F is for 40

40, also known as 40 (How Long), is a song by the Irish rock band U2. It is the tenth and final track on their 1983 album, War. In fact, this was the last song written for the album...

The band had already used up an extra week of studio time and desperately needed one more song to complete it. Lead singer Bono opened up his Bible, and read from Psalm 40, just making some minor modifications, and then set the words to music. He tells us that it took them 10 minutes to write it, another 10 to record it, 10 minutes to make the mix and another 10 to listen back to it. U2 then closed most of its Eighties concerts with this song.