Books by and about U2 number in the dozens. From the early saga “North Side Story: U2 in Dublin 1978-1983” to the Bono interview volume “Conversations With Michka Assayas” from 2005. Even after that there were always new perspectives on the saga of the Irish four to continue.
The busy Bono Vox has now found time for Surrender, a look back at forty selected songs from the band. A mixture of pathos and fun is announced in an English advance notice. “Surrender” is the story of a pilgrim who doesn’t make any progress. “A proper sense of humor shouldn’t be missing,” says the lead singer. The subtitle “40 Songs, One Story” references the forty chapters, each named after a U2 song. The all-round creative Bono made forty original drawings as a visual.
“When I started this book, I wanted to detail what I had previously only sketched in songs,” explains Bono. “The people, places and decisions in my life. “Surrender” is a word of great importance to me.”
His late mother, Iris Hewson, is a central figure in this new song memoir. Bono has processed the impact of these early family tragedies in U2 songs like “I Will Follow”, “Mofo” or “Out of Control”. The 600-page volume, which will be published in November 2022, will be published by Penguin Random House; a German translation in the same house can be assumed.
Bono’s memories wander back to the first band rehearsal in September 1976. “Surrender”, i.e. giving up or capitulation, would have become a lasting motive in his life. “Growing up with fists raised in Ireland in the 1970s was a pretty outlandish concept.” At that time there was not only fighting in music. “It was only during the retrospective of my life that I discovered how important this has always been to me: in the band, in my marriage, in my faith and in life as an activist.”
Bono proclaimed his early Christian creed at his 62nd cradle festival on May 10, where he also presented the upcoming book. He posted an animated clip about the composition of “Out of Control” on his 18th birthday: