"Numb" by U2

Birthday wishes go out today to The Edge*, for more than thirty years now a member of earnest stadium anthemizers U2... Despite the band's utterly Dublin-esque Irish cred The Edge was born at London's Barking Maternity Hospital to Welsh parents; he and his family moved to Ireland in 1962, when The Edge was just one year old (although he was then still too squishy to be The Edge, and so they called him David).

In addition to playing guitar for U2 - and thus being instrumental in imbuing the group with its distinctive sound, a clearly winning combination of soaring melodies and ringing chords - The Edge also plays keyboards and sings backing vocals. One time, though, when he performed lead vocals for the band is on the song Numb; taken from the band's 1993 album Zooropa, Numb was the album's lead single, and the song's video (directed by Kevin Godley of Godley & Creme fame) features him in all his scrummy goodness, being backed up (for a change) by Bono and Larry Mullen, Jr.. Oh yeah, and Adam Clayton's in there somewhere too, no doubt lurking behind the looped sample from the Leni Riefenstahl film Olympia which gives the tune its backbone.

*Or just 'Edge' - although I've made my feelings known in the past how much I love a name and/or title with a definite article in it...
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