Bono, lead singer of U2, tells more than just a life as a rockstar, but half a century of stories in which rock has been central.
“If you have to be famous, of course, be funny, be irreverent”can we read in the memoirs of Bonotitled Surrender (Compromise), “the most underrated word in the dictionary, explains the charismatic singer of U2, the most powerful also because everyone is a winner because no one is. A command that calls for humility”. The work is chaptered around forty titles of U2 – not necessarily the best known – and articulated in an almost chronological order: one might have expected a sort of giant making of interplanetary hits, so many rallying cries for the various and varied causes defended by Paul David Hewson of his true name.
No diving into the heart of the creation of this fantastic success factory that is the Irish group, no trips to the recording studios that saw the birth of War, The Joshua Tree or The Unforgettable Fire. We find how Bono became not a star, but a symbol, as he details in the last pages of these astonishing memoirs, where we (re)discover his activism and what he did for “ease the pain of the world” by demanding debt relief for developing countries or with his many exchanges with politicians and statesmen. We thus see him institutionalize during the 1980s a generous militancy, a clear and clean discourse, all led by an unshakable faith, a keen sense of philosophy and still a lot, a lot of politics.
Surrender tells first and foremost about the duality that had also gripped many mystical bluesmen, from Son House to Sister Rosetta Tharpe: namely the struggle between Good and Evil, having to choose between God and the Devil. Bono explains the pseudo-religious part of being a rockstar and, above all, how disorder can eventually become messianic. Everything is thus put into perspective with what the “big project” from U2 : a promise as much as an analysis of the potential pitfalls of the world of rock and pop, in particular the examination of its place in society and, therefore, in the world. We are far from classic rock autobiographies “I and this is my life”remains that we did not necessarily expect such a work from a rock songwriter.
And it’s all to his credit: There is self-mockery, doubt and mea culpa: “The cerebral nature of our quests, mine in particular, can sometimes seem pretentious”writes bluntly the one who nevertheless admits having “an ego bigger than his self-esteem”. It is necessary to recognize that Bono is of a rare honesty, which we have always welcomed in these columns. He knows who he is and what he represents, he knows the criticisms that have been made to him since the beginning of his career and he does with it, hence his longevity in the rock’n’roll business. Just like his discretion on his family life, on Ali Hewson, to whom he dedicates this first book, the mother of his four children, met in high school in 1976, and already present at the very first rehearsal of the group.
But also about his three childhood friends who would go on to become one of the biggest bands in the world with him, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton. Surrender is designed as an object book equally punctuated by the appetite for Bono for drawing, “a form of meditation, a pleasure”. Forty small ink illustrations open each chapter. The line is loose, sketched, thrown, naive, without filter, close to automatic writing. All are accompanied by words that surround and sometimes cover them. In the middle of this 650-page pad, a notebook of around twenty collages and photographic cut-outs, most of which come from the family album. Happy memories where eras sometimes overlap.
First press cuttings, aftershows, signing of contracts, snapshots of the very beginnings and the words, always present: “If U2 is God, the Virgin Prunes are the devil”. Lists too, light, funny or deep: from the ideal menu of his childhood to the playlist listened to in the van during their first British tour, from “wise advice” to self-deprecating revelations about rockstars’ big myths and little secrets. And especially things learned about power from activists, where we remember that ideas are more important than ideology, and where Bono pays tribute to his friend Patti Smith, who had “all inclusive before everyone else” dans sa chanson “People Have the Power”
Loraine Adam
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