The two songs were linked by a drum segue leading from the end of 'I Threw a Brick Through a Window' into 'A Day Without Me', and this pairing lasted until April 1985 ( 1985-04). It did not appear on the October Tour until November 1981 ( 1981-11), when it was paired with 'I Threw a Brick Through a Window', a song from the newly released October album. On the Boy Tour, it did not have a firmly defined set list position, initially appearing in the main set before moving to the encore. 'A Day Without Me' was played live during the first half of the 1980s. The image echoes the Joy Division photoshoot on the Epping Walk Bridge in Hulme, Manchester, that featured in an article of New Musical Express in January 1979. The image on the single's cover, photographed by Susan Byrne, is of a footbridge at Booterstown railway station in South Dublin. The B-side is an instrumental song called 'Things to Make and Do.' The single release was produced by Steve Lillywhite, and was the first time that he recorded with U2.

However, this information was erroneous as the band performed the song in Dublin in February 1980, musically and lyrically unaltered from its release format, a few months before Curtis's death. Īt the time of the single's release, an Island Records press officer was notifying enquirers who were corresponding with the record label about the band that the song's lyrics were written about the death of Ian Curtis, the frontman/vocalist of the band Joy Division. The song's lyrics refer to the removal of someone from their habitual social circle, and reflecting on what the world would be like without their presence.

A day without me u2 lyrics