Bono reveals more about his memoir, which is slated for release in November

Next November 1 will appear Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, Bono’s autobiography. Published by Penguin Random House, the book will have 576 pages divided into 40 chapters titled after U2 songs and accompanied by 40 drawings by the singer.

And as the artist celebrated his 63rd birthday on May 10, he chose to give a taste of his work with a reading of the chapter out of control accompanied by a short animated film with his own sketches. A chapter in which he returns to the genesis of the group’s eponymous single released in 1979 and which was their first success.

The choice of title

“When I started writing this book, I hoped to draw in detail what I had previously portrayed in song. The people, the places, the possibilities encountered in my life,” Bono said in a statement relayed by NME before explaining the origin of the title of his book. “’Surrender’ is a meaningful word to me. Growing up in Ireland in the 70s with a raised fist (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept (for me). It’s a word that I only really grasped once my ideas were put together for the book,” he explained.

He then confided that the song Surrender is precisely the story of someone too proud to give up, of a “pilgrim” who fails to walk the path of humility and has never agreed to let go, whether “in his group , in his marriage, his faith or his life as an activist”.