Maurice Kiely claims he is the author of the song that appeared on U2's 2004 album ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’.
According to Irish Central and the Times of London, Maurice Kiely, an Irish musician, claims he wrote the track in the late 1990s and now is seeking $3 million in compensation through a lawsuit has filed in Dublin’s High Court. Kiely had already tried to sue the band in 2019, but the suit was filed in the U.S. and the court refused to hear it because both U2 and Kiely are based in Ireland.
According to the U.S. lawsuit Kiely had played the song for U2’s bassist Adam Clayton in 2004 in Dublin. He also claims that Clayton heard the song at a regular get-together of friends and musicians in Donnybrook and asked Kiely if he could record it and play it to the other members of U2. According to the reports, later he agreed verbally that U2 could use the song but asked that it not be performed live, for sentimental reasons.
But later the band would break this agreement when they played the song in October 2011 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles during the launch of the Bill Clinton Foundation.
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Photo by Todd Poirier on Unsplash