My Surrender to Bono's Book


SURRENDER 40 songs, one story is Irish singer Bono's first book, an autobiography. I firstly set my eyes on it last November and took seven months to find a copy and read.

It is a book I read with much pain. When I finally closed it and put back its cover paper, I felt relieved as if a troubled episode of my life closed. For some days I resisted turning its pages, and refused to write a review.

But tiny voices somewhere never rest, truely ample reasons that I should write down my feelings. Many of his songs are a part of my life, when I was young, less care of many things.

Last week I spent a few days with my parents away from the city, that voice finally conquered me on my trip back to Beijing.

SURRENDER is a book about many things, everyone will experience, but no one can plan well in advance. Bono writes with a tender heart and wild soul, his mum's early death and his suppressed sorrow find a way out in many of his songs, and his mixed feeling toward his dad runs even deeper:

I am thinking about my da and that polyp in my throat, the lingering thought that I could have cancer too. The ol' man is dying and now his young fella is no longer young. No longer indestructible, how inconvenient. I'm thinking about Ali and our kids. About age and mortality, about friendship and family. I knew we could write songs like that, but the trick would be not to give in to melancholy, to write with defiance as well as honesty.


Even more solemn is his words about love, his love with Ali. The following is what he put down before starting his and her honeymoon:

We were the playwrights and the play, the actors and the critics. Excited and nervous to begin our adventure together. No idea where we'd be in ten years. Twenty. Thirty. I raise you again. Forty years.

We'll eventually figure out what was going on in that moment. Rather than falling in love, we were climbing up toward it.

Even his friendship is not glued by joy or fun:

We were bonding over something bigger than music.We were bonding over the reason music is made. How it is balm for the ache inside us, a dressing for the wounds we hide.

In several chapters, Bono writes calmly on death, the death of friends, families and politicians. Here is his eulogy for an Irish peacemaker:

We were looking for a giant and found a man who made all our lives bigger.

We were looking for some superpowers and found clarity of thought, kindness, and persistence.

We were looking for revolution and found it in parish halls with tea and biscuits and late-night meetings under fluorescence.

We were looking for a negotiator who understood that no one wins unless everyone wins and loses something and that peace is the only victory.

SURRENDER in many ways changed my views toward Bono, the band of U2 he loved and fighted for, and even his songs which I believed providing guidance in my life. If I had a time machine and brought this book back to my 18......thinking of it almost kills this cut and paste shabby note.

Comfort and encouragement abound too, such as the following humble words:

Whatever room I was in, I would remind myself that the success of U2 had me over-rewarded and over-regarded and that I must not forget how much these people had given up, working long hours and living far from their families. Trying to make the best of their lives and for their constituents.

With that I herby surrender myself to this book, with honor and dignity.

最后编辑于
©著作权归作者所有,转载或内容合作请联系作者
  • 序言:七十年代末,一起剥皮案震惊了整个滨河市,随后出现的几起案子,更是在滨河造成了极大的恐慌,老刑警刘岩,带你破解...
    沈念sama阅读 206,311评论 6 481
  • 序言:滨河连续发生了三起死亡事件,死亡现场离奇诡异,居然都是意外死亡,警方通过查阅死者的电脑和手机,发现死者居然都...
    沈念sama阅读 88,339评论 2 382
  • 文/潘晓璐 我一进店门,熙熙楼的掌柜王于贵愁眉苦脸地迎上来,“玉大人,你说我怎么就摊上这事。” “怎么了?”我有些...
    开封第一讲书人阅读 152,671评论 0 342
  • 文/不坏的土叔 我叫张陵,是天一观的道长。 经常有香客问我,道长,这世上最难降的妖魔是什么? 我笑而不...
    开封第一讲书人阅读 55,252评论 1 279
  • 正文 为了忘掉前任,我火速办了婚礼,结果婚礼上,老公的妹妹穿的比我还像新娘。我一直安慰自己,他们只是感情好,可当我...
    茶点故事阅读 64,253评论 5 371
  • 文/花漫 我一把揭开白布。 她就那样静静地躺着,像睡着了一般。 火红的嫁衣衬着肌肤如雪。 梳的纹丝不乱的头发上,一...
    开封第一讲书人阅读 49,031评论 1 285
  • 那天,我揣着相机与录音,去河边找鬼。 笑死,一个胖子当着我的面吹牛,可吹牛的内容都是我干的。 我是一名探鬼主播,决...
    沈念sama阅读 38,340评论 3 399
  • 文/苍兰香墨 我猛地睁开眼,长吁一口气:“原来是场噩梦啊……” “哼!你这毒妇竟也来了?” 一声冷哼从身侧响起,我...
    开封第一讲书人阅读 36,973评论 0 259
  • 序言:老挝万荣一对情侣失踪,失踪者是张志新(化名)和其女友刘颖,没想到半个月后,有当地人在树林里发现了一具尸体,经...
    沈念sama阅读 43,466评论 1 300
  • 正文 独居荒郊野岭守林人离奇死亡,尸身上长有42处带血的脓包…… 初始之章·张勋 以下内容为张勋视角 年9月15日...
    茶点故事阅读 35,937评论 2 323
  • 正文 我和宋清朗相恋三年,在试婚纱的时候发现自己被绿了。 大学时的朋友给我发了我未婚夫和他白月光在一起吃饭的照片。...
    茶点故事阅读 38,039评论 1 333
  • 序言:一个原本活蹦乱跳的男人离奇死亡,死状恐怖,灵堂内的尸体忽然破棺而出,到底是诈尸还是另有隐情,我是刑警宁泽,带...
    沈念sama阅读 33,701评论 4 323
  • 正文 年R本政府宣布,位于F岛的核电站,受9级特大地震影响,放射性物质发生泄漏。R本人自食恶果不足惜,却给世界环境...
    茶点故事阅读 39,254评论 3 307
  • 文/蒙蒙 一、第九天 我趴在偏房一处隐蔽的房顶上张望。 院中可真热闹,春花似锦、人声如沸。这庄子的主人今日做“春日...
    开封第一讲书人阅读 30,259评论 0 19
  • 文/苍兰香墨 我抬头看了看天上的太阳。三九已至,却和暖如春,着一层夹袄步出监牢的瞬间,已是汗流浃背。 一阵脚步声响...
    开封第一讲书人阅读 31,485评论 1 262
  • 我被黑心中介骗来泰国打工, 没想到刚下飞机就差点儿被人妖公主榨干…… 1. 我叫王不留,地道东北人。 一个月前我还...
    沈念sama阅读 45,497评论 2 354
  • 正文 我出身青楼,却偏偏与公主长得像,于是被迫代替她去往敌国和亲。 传闻我的和亲对象是个残疾皇子,可洞房花烛夜当晚...
    茶点故事阅读 42,786评论 2 345

推荐阅读更多精彩内容