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Early Version of U2's "Get On Your Boots" Video Snatched From Web

February 2, 2009 9:19 AM ET

The new video for U2's "Get On Your Boots," the first single from the band's upcoming No Line on the Horizon, hit the Web this weekend — and has already been removed (so instead, check out a bunch of puppets performing the band's tune, above).

What appears to have been an early, possibly unfinished version of the U2 clip starts off resembling an iPod commercial, but then the green screen behind the band begins showing a collage of images like candy apples, skulls, 50-foot women wearing regalia, nuclear warheads and more. Despite Bono's lyrics, "I don't wanna talk about the wars between nations," it's hard to imagine the video isn't toying with a vast political statement.

In a really strange moment at the 1:57 mark, a photo appears behind the Edge that is actually stamped with a "Getty Images" watermark. It happens again at the 2:04 mark, suggesting that the clip hit the Net before the final edit. And of course, there's a lot of "sexy boots," as Bono sings, before the video ends with the band being besieged by lava. In short, the video resembles an animated version of the album cover of Oasis' Dig Out Your Soul.

No Line on the Horizon will be released Stateside on March 3rd in five different formats. For Rolling Stone's exclusive preview of the new U2 album, check out our track-by-track breakdown of No Line on the Horizon.

Related Stories:

U2 Break Down No Line on the Horizon
U2 Reveal No Line on the Horizon Track List, Album Cover
Cover Story: U2 Drops the Bomb

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

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