Next Tuesday (November 1st) the time has come. The much-anticipated 600+ page biography Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono is out in the UK. A dazzling life in texts and drawings.
As is now usual with such world star releases, the German translation is out just one day later (November 2nd). “Surrender is a literary memoir in the tradition of the great Irish storytellers. Seven years of work has resulted in a fascinating, detailed story about his family, religion and life as an artist, musician and activist.
From the longer excerpts, which the London daily newspaper “Guardian” has already been allowed to print, the “vibe” and tonality of the extensive work can be deduced. Bono’s memories are often kept in dialogue form. A chat with US President Obama, who is flippantly referred to as (presi number) “44”, goes something like this:
44: “What is the maximum number of terms one can serve as a singer of U2; haha …?”
Me: “Let’s put it that way; every new album is a choice. Two shitty records and you’re out.”
Bono focuses on the beginnings of the buddies from Dublin, the phenomenal rise, but also the great controversies that have always accompanied U2.
Like Apple’s marketing stunt in 2014, when their tenth album “Songs Of Innocence” was automatically downloaded to the devices of 500 million iTunes users. Bono takes full responsibility for this (certainly princely rewarded) sell-out, which led to considerable waves among fans and criticism. “People rightly accused us of going too far with this deal,” said the 62-year-old.
Bono also writes about U2’s longstanding relationship with the computer builders of Cupertino, California, which began when the band met Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2004. At the time, the founder and CEO refused to pay the band Apple stock to allow their music to be used in an iPod ad.
A decade later, Bono visited his successor, Tim Cook, who had taken over as CEO after Jobs’ death in 2011. Indirectly, in the following dialogue recording, Bono also goes into the fact that when it comes to money matters, he is more the clever gambler and less the luminary from many charity campaigns. During his visit, the idea of ”giving away” an upcoming U2 album came up.
“‘You want to give this music away for free?'” Bono memorized Cook’s response. “But the point of what we’re trying to do at Apple isn’t to give music away for free. It’s about making sure the musicians get paid.’”
“‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think we’re giving them away for free. I think you guys pay us for it and then give it away for free as a gift to people. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? … I think we should give it away to everyone. I mean, people can decide for themselves if they want to listen to the album.’”
In the following part, Bono reflects on the situation. “See what just happened? You could call it hubris. Or hubris. Critics might accuse me of overstepping the mark. It probably was!”