The song originated from a demo the band recorded on which drummer Larry Mullen Jr. played a unique rhythm pattern.

Adding to the gospel qualities of the song are choir-like backing vocals provided by the Edge and producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

[6] Mullen said the beat became even more unusual, and although Lanois eventually mixed most of the pattern out to just keep the basics, the rhythm became the root of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

[8] After the Edge wrote a chord sequence and played it on acoustic guitar "with a lot of power in the strumming", the group attempted to compose a suitable vocal melody,[6] trying out a variety of ideas.

[4] During a jam session, Bono began singing a "classic soul" melody, and it was this addition that made the Edge hear the song's potential.

He suggests it was influenced by a line from the Bob Dylan song "Idiot Wind": "You'll find out when you reach the top you're on the bottom".

[6] As recording continued, a number of guitar overdubs were added, including an auto-pan effect and a chiming arpeggio to modernise the old-style "gospel song".

Bono sang in the upper register of his range to add to the feeling of spiritual yearning; in the verses he hits a B-flat note, and an A-flat in the chorus.

[7] The original "Weather Girls" demo, re-titled "Desert of Our Love", was included with the 2007 remastered version of The Joshua Tree on a bonus disc of outtakes and B-sides.

However, Bono was unable to sing the song during pre-tour rehearsals and the band were reportedly unhappy with the video shot by Neil Jordan, so "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" became a late choice for the second single.

After nearly 2 months on the chart, the song reached number one on 8 August 1987, becoming the band's second consecutive number-one hit in the United States.

[18] The accompanying music video for the song was filmed on Fremont Street in Las Vegas on 12 April 1987 following their Joshua Tree Tour concert in that city.

Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas's official event organization, credits the group's video with improving the city's image among musicians.

Hot Press journalist Bill Graham described the song as on the one-hand as a "smart job of pop handwork, pretty standard American radio rock-ballad fare" but that "the band's rhythms are far more supple and cultivated than your average bouffant HM band of that period".

[21] The Sunday Independent suggested that the song was proof the band could be commercially accessible without resorting to rock clichés.

[23] The Rocket noted that Bono's lyrics about needing personal spirituality resulted in a "unique marriage of American gospel and Gaelic soul" and that the "human perspective he brings to this sentiment rings far truer than the rantings of, say, the born-again Bob Dylan".

[24] Cash Box said that "Typically drenched in Bono-esque pathos and Edge-guitar atmospherics, 'Still' has the power of spiritual conviction delivered from the perspective of the desert sojourn rather than the comfort of the Promised Land.

"[25] Several publications, including The Bergen Record and The Boston Globe, called the track "hypnotic" and interpreted it as depicting the band on a spiritual quest.

[26][27][28] The song finished in 18th place on the "Best Singles" list from The Village Voice's 1987 Pazz & Jop critics' poll.

[31] While in Glasgow in late July 1987 during the Joshua Tree Tour, Rob Partridge of Island Records played the demo that Bell and his choir, the New Voices of Freedom, had made.

[32] In late September, U2 rehearsed with Bell's choir in Greater Calvary Baptist Church in Harlem for a performance together in a few days at U2's Madison Square Garden concert.

Several performances were made with a piano player; however, the version used in the film includes only Bono, the Edge, Mullen, and the choir.

The versions on the Mexico City and Milan concert films consist of just Bono's voice and the Edge's guitar until after the first chorus where the drum and bass parts kick in.

[citation needed] Stewart Mason from AllMusic described the song as "gospel-tinged", noting that it "finds new levels of power in that overplayed song, and its inclusion makes perfect thematic and musical sense instead of being the desperate plea for chart attention it might have been in less capable hands.

"[78] Bill Coleman from Billboard declared it as the "perfect cover version", and a "tasteful, contemporary R&B treatment of a pop favorite [that] may be this U.K. threesome's key to a stateside breakthrough.

"[81] Chris Roberts from Melody Maker wrote, "I still don't realise it's that horrible U2 song because I'm enjoying it immensely.

Somehow the Chimes, gradually evolving into the most consistent of Brit soul bands, have transformed the sub-Dylan turkey into a smoochy summery thing that claws into your spinal cord and hangs there like a first kiss, purring.

"[83] Miranda Sawyer from Smash Hits noted Pauline Henry's "remarkable voice", describing the song as "classy"[84] and "a lovely, lazy Soul II Soul-style groover."