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In God’s Country
U2 SINGER’S MEMOIR PRAISES GEORGIA AND R.E.M.
By Kristi York Wooten news@flagpole.com
B ono’s lyrics are autobiographical and
often mystical reflections of his per
sonal experiences. From the death
of his mother in “I Will Follow” to Ireland’s
troubles in “Sunday Bloody Sunday,”
debauchery and fame in “The Fly” and the
unbridled joy of “Beautiful Day,” the U2
frontman’s rhythmic stanzas tell the story of
an angst-ridden Irish schoolboy who became
a rockstar and globetrotting advocate for the
alleviation of poverty, disease and injustice.
So it’s no surprise that his new memoir
Surrender, released Nov. 1, is also poetic
and punchy. Across 40 chapters titled with
U2 songs, Bono (nee Paul Hewson) takes
readers on a caravan through near-death,
eye-opening, name-dropping, Jesus-loving,
occasionally heartbreaking, often inspiring
globalist (mis)adventures—all dedicated
to his wife of 40 years, Ali, and their four
children.
Front and center in the book are Bono’s
lifelong friendships with his bandmates
Adam Clayton, David “The Edge” Evans and
Larry Mullen Jr., who together comprise one
of the longest-running original lineups of
any rock group. Other names dropped in the
book include the members of R.E.M., whom
U2 first met on a European tour in 1985.
In the ninth chapter, “Invisible,” Bono
writes, “R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe’s lyrics
changed the way we see America. He also
has one of the great voices of any geogra
phy.” He goes on to describe Peter Buck,
Mike Mills and Bill Berry, saying, “this was
a band that made the whole world want to
visit Athens, Georgia.”
He savors U2’s relationship with R.E.M.,
recounting in Chapter 21 that time U2’s
Mullen and Clayton “formed a hybrid tribute band called
Automatic Baby with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills to play
[the U2 song] ‘One’ at a 1993 MTV Rock the Vote inaugu
ration event for then-President Bill Clinton. The fake band
name played off the two groups’ albums: R.E.M.’s Automatic
for the People (1992) and U2’s Achtung Baby (1991). “It was
a special moment for these Southern musicians to have a
Southern president,” Bono wrote.
U2 has a fascination with the American South, as evi
denced in the band’s 1988 documentary film Rattle and
Hum, filmed partially in Tennessee. And Bono’s Georgia
connections run deep, too. That’s why Atlanta U2 fans
have taken note that their city doesn’t feature much in
Surrender, although Martin Luther King Jr.’s influence
is cited throughout the memoir, and one of the chapters
is named after U2’s 1984 song about King, “Pride (In the
Name of Love).”
For example, in Chapter 28, “Beautiful Day,” Bono recalls
a U2 concert in 1985 in Houston attended by his father,
Bob Hewson, that later inspired the 2000 U2 song “Kite.”
Bono writes that it was his father’s first night in America,
and when he introduced him to the audience, they reacted
with “a sound the size of Texas.” Hoping for loving words,
he wrote that his father instead told him he was “very pro
fessional” after the Houston show. Many years later after
both Bono and R.E.M.’s Mike Mills lost their fathers, U2
famously dedicated “Kite” to Mills at their Philips Arena
show in Atlanta on Nov. 30, 2001.
But did the initial inspiration for “Kite” take place in
Texas or Georgia? This is where the mythology of Bono’s
words comes into play. In the 2006 book U2 by U2, which
the band wrote with music journalist Neil McCormick,
Bono recounts the same story of his father’s first time in
the U.S. on page 161, saying that he sent a taxi to pick up
his dad at the Atlanta airport, not Houston’s, when his dad
refused a limousine. He wrote about “12,000 people hoot
ing” at his dad that night at the show when he introduced
him at the soundboard, and his dad also called him “very
professional” backstage afterwards. So which is it?
A YouTube bootleg of the April 29,1985 concert at
Atlanta’s Omni makes a good case for Georgia being at least
one of the spots where Bono introduced Bob: An hour and
22 minutes into the show, after talking about a visit to the
King Center and how loudly the crowd received “Pride,”
Bono later ends the gig by saying, “I’ll tell you why tonight
is a very special night for me, and that’s because it’s my
father’s first time, first night here in the U.S.A. and he’s here
with us. At the mixing desk you’ll find a Robert Hewson
there. Thanks a lot, old man. This is his first rock and roll
concert in the U.S., and you sure have made enough noise,
so thank you! Sing this song with me, this song is ‘40.’”
After traveling the world and performing in dozens of
cities which ultimately blur into one, it’s likely Bono’s mem
ories have intermingled over the years, occasionally spawn
ing their own B-sides and legends. The appeal of Surrender
is that it urges readers to take stock of our own lives and
mythologies. That means most of us have more in common
with the author than we imagined before digging into these
pages. Music, family, love, loss, and a defiant determination
to make a difference in the world are themes that resonate
universally. ©
This story comes to Flagpole through a reporting partnership with GPB
News, a nonprofit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.
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FLAGPOLE.COM ■ NOVEMBER 30, 2022