BONO has revealed that he wrote a love song to his mother on U2’s new album Songs of Innocence.
The With or Without You singer paid tribute to her on the band's 13th studio album.
He admitted that the autobiographical material for the new record was "excruciating" to write because he was determined not to leave anything out.
"It's challenging stuff. What that meant was nothing, nothing was to be kept back. So you end up with a song about - I mean, how f***ing embarrassing is this? I write the lyrics to a song about my mother,” he told Q magazine.
"It was like, 'Are you gonna go there?' So I went there. Here's a wild thing - my mother collapsed at her father's graveside 40 years ago yesterday and I've just sent out a love song to her. It's pretty excruciating stuff."
Bono traced many of his earlier years through songs on the album, including how he changed both "mentally and spiritually" after seeing The Clash perform live when he was younger.
He added: "So we decided to go, 'Are you ready to write about the street you grew up in? Are you ready to write about your friendships that got you through things?
"Are you ready to write about going to see the Ramones when you found somebody else who sang like a girl and then you found somebody else who sang like a girl and then you felt you could be in a band?
"Do you remember playing [Dublin pub] The Baggot Inn and people shouting, 'More punk in the Monkees?' And then going to see The Clash and changing mentally, spiritually?' "
