Bono, Damien Rice, Swell Season Busk For Charity in Dublin

Passersby on Grafton Street in Dublin got a surprise on Christmas Eve when a pack of buskers performing on the sidewalk turned out to be Bono, the Swell Season's Glen Hansard, Damien Rice and singer-songwriter Mundy. The U2 frontman and his Irish pals came together to raise money for Simon Community, an organization that serves Ireland's homeless population. Grafton Street has seen its share of noteworthy performances — the road also featured heavily in the Oscar-winning Once, starring the Swell Season's Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

The ragtag group of rockers jammed for nearly an hour, performing songs like Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" as camera phones captured all the action. In the video above, watch as Bono and Co. perform both Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" and U2's "One."

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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