It is the eleventh track on their ninth album, Pop (1997), and was released as its fourth single on 22 September 1997 by Island Records.

The single cover for this song features pictures of four Northern Irish politicians – Gerry Adams, David Trimble, Ian Paisley, and John Hume (clockwise from top left).

Kevin Courtney from Irish Times commented, "Still in subdued mood, Bono remonstrates with an imaginary lover about imagined wrongs, begging her to "Please, get up off your knees".

The song is steeped in an atmosphere of suppressed sexuality, and The Edge restrains his guitar lines, as though dying to break loose from the chains of repression.

"[2] British magazine Music Week rated the song four out of five[3] and Alan Jones wrote, "U2's "Please" has attracted more attention for its sleeve — depicting Northern Ireland's political leaders in Warholian style — than it has for its musical merit, which is a shame, since it's vintage U2, eschewing the dance beat which they have pursued of late in favor of a more traditional style.

This performance of "Staring at the Sun", played by Bono and the Edge as part of an acoustic set at the PopMart concerts, was a departure from the version on the Pop album.