Moment of Surrender
Encyclopedia
"Moment of Surrender" is a song by rock
band U2
and the third track on their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. During the initial recording sessions for the album in 2007 in Fez
, Morocco
, the band wrote the song with producer
s Brian Eno
and Daniel Lanois
within a few hours. Together, they recorded the song in a single take; Eno called the song's recording "the most amazing studio experience [he's] ever had". According to him and Lanois, the track is the closest the band came to realising their original concept for the album of writing "future hymns". The seven-minute song features gospel
-like vocals in the chorus, along with a predominantly organ- and piano-based musical accompaniment. Lyrically, the song is about a drug addict who is undergoing a crisis of faith.
"Moment of Surrender" was praised by critics, many of whom called it one of the album's stand-out tracks. The song was compared to the group's earlier ballad
s "With or Without You
" and "One
". It was performed at all but two of the band's concerts on the U2 360° Tour
, most often as the closing song. During performances, the stage lights were dimmed and fans were urged to hold up their mobile phones to create "a stadium full of tiny stars". Despite not being released as a single
, Rolling Stone
named "Moment of Surrender" as the best song of 2009 and in 2010, they ranked it 160th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
".
"Moment of Surrender" was written by U2 and No Line on the Horizon producer
s/co-writers Brian Eno
and Daniel Lanois
during a two-week recording session in Fez
, Morocco
between May and June 2007. The song was developed within a few hours, and then recorded in a single take at a riad in Hotel Yacout. Eno began by creating a percussion loop
of a "rolling hand drum" so that the band would have something to improvise along with when they joined him for songwriting and recording. However, Eno had not arranged the loop properly and the result was a strange, uneven beat that he compared to "a wheeled carriage that had one of the wheels a bit cracked" or "the way a camel
moves". Although Eno was trying to fix the loop, drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. began playing along to it. Eno then asked guitarist The Edge
to play some chords. After a quick discussion about the chord change
s and the meter
(in which they decided to have a "funny layout" that was not based on "eighths or sixteenths"), the six of them improvised the entirety of the piece.
As they began to play, bassist Adam Clayton
developed a bassline
. The part was originally based on the Grandmaster Melle Mel song "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
" before Clayton changed to a more trance
-like bassline. Vocalist Bono
created some melodies and sang over the music. During the album's recording, Bono had become tired of writing in the first-person and he began writing lyrics and singing from the perspective of different characters. During the writing of "Moment of Surrender", Bono assumed the character of a drug addict having a crisis of faith. The song title was borrowed from the Alcoholics Anonymous
term for when an addict admits his or her helplessness. Bono had attempted to use the phrase "vision over visibility" in the lyrics of earlier songs; however, "Moment of Surrender" was the first song where he felt it was appropriate to be used. Eno called Bono's singing in this character as "so heartbreaking agonized and vulnerable", creating a feeling like "a knife to the heart". Lanois contributed by developing the gospel
-like chorus. The uneven hi-hat
from the drum part stems from Mullen's electronic drum kit malfunctioning during the song's recording. Eno was amazed by each performer's ability to develop and play their part without any instructions or cues. After the song's recording completed, everyone in the studio, including a gathering of production personnel and visitors, was completely silent, and Eno suggested it was as if they had gone on an "emotional adventure of some kind". He called the song's recording "the most amazing studio experience I've ever had", and he believes the "emotional crescendo" heard in the song properly captures how they felt as they improvised the piece. Bono stated "it was a spell and we were in it".
