"The Wanderer" is a song by Irish rock band U2, and the tenth and final track from their 1993 studio album, Zooropa. It is one of the few U2 songs without Bono on lead vocals, instead featuring country singer Johnny Cash. Based on the Old Testament's Book of Ecclesiastes and its narrator "The Preacher", the song lyrically describes the narrator wandering through a post-apocalyptic world "in search of experience", sampling all facets of human culture and hoping to find meaning in life. Cash's haggard voice is juxtaposed against a synthesised bassline and mostly electronic instrumentation. Background Cash recorded the vocals for the song in Dublin in February 1993 during the Zooropa sessions. The song underwent several provisional titles, including "The Preacher" and "Wandering". Producer Brian Eno tried to get Bono to sing the song, but Bono maintained it was Cash's voice he imagined singing the song. Bono and Cash had previously worked on a song called "Ellis Island". Composition The lyrics describe a man searching for God in a post-Apocalyptic world. He expresses concern over society's diminished view of Jesus Christ; "They say they want the Kingdom but they don't want God in it." There is little guitar from the Edge, and Adam Clayton's synthesised bassline is the prominent musical sound throughout the song. However, Larry Mullen's soft drumbeats can be heard. As previously noted, this is one of the few songs not to be sung by Bono, but he does provide a falsetto vocal towards the song's ending. In an interview, Flood, one of the song's producers, singled out "The Wanderer" as one of Zooropas highlights; "For me, that's a great song and it translates emotionally brilliantly, yet there's a load of sonic experiments going on there. There's the idea of this person sort of wandering through this desolate landscape, but there's an air of nonchalance. Everything about the lyric, the delivery, the sound of his voice, the music -- it just seems fantastic. It delivers on all levels". At the end of the song (on most versions of Zooropa), there are 30 seconds of silence (4:45–5:15). Following this, an alarm-sound fades in at 5:15. The alarm sound repeats, even once it has completely started (at about 5:20). The alarm sound finishes at 5:41. Apparently, this is the same sound some DJs hear after 10 seconds of dead air on the radio. Live performances Johnny Cash performed "The Wanderer"