Sunday Bloody Sunday uplifting structure. Bono once commented that "love is...a central theme" of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" The band have said the lyrics refer to the events of both Bloody Sunday in 1972 and Bloody Sunday in 1920, but are not specifically about either event. The song takes the standpoint of someone horrified by the cycle of violence in the province. Bono rewrote the Edge's initial lyrics, attempting to contrast the two events with Easter Sunday, but he has said that the band were too inexperienced at the time to fully realise that goal, noting that "it was a song whose eloquence lay
Sunday Bloody Sunday these lyrics, some listeners still considered it to be a rebel song—even one which glorifies the events of the two Bloody Sundays to which the lyrics refer. Commercially, the single had its biggest impact in the Netherlands, where it reached number 3 on the national charts. In the US, the song gained significant album-oriented rock radio airplay, and together with the earlier "New Year's Day" helped expose U2 to a mainstream American rock audience. Critical reception to the song was positive. In the Irish magazine "Hot Press", Liam Mackey wrote that "Sunday Bloody Sunday" "takes the widescreen view...a powerful riff