The song was played only once and received minor treatments afterwards, with the addition of a cello
part in the introduction and some editing, which included removing a verse to reduce the song's length. Eno was outraged that U2 wanted to shorten the song, and he was adamant that the band not alter the original track too much, saying, "These fucking guys, they're supposed to be so spiritual—they don't spot a miracle when it hits them in the face. Nothing like that ever happened to me in the studio in my whole life." The band's original concept for No Line on the Horizon was to create an album of future hymns—songs that would be played forever. According to Eno and Lanois, "Moment of Surrender" is the closest the band came to reaching that concept.
at a tempo
of 87 beats per minute in a key
of A minor
. The song makes use of the conventional verse-chorus form
. The song begins with an uneven percussion loop, before an ambient synthesiser fades in and the drums enter at 0:08. A cello part joins and the synthesiser plays the chord progression C
–Am–F
–C–G
–E
–D
7. At the end of the progression, 47 seconds into the song, the intensity of the synthesier rises before an organ
, bass guitar, and piano subsequently enter. At 1:16, Bono's vocals enter and the first verse begins, lasting three stanzas. After the first chorus concludes and the second verse begins at 2:59, The Edge begins playing a guitar riff. The second verse lasts two stanzas. After the second chorus, a piano interlude begins, with Lanois contributing pedal steel. The Edge begins a slide guitar
solo at 4:59 that many critics compared to the playing style of Pink Floyd
's David Gilmour
. After the third chorus ends at 6:11, "Oh-oh-ohhh" vocals and a guitar figure
bring the song to its conclusion.
Lanois noted that the song had a very "Canadian sound
" that was like a tribute to The Band
, calling it the "Simcoe
sound". Rolling Stone
said the song "merges a Joshua Tree
-style gospel
feel with a hypnotically loping bass line and a syncopated
beat". The song makes prominent use of organ and piano.
of Rolling Stone enjoyed the song, writing, "The rising-falling effect of the harmony voices around Bono... is a perfect picture of where he really wants to be, when he gets to the line about 'vision over visibility.'" Blender
considered it the high-point of the album, comparing it to the band's 1987 single "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
". Reviewer Rob Sheffield complimented the melding of bass, guitar, and vocals, calling it "the kind of gimme-divinity anthem that U2 cut their teeth on, except it really does seem like they've gotten better at these songs now that they've picked up some bummed-out adult grit. Bono actually sounds scared of something in this song, and whether his nightmares are religious or sexual, the fear gives his voice some heft." NME
felt that it was the "most impressive" song on the album, describing it as a "gorgeously sparse prayer built around Adam Clayton's heartbeat bassline and Bono's rough growl", and noting that despite its seven-minute length, it did not feel too long. Alexis Petridis
of The Guardian
was more critical of the song, saying it "doesn't have enough of a tune to support the full seven-minute gospel treatment", a sentiment that The Times
agreed with.
Spin
reviewed the track favourably, calling it a "celebrity-at-the-crossroads soul ballad" with an "ambient gospel sweep that's both haunted and joyful". Mojo
praised the song's musicianship, saying it was "graced by swaggering performances" and that The Edge's "languid guitar solo" was reminiscent of David Gilmour. Q
echoed these sentiments, commending Bono's soulful singing and The Edge's solo. The reviewer christened the song as "this album's 'One
' or 'With or Without You
', with added bonus points". The Washington Post called the song one of the record's highlights and enjoyed the track's gospel qualities. The reviewer wrote, "The vocal harmonies on the choruses sound like something out of a church in some distant, dystopian world; the woozy, slightly detuned piano adds to that impression..." Hot Press
gave the song a favourable review, calling it a "sweeping" track and suggesting it "conjure[s] the same spiritual vibe as Marvin Gaye
's 'Abraham, Martin & John'". Time
gave No Line on the Horizon a negative review, but praised "Moment of Surrender" for its "heartbreaking melody" and Bono's "Oh-oh-oh" vocals that reminded the critic of the end of "With or Without You". Bono and Daniel Lanois both cited the song as their favourite track on the album, and Brian Eno thought the band should have chosen it as the album's first single. Musician Gavin Friday
described the song as "Al Green
on Irish steroids", and Hot Press editor Niall Stokes
called it "a modern rock
classic" that will "stand forever as one of U2's most inspirational creations".
Despite not being released as a single, "Moment of Surrender" charted in two countries. In the United States
, the song appeared on the Mediabase
Triple A
chart at number 45 for the week of 17 November 2009. In Belgium
, the song appeared on the Ultratop 40 Singles Chart (Wallonia)
for a week at number 35.
in Barcelona
, Spain
during the encore, as the show's final song. It was played at nearly every subsequent concert on the tour as the closing song, being excluded from the setlist for only two of the tour's 110 shows: the 9 December 2010 concert in Brisbane, Australia and the 29 May 2011 concert in Winnipeg. Prior to performances of "Moment of Surrender", a disco ball
was lowered and the stage lights turned off, and Bono encouraged fans to take out their mobile phones and create "a stadium full of tiny stars". The National Post
commented that despite being a "big-concert cliché", the move was effective and created a feeling of intimacy amongst the audience. Rolling Stone enjoyed the visual effect in context of the tour's space
theme, saying it "truly made it seem like the stadium had reached outerspace, with thousands of cellphone lights turning into stars". The Daily Telegraph
praised the "galaxy of mobile phones", saying that despite the tour's impressive stage and visual effects, "the most beautiful sight came when we couldn't see [the stage]". In reviewing a Paris show from July 2009, the Sunday Times called "Moment of Surrender" the only track from No Line on the Horizon performed that evening that was strong enough to deserve inclusion with the rest of the show's set list. NME was not as receptive to the song in a live setting, questioning the decision to end concerts with the song. A U2 360° Tour performance of "Moment of Surrender" appears on the group's 2010 concert video U2 360° at the Rose Bowl
. In a review of the film, Andrew Mueller
of Uncut
called "Moment of Surrender" an "[i]ll-chosen closer", as well as "overlong and under-realised". In 2009, the song was performed by the band on the 35th season premiere of Saturday Night Live
, and at the Brandenburg Gate
in Berlin
to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
. On 18 June 2011, Bono closed the song with lyrics from "Jungleland
" to honor the recently-deceased E Street Band
saxophonist Clarence Clemons
. The song was also one of only three non-single tracks to be played by the band in their headline set at the Glastonbury Festival
in 2011.
called "Moment of Surrender" one of "The 10 Best Songs You (Probably) Didn't Hear in 2009". Rolling Stone ranked it the best song of 2009 and the 36th best song of the decade, calling it "The most devastating ballad U2 — or anyone — has delivered since 'One.'" In Rolling Stones voting for the decade's best song, Metallica
drummer Lars Ulrich
placed "Moment of Surrender" in the number-one spot on his ballot. Rolling Stone updated its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
" in 2010 and placed "Moment of Surrender" at number 160—just one year after the song's release—marking the fourth-best position of any U2 song on the list.
"Moment of Surrender" is the tenth track in the Anton Corbijn
film Linear
, based on a story by Corbijn and Bono where a Paris
ian traffic cop travels across France and the Mediterranean Sea
to visit his girlfriend in Tripoli
. During the sequence, the cop (played by Saïd Taghmaoui
), leaves the bar and begins to wander the streets of Cádiz
at night, eventually making his way down to the beach where he falls asleep on the sand. In the morning he wakes up and the next track, "Cedars of Lebanon", begins.
A live performance of "Moment of Surrender" taken from a 18 September 2010 concert in Paris appeared on the group's 2010 live EP
Wide Awake in Europe
.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
and the third track on their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. During the initial recording sessions for the album in 2007 in Fez
Fes
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, the band wrote the song with producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
within a few hours. Together, they recorded the song in a single take; Eno called the song's recording "the most amazing studio experience [he's] ever had". According to him and Lanois, the track is the closest the band came to realising their original concept for the album of writing "future hymns". The seven-minute song features gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
-like vocals in the chorus, along with a predominantly organ- and piano-based musical accompaniment. Lyrically, the song is about a drug addict who is undergoing a crisis of faith.
"Moment of Surrender" was praised by critics, many of whom called it one of the album's stand-out tracks. The song was compared to the group's earlier ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s "With or Without You
With or Without You
"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, and was released as the album's first single on 21 March 1987...
" and "One
One (U2 song)
"One" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1991 album Achtung Baby, and it was released as the record's third single in March 1992. It was recorded at three recording studios, Hansa Ton Studios, Elsinore, and Windmill Lane Studios...
". It was performed at all but two of the band's concerts on the U2 360° Tour
U2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. It was named for a stage configuration that allowed the audience to almost completely surround the stage...
, most often as the closing song. During performances, the stage lights were dimmed and fans were urged to hold up their mobile phones to create "a stadium full of tiny stars". Despite not being released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
named "Moment of Surrender" as the best song of 2009 and in 2010, they ranked it 160th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
".
Writing and recording
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s/co-writers Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
during a two-week recording session in Fez
Fes
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
between May and June 2007. The song was developed within a few hours, and then recorded in a single take at a riad in Hotel Yacout. Eno began by creating a percussion loop
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
of a "rolling hand drum" so that the band would have something to improvise along with when they joined him for songwriting and recording. However, Eno had not arranged the loop properly and the result was a strange, uneven beat that he compared to "a wheeled carriage that had one of the wheels a bit cracked" or "the way a camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
moves". Although Eno was trying to fix the loop, drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. began playing along to it. Eno then asked guitarist The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
to play some chords. After a quick discussion about the chord change
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
s and the meter
Meter (music)
Meter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented...
(in which they decided to have a "funny layout" that was not based on "eighths or sixteenths"), the six of them improvised the entirety of the piece.
As they began to play, bassist Adam Clayton
Adam Clayton
Adam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...
developed a bassline
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...
. The part was originally based on the Grandmaster Melle Mel song "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
"White Lines " is a song by Grandmaster Melle Mel, released as a 12" in 1983 on Sugar Hill Records. The song, which warns against the dangers of cocaine, addiction, and drug smuggling, is one of Melle Mel's signature tracks...
" before Clayton changed to a more trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
-like bassline. Vocalist Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
created some melodies and sang over the music. During the album's recording, Bono had become tired of writing in the first-person and he began writing lyrics and singing from the perspective of different characters. During the writing of "Moment of Surrender", Bono assumed the character of a drug addict having a crisis of faith. The song title was borrowed from the Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
term for when an addict admits his or her helplessness. Bono had attempted to use the phrase "vision over visibility" in the lyrics of earlier songs; however, "Moment of Surrender" was the first song where he felt it was appropriate to be used. Eno called Bono's singing in this character as "so heartbreaking agonized and vulnerable", creating a feeling like "a knife to the heart". Lanois contributed by developing the gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
-like chorus. The uneven hi-hat
Hi-hat
A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...
from the drum part stems from Mullen's electronic drum kit malfunctioning during the song's recording. Eno was amazed by each performer's ability to develop and play their part without any instructions or cues. After the song's recording completed, everyone in the studio, including a gathering of production personnel and visitors, was completely silent, and Eno suggested it was as if they had gone on an "emotional adventure of some kind". He called the song's recording "the most amazing studio experience I've ever had", and he believes the "emotional crescendo" heard in the song properly captures how they felt as they improvised the piece. Bono stated "it was a spell and we were in it".
The song was played only once and received minor treatments afterwards, with the addition of a cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
part in the introduction and some editing, which included removing a verse to reduce the song's length. Eno was outraged that U2 wanted to shorten the song, and he was adamant that the band not alter the original track too much, saying, "These fucking guys, they're supposed to be so spiritual—they don't spot a miracle when it hits them in the face. Nothing like that ever happened to me in the studio in my whole life." The band's original concept for No Line on the Horizon was to create an album of future hymns—songs that would be played forever. According to Eno and Lanois, "Moment of Surrender" is the closest the band came to reaching that concept.
Composition
"Moment of Surrender" is played in common timeTime signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
at a tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
of 87 beats per minute in a key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of A minor
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...
. The song makes use of the conventional verse-chorus form
Verse-chorus form
Verse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse , in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted...
. The song begins with an uneven percussion loop, before an ambient synthesiser fades in and the drums enter at 0:08. A cello part joins and the synthesiser plays the chord progression C
C (musical note)
C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. Its enharmonic is B.-Middle C:Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard...
–Am–F
F (musical note)
F is a musical note, the fourth above C. It is also known as fa in fixed-do solfège.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of Middle F