Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own

2005 single by U2

"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track on their eleventh studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), and was released as the album's second single worldwide except in North America on 7 February 2005. Originally titled "Tough", the song is lyrically about the relationship between the band's lead vocalist Bono and his father Bob Hewson, who died of cancer in 2001. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart becoming the band's sixth number one single in the United Kingdom. It also topped the charts in Canada, Scotland and Spain, and reached the top 10 in Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway. The song won two Grammy Awards at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in 2006: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Song of the Year.

Lead vocalist Bono and guitarist the Edge first began working on the song during U2's 1997–1998 PopMart Tour. During the recording of U2's 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind, Bono was aware that his father, Bob Hewson, was in the terminal stages of a bout with cancer. At that point, the song had the working title of "Tough", as that was the impression Bono always had of his father; he called him: "A tough old boot of a guy. Irish, Dub, north side Dubliner, very cynical about the world and the people in it, but very charming and funny with it." The Edge said that when the band played the song together, "it was a bit cloying". Bassist Adam Clayton said the song in its original form "had a very traditional feel", and that the group spent extensive time trying to change "the harmonic content" while still "retaining the strong melodies". The band subsequently decided not to release the song on All That You Can't Leave Behind. After Bob died in 2001, Bono sang a version of the song at his funeral.

"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" was released in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2005 and in Australia the following week. In the former country, the song was added to BBC Radio 1's C list playlist on 29 December 2004. It moved to the B list a week later and to the A list a week after that. In the United States, the song was added to several radio formats between February and March. In Canada, the song was released on 22 March 2005, a month after "All Because of You" was issued there.

RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref. (Reference)United Kingdom7 February 2005CD, DVDIslandUnited States22 February 2005Alternative radioInterscope7 March 2005Mainstream rock, active rock radioCanada22 March 2005CDIsland