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B.: It's tricky if you're recording a vocal to get called out because there's a finance minister on the phone. It's hard explaining that to the rest of the band. I've got to be careful because music is what's given me the license, and I have to serve it. I have crossed that line and gone too far. I'm trying to figure this out as we speak. It's not easy. The thing you've really got to watch is that it's always a life-or-death issue, so you can play martyr. If somebody doesn't play Live 8, it's like, "You're killing Africans!" [Laughter]

M.G.: That didn't work very well?

B.: I didn't do that, but I thought about it.

TIME Bono's an equal partner in his day job. [To the Gateses] Does anyone tell you, "Hey, can you come and mind the store, please?"

M.G.: We definitely step back once a month and say, Did we as a couple spend time on the right issues, be it the foundation, Microsoft, our children? And if it ever gets where it feels like it's not the right balance, then we reshuffle.

TIME When the subject turns away from poverty and global health, what do you guys all talk about together?

B.: We just go off. If you hung out with us, it gets quite jazz. We're united by deep curiosity. So from stand-up comedy to quantum physics, there's nothing we don't cover. For me, that's what makes [good] company.

B.G.: The night after that concert where we stayed up till almost 3 a.m., we talked a lot about how history shapes things. Some of us were more optimistic about the future than others.

B.: That'd be me then.