close to us, and I felt for them. It upset me as a person who read the Scriptures, to think that Christians in America were supporting this kind of thing, this kind of proxy war because of these Communists." In August, after reconvening with his bandmates in Dublin to resume work on The Joshua Tree, Bono instructed the Edge to "put El Salvador through an amplifier", resulting in the song's feedback-based guitar part. The Edge said that his guitar playing was also informed by Bono's lyrics. Producer Daniel Lanois says that the most progress on "Bullet the Blue Sky" was made at Melbeach, the Edge's newly purchased home in seaside Monkstown. According to Lanois, the song's performance came from a 20-minute jam that he dedicated an extensive amount of time to editing into a final arrangement, "for a song that was never a song, that was only ever a jam." He said, "It was one of those songs that was born partially by surgery – the editing of the structure was a really big part of it." Recording engineer Dave Meegan helped develop the song with a mix that he made at Melbeach. Wanting it to sound like Led Zeppelin, Meegan adjusted a monitor mix to make it "really heavy sounding." Lanois was inspired by what he heard, as the song up to that point was being treated softly. He quickly summoned the band, who went with the primary engineer Flood to Windmill Lane Studios. In a warehouse next door to the studio, the crew used a public address system to play an recording of Mullen's drums, which was then re-recorded inside the warehouse. Lanois called it a "really elaborate kind of rock and roll chamber". The result, according to Meegan, "made [the drums] sound like John Bonham", while Lanois said they sounded "tankier". He added, "it introduced a mid-range that the high-hat seemed to like. This new sonic emphasis on the high-hat made every hit more relevant... The inherent low-frequency punch of the PA also added a level of excitement to the bass drum. The overall sensation was a chestier one." The final mix of "Bullet the Blue Sky" was based on two different versions. Producer Steve Lillywhite, who in December 1986 was hired by U2 to help mix some of The Joshua Tree, was asked by the Edge "to fly over from one version to another version". Lillywhite