From the moment I first spun “The Joshua Tree,” my favourite U2 song has always been “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” That is, until I discovered a version of the song by the Irish super-band that enhanced its spiritual underpinnings with the backing of a full-on gospel choir. Then, in my efforts to find a video of that performance to share, I found this.

Postmodern Jukebox is hard to define (best to check it on YouTube for yourself, where the PMJ channel surpassed one billion viewers in 2018): It’s a collective of musicians founded and organized by former jazz musician Scott Bradlee that reimagines modern pop songs in vintage styles – such as the Spice Girls as the Andrews Sisters; Aerosmith (“Dream On”) like a James Bond theme song; and “Thriller” a la Cab Calloway, among others; and this unique rock-soul-gospel version of the U2 classic.

Featuring Rogelio Douglas, Jr. on this song, the singer/actor channels his inner Jackie Wilson for a stylish treatment of the tune on a set seemingly transported from the 1950s or early ‘60s. The eye-opening (and foot-tapping) result, in the words of one commentator, “takes the song to another level.”

It also, in the best fashion of music, breathes new life into an old favourite – though, in reverse fashion, by taking what was new and cutting edge in 1987 and making it old again (in 2019). And it works.

To quote another observer, “This is what a cover should be.”

Lyrics

I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her fingertips
Burning like a fire
This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes I’m still running

You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Oh my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for