Set fire to the sky/We stoop so low to reach so high"

These lyrics are Bono talking about the “scorched-earth policy” of the board, whose actions could destroy everything everyone has worked for in the town, then talking how the town must crawl before it walks, or potentially the town has to hit the bottom before it sees an economic boom again (Stokes, 2005).