Bono Goes Back to School

Bono has agreed to deliver the commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania on May 17th in Philadelphia.

The visit will be the U2 frontman's second address to a graduating Ivy League class. In June 2001, he appeared at Harvard's Class Day, giving a twenty-minute speech that touched on music as well as his charitable work to relieve third world debt and the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

"With his tireless efforts and use of his celebrity to remind us of our moral duties as citizens of the globe, Bono has been a powerful force for change," said Judith Rodin, president of the University of Pennsylvania, "galvanizing the action of presidents, countries and the general public."

For appearing at the University's 248th commencement, Bono will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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