Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which arrived in movie theaters over the weekend, got a lot of attention from the press when U2 announced that they’d written a new track, "Ordinary Love," exclusively for the flick.  Frontman Bono says he was happy to pen something special for the Nelson Mandela biopic, especially since he’s been a strong supporter of the former South African leader’s causes over the years.

"We've been working for Nelson Mandela since we were, you know, in our teens,” he tells the Associated Press. “He's a huge part of our life and you feel for him because he didn't have a life himself. That is kind of his story. Everyone thinks they own him, and that's the way he wanted it. He gave himself to be a kind of global leader at the end, which is mad you know when you think about it, where he came from."

Guitarist The Edge adds he’s honored to have the band's first new song in several years featured in the film. "I think what we feel is just a great sense of pride to be just a tiny piece of this amazing project and particularly at this moment, when the great man is seriously ill,” he notes. “It's ever-more important, I think, to sort of shine the spotlight on him and what he's been able to achieve."

U2 offered a limited-edition 10-inch vinyl disc featuring "Ordinary Love" and a reworked version of "Breath," from 2009’s No Line on the Horizon, for Black Friday Record Store Day.  According toBillboard.com, U2's next studio album is expected in April.