Drop the 'Bloody' from 'Bloody Sunday' Bono was told

The British record producer who first heard "Bloody Sunday" the U2 hit song told the band to drop the word 'Bloody' as it would not work on radio.

In the web version of  his New York Times column Bono  revealed that the producer stated " The baby (Bloody Sunday) is a hit with one caveat: drop the Bloody. Bloody won't work on the radio."

The print edition of the column was edited and did not include the following commentary by Bono on the birth of the Bloody Sunday song.

"U2 is in a studio in Dublin, playing its new song, “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” to the record company. The melody is a good one but the lyric is, in hindsight, an inarticulate speech of the heart. It’s a small song that tries but fails to contrast big ideas ... atonement with forgiveness ... “Bloody Sunday” with Easter Sunday. The song will be sung wherever there are rock fans with mullets and rage, from Sarajevo to Tehran. Over time, the lyric will change and grow. But here, with the Cockneyed record company boss at the song’s birth, the maternity ward goes quiet when the man announces that the baby is “a hit”... with one caveat: “Drop the ‘bloody.’ ‘Bloody’ won’t bloody work on the radio."