by Christie L.

I’ve been a U2 fan since the 80s when they released The Unforgettable Fire album. I eagerly purchased that album and The Joshua Tree, learning all the songs and watching all the videos. During The Joshua Tree tour, I saw them perform in Austin, Texas in November 1987. When Rattle and Hum came out, I eagerly bought the CD and saw the documentary in the theater.  

College is a formative time, and U2’s lyrics really spoke to my growing social justice consciousness. I was a member of Students Against Apartheid, and I was starting to follow the news out of El Salvador. Bono’s words about injustice, laced with spiritual references, moved me. Their music propelled and sustained me as I graduated and started putting words into action, joining a domestic volunteer program and working for justice. 

Over time, their musical style and my tastes diverged and I didn’t follow them as closely. But when I heard about Bono’s memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, I wanted to read it. He writes about his childhood in Ireland, with a Catholic father and Protestant mother, during the Troubles. His mother died of a stroke when he was just 14, leaving Bono, his older brother, and his Da in a state of shock that they never discussed. His resulting and unresolved anger issues come up over and over. 

“Drummer seeks musician to form band.” Six words that changed Bono – and the world. Larry Mullen’s flyer, posted in the school where he, Bono, David Evans (the Edge), and Adam Clayton attended, pulled together four classmates who have been playing together since 1976. A fifth student became Bono’s soulmate and wife. He and Ali Stewart wed in 1982 and have four children. 

Throughout his memoir, Bono writes about growing up amid violence in Northern Ireland as well as his spiritual journey, one that he shared with the Edge and Larry at a small community church, and how both deeply shaped their sense of justice, lyrics, and music. Bono drives himself – and those around him – relentlessly to be his best. It was interesting to read how many times the band almost broke up because of his ideas, which often differed from his bandmates. Thankfully for their fans, they always come to an understanding. 

As U2’s success grew, so did Bono’s belief in using his fame for good. He joins another “band” as an activist, immersing himself in issues, meeting with world leaders, and traveling the globe on relief missions. He was instrumental in the Jubilee 2000 initiative, to convince the United States and other nations to start the new millennium by forgiving the unpayable debt of African countries, and he worked to persuade the U.S. to respond to the global AIDS pandemic in a major way. One of his most surprising stories was about meeting the late Senator Jesse Helms who blessed Bono in his office and later repented for the way he spoke about AIDS (apparently the Edge was not happy when he learned about that meeting). More recently, he and the Edge made an undercover trip to Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy and perform in a makeshift bomb shelter. 

It’s clear to anyone who listens to U2’s lyrics and reads this book that Bono is a man of deep convictions. He treasures his lifelong friends, he deeply loves his wife and children, and he cherishes his bandmates, who have become his extended family. He is passionate about people on the margins of society. Bono recognizes his responsibility to work for justice. 

As I alternated between reading the physical book and listening to Bono narrate the audiobook, I returned to those first albums that first made me a fan. I found some new songs that I added to my U2 Faves playlist, which has been on repeat for the last few weeks. “I will sing, sing a new song…” 

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono is available in print, e-book, and e-audiobook.

You can find U2’s music for free on Hoopla, using your library account.

Christie is the Director of Communications and External Affairs for Howard County Library System. She loves walking through the network of pathways in Columbia, sitting on the beach, and cheering for the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Aggies football team.