Bono revisited a classic holiday song he knows intimately, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” with Imelda May during Dublin’s annual Christmas Eve charity event, the Busk.
Imelda May sang the first verse with some extra Christmas spirit, delivering the “Christmas” refrain at the end before harmonizing again with Bono for the final notes. About midway through the song, “Mr. Bono,” as he was introduced, added some words of his own to the song, acknowledging the unity of the event and asking everyone there to lift their hands up in jubilation.
Darlene Love first recorded “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” in 1963, while U2 covered the track for the 1987 benefit compilation A Very Special Christmas. While performing on the Busk, Bono summoned the same panache he did in ’87, when he was singing to help raise money for the Special Olympics. Maybe it was the Irish flute that fueled him this time.
Along with Bono and May, the Busk this year featured event organizer, Glen Hansard, as well as the Script’s Danny O’Donoghue, the Riptide Movement, the Coronas’ Danny O’Reilly, and Shosby, according to NME. The evening ended with an all-star jam on the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” which found May wishing a happy birthday to the song’s late songwriter, Shane MacGowan, who was born on Christmas Day.
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The event, which Bono has previously supported, has been a Dublin tradition for 15 years. This year, it raised money for the Dublin Simon Community, a charity that seeks to help Ireland’s homeless population.
Darlene Love recorded “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on a hot August day in 1963 for Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You compilation, which came out in 1963. It became an enduring hit after she sang it on David Letterman’s late-night shows for decades. U2 revisited their cover of the song for the first time in nearly four decades in 2023 during their residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere venue.
