Film

When U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. and pop rock singer GAYLE collaborated on the end title song “Between the Lines” for Left Behind, an inspiring documentary about several mothers’ fight to open the first New York City public school dedicated to children with dyslexia, it was personal.

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Mullen’s oldest son has dyslexia, as does GAYLE. Mullen approached GAYLE about working together, who says it was a “no brainer.”

“I have been pretty public about the fact that I have dyslexia, and that is something that has been a part of my whole entire life,” GAYLE tells Billboard over a Zoom with Mullen. “Larry reached out to me about trying to collaborate for this documentary. He was talking about how passionate he was about the project, especially the fact that he has a child that has been affected with dyslexia. He had a view as a parent seeing how it’s affected his child. He didn’t have to sell me in any way.”

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The catchy, propulsive song, which premieres below, is spiky and defiant, driven by Mullen’s drumming and the GAYLE’s refrain, “special and weird is hard to come by,” and her lyrics that explain what it feels like from her experience to be dyslexic. A dramatic bridge heightens the emotional appeal.

Mullen was familiar with GAYLE’s breakthrough hit “abcedefu” because it had been a big hit in his native Ireland and he was also aware that she had dyslexia, which was of critical importance to him in a writing partner. “I was really anxious that when I agreed to do [the song] that somebody who actually had dyslexia was involved and they would do the lyrics,” he says. “It was just completely fortuitous and luck that myself and GAYLE kind of fell into each other.”

Mullen and his co-writers, Reed Berlin and David Baron, had ideas for the track, as did GAYLE, and “we found a compromise” through their generational divide and diverse styles, Mullen says. “It was a collide of cultures, two different eras coming together. And the collision is kind of a beautiful one despite the musical differences.”

GAYLE and Mullen talked on the phone about the tenacious spirit of the documentary and how to capture that attitude. GAYLE admits that without the prompting of the film, she likely would not have written a song about having dyslexia, but “because of my experience of being dyslexic and experiencing that my whole entire life, it was not a hard subject for me to write about. It was beautiful opportunity for me to talk about something that I struggle with on a daily basis.”

Within two days, GAYLE sent Mullen her lyrical ideas. “He’s such a legend, obviously. I was extremely intimidated,” she says, even telling him, “‘If you hate this, that’s completely fine.’” Mullen more than liked the direction and took the lyrics and finished the musical track.

Though Mullen had been involved as one of the film’s producers with his production partner Chris Farrell, he says it was GAYLE’s involvement that gave him “the kick we needed” to finish the music because her lyrics were so strong. “It’s not about being angry. For GAYLE, it’s about the frustration and being able to articulate that which is what makes it just so such a powerful idea. GAYLE is relatable as a powerful young woman out there doing stuff that us old guys can’t do,” Mullen says with a laugh.

The two still haven’t met in person — and it’s clear over Zoom that GAYLE is still a little awed by Mullen. “I haven’t even told Larry this, but I used to cover [U2] songs when I was a little kid, and I used to play at farmer’s markets and I’d have a little hat out, just begging for dollar bills, and I would buy an ice cream sandwich with the money,” she says. “So obviously, it just means so much to have somebody that I think is just so talented and such a legend in music to collaborate on a song. It’s just such an honor. And then for him to speak so kindly about me and my musicality and my music sensibilities, it really means a lot.”

Left Behind

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Though the film deals specifically with mothers in New York City, whose activism led to the opening of the South Bronx Literacy Academy in 2023 with more schools on the way, the universality of the story appealed to Mullen. His son, now 29, “fell through the cracks,” he says, in terms of getting diagnosed. “It’s only in the last 10 years that he’s kind of turning it around and starting to understand dyslexia and what it has meant to him. And through that discovery, I’ve learned something about my own reaction to it… so it was in that spirit that I got involved in the film.”

“A lot of people can see dyslexia as a disadvantage, and it definitely is extremely difficult, especially when you’re in the education system,” says GAYLE, whose eye doctor diagnosed her dyslexia when she was in elementary school. “I was in a family full of readers, and it was so frustrating to not understand why it was so much easier for my brother and my mother to read. I’ve learned so much about myself while having this be such a deep part of my life. But I think there’s a lot of frustrating parts about it as well. I think that’s why I wanted to put ‘special and weird is a thinning line,’ because while it’s something that’s really difficult, it’s also a superpower at the same time.”

Mullen, along with Baron, also wrote “One of Us,” which is heard briefly at the beginning of the documentary and then again at the end of the film after “Between the Lines” plays. Donna Lewis, best known for her ‘90s hit “I Love You Always Forever” sings the tune. Unlike “Between the Lines,” Mullen co-wrote “One of Us” to work with the images at the beginning of the film and as he watched his son watch the documentary. “I could feel his stress and this real discomfort, so I actually just translated that into a pair of drumsticks, and I started to feel what he was feeling. It was me trying to let the sticks dictate what was going on through his eyes.”

For Mullen to be able to play on the film’s songs was a major victory given that he has been in recovery from neck surgery that prevented him from playing with U2 during the band’s Sphere run earlier this year. “I’ve been out of action for quite a while. I’m just back a couple of months,” he says. “It was great to be able to do this track because I could play on it, whereas six months ago, I couldn’t because I had a neck surgery. So, I’m just getting back in and it’s slow, methodical. This project was a lot of fun.”

Both Mullen and GAYLE are aware that their involvement can help bring awareness to the film and to dyslexia. “I’m personally trying to sit in the middle, advocating for [those with dyslexia] to not be underestimated, while also still acknowledging the difficulties that come with dyslexia,” GAYLE says.

Similarly, Mullen hopes the film can make people think. “I just think this is a really pertinent question for people to ask about an education system that’s essentially screwed up, and that demonizes and persecutes children for thinking differently,” he says. “If we can just change the conversation, even for a minute, I think that that’s a good thing.”

Left Behind, directed by Emmy Award winner Anna Toomey, premiered at the Woodstock (N.Y.) Film Festival in October and will run as part of DOC NYC Nov. 20-21. Abramorama has acquired the North American theatrical rights to the documentary and will kick off a theatrical release Jan. 17 at New York’s QUAD Cinema.