Bono and The Edge:

"One day you'll look back, and you'll see
Where you were held now by this love.
While you could stand there,
You could move on this moment
Follow this feeling.

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
She moves in mysterious ways.
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
She moves in mysterious ways.

Move you, spirits move you
Move, spirits 'its move you, oh yeah.
Does it move you?
She moves with it.

Lift my days, and light up my nights, ohUSA Today’s exclusive ride-along with Bono and The Edge through the Sundance Film Festival came to a close last Saturday as the car circled the snowy roundabout near Park City’s bustling Main Street, inching through traffic to drop them at the Riverhorse restaurants pre-screening party for the movie U2 3D. Read the full story here.

By Anthony Breznican

Bono had just finished playing me a demo track from their upcoming album, a song called “No Line on the Horizon” that he was inspired to slip into the CD player by the gorgeous white sunset settling over the surrounding mountains.

Bono looks back at the guitarist and says, “Edge – look, it’s 6 o’clock,” and the two look from the green digits on the stereo to each other. Bono explains that numbers are significant in each of the new songs, and slips in another CD that may be the first track on the album. Its opening lyric is, “It’s six o’clock …”

I said, Isn’t it weird how certain numbers seem to turn up in our lives? It seems like this kind of thing is especially common kind of game with musical people, who must make numbers and patterns a part of their art. “Yeah, we like numbers,” Bono says.

Some friends of mine in a Pittsburgh band called Race the Ghost have that thing with 316, which would pop up with all of us at strange times – the address of a party, part of an important phone number, the title of a Van Halen song, the row and seat number at a concert…

“Three-sixteen?” Bono says, turning down the music to ponder it. For a moment I think he’s going to dismiss the phenomenon. Then he jerks his head toward the guitarist and says knowingly: “Edge’s is 42.”

“I discovered recently that it is actually the secret number of the universe,” The Edge says.

“What is it?” Bono asks, and The Edge repeats himself. Bono feigns concern and says, “Steady on, The Edge …”

“Why is that funny? Quite honestly …" The Edge replies. He’s so stoic it’s hard to tell if he’s joking — but he’s joking. "It was in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ... But scientists have recently discovered that it’s actually true …”

The Edge’s voice is then drowned out as Bono blasts the volume on his jangling guitar intro, just in time for the “Six o’clock” lyric. Bono sings along with himself for a moment, then turns the sound down again and looks back at the guitarist and smiles sarcastically: “Say it again … Sorry, Edge, for interrupting you, oh master of the universe."

The Edge is undaunted by his friend’s teasing and describes a mathematical study about 42 recurring in formulas relating to mass, energy, speed and other physical properties. It’s clear he’s the scientist, and Bono is the poet – but both see a mysticism in numbers from different directions.

While transcribing the interview recording, I was trying to Google the number 42 and see what Edge was talking about. But I stopped when I noticed something …

This discussion started precisely at minute 42 on the recording. No joke. I went back to 3:16 on the recording, and that is the precise end of my very first question.

Coincidence ... or Mysterious Ways?