40 Years On…

I recently finished Bono’s memoir “Surrender: 40 Songs One Story” as an audiobook. I would highly recommend listening to this book. Bono is a born storyteller and infuses his stories with emotion and introduces you to the “characters” - people he has encountered through his extraordinary career as the lead singer of U2 and as an activist for global causes.

After U2’s “Achtung Baby” album, I kind of went off the band. I wasn’t on board with the electronic and dance music direction, and my life left little room for immersing myself in music as I did when I was a teenager and college student. I was a single mom, battered by some pretty difficult challenges, so the music that meant everything to me as a teenager no longer had resonance.

I did re-engage with the band in 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” My daughter and I sang along to “Beautiful Day,” and I enjoyed that album, but nothing compared to the devotion I had for U2 when I was a teenager and college student. Their music was the soundtrack of those years for me, and their commitment to activism and causes deeply inspired me.

15-year-old me had a Walkman and played “I Will Follow” about a million times. U2’s “Unforgettable Fire” remains my favorite album which I listened to at least weekly through my junior and senior years in high school. I had it on vinyl and played the album on the little stereo in my bedroom, laying on my chocolate brown shag carpet and dreaming of being a journalist who would crusade for justice or dreaming of myself the way I wanted to be - confident, pretty, not an anxious girl who covered her fear and always felt a little lonely and a little a part from everyone else.

I did get into my dream college and U2’s biggest album “The Joshua Tree” came out. I was making new friends and we listened to this album constantly. One of my roommates got us tickets, and we drove to San Francisco (I didn’t know this girl well, and her family was rich! Her family home was amazing!) We fought to get close to the stage at Oakland Alameda Coliseum. I was euphoric.

I saw U2 in concert two more times on their “Auchtung Baby” tour. I was in a notably darker place in those years. Struggling a lot. After that tour, I didn’t listen to their music much anymore.

Listening to “Surrender” brought me back to that much younger version of myself. It’s funny how music can make you feel the way you did when you were younger, no matter how many years have passed. I listened while going on long walks, and it helped me re-visit a different version of myself.

I highly recommend the audiobook for anyone who, like me, found U2 to be an inspiring soundtrack to your formative years.