In the breathtaking video for U2's new song, "Window in the Skies," Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye and a shirtless Iggy Pop take turns singing the lyrics on Bono's behalf.

Instead of The Edge on guitar, you see Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Costello and a very young Keith Richards, back when he looked like a George Harrison doppelganger.

And hey, there's Vladimir Horowitz playing the piano! And that guy from Wilco on bass! And the manic Keith Moon on drums!

All thanks to the magic of editing and copyright clearances.

The "Window in the Skies" video is a stirring montage that features roughly 100 archival clips of various musicians performing in concert. The footage has been carefully and cleverly edited so that the performances sync up with U2's lyrics and music — right down to Frank Sinatra conducting the soaring song to its conclusion.

It's a triumph of postmodern reconstruction, a 4-minute 19-second celebration of some of popular music's most beloved and influential figures.

U2 seems to have invited the entire Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to its party, and more than a few folks showed up: Ray Charles, Joe Strummer, Smokey Robinson, Patti Smith, Jerry Lee Lewis, Robert Plant, Ronnie Spector, Roy Orbison. They were joined by newcomers, from rapper Kanye West to the Canadian indie-rock band Arcade Fire.

"We wanted to honor these great artists," says Gary Koepke, the video's director. "Throughout time, they've been playing music and trying to achieve greatness. We wanted to celebrate them and their passion. This video had to happen. And it made itself, basically."

Well, not really. It took three months and plenty of man-hours to make the addictive video, which has become a hit on YouTube and VH1 and has inspired endless pages of Internet discussion-board messages about who exactly appears in the clip and when. (That's Lou Reed, not Jim Morrison, at the 44-second mark; Beyoncé, not Britney Spears, at 1:47. A rundown of all of the artists might eventually appear on U2's Web site.)

Koepke says the wheels began to spin almost immediately when Bono gave him a copy of a new U2 song that was intended for a greatest-hits package. "Everybody probably has a different interpretation," the director says, "but to me, the song is about time and the power of love."

The resulting video features 137 clips, including "the money shot" — an atomic bomb turning into a sunset.