Bono's lyric was inspired by his mother, who died in 1974 when he was 14. Bono calls it "a song about unconditional love." The love he refers to is between a mother and a child, how no matter what the child does, the mother will still love him. There is a biblical component to the song as well, as it's an analog to the love of God as expressed in Romans 8:39: "In neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God."
This is the first song on the first U2 album, Boy. It was released as a single at the same time as the album. It took a few albums for the band to catch on outside their native Ireland, so "I Will Follow" didn't get much attention when it was first released. The song was always a concert favorite, and many heard it for the first time on the 1983 live album Under A Blood Red Sky, which far outsold the Boy album. This version, which was released as a single and charted in the US at #81, came from the band's appearance at the Rockpalast festival in Germany that year.
This song is an example of what would become The Edge's distinctive guitar style. He felt he could play only a few notes, but make it work by finding the right ones.
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