When Love Comes To Town

This is a duet with blues legend B.B. King. American blues musicians were a big influence on U2, and the group had a great admiration for King. In 1987, King played a show in Dublin and found out U2 would be in the audience. This made him nervous, as U2 had just released The Joshua Tree and were wildly popular, especially in their native Ireland. After the show, King was honored to meet the band and humbled to find out they were big fans. He asked Bono to think of him sometime when he was writing a song, and this was the result. King performed the song with the band for the first time during their Joshua Tree tour at a concert in Fort Worth, Texas on November 24, 1987. Parts of this show as well as the soundcheck were included in the U2 concert documentary Rattle And Hum, which contains a scene where Bono is rehearsing this with King.

B.B. King opened for U2 on their 1989 "Lovetown" tour, which went through New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Germany, and Holland. King joined U2 when they played this, which usually occurred near the end of their set.

The version used on Rattle And Hum was recorded with B.B. King at Sun Studios in Memphis, where King is royalty. This was one of several new songs on the album, which was a combination of live cuts from their 1987 tour and studio recordings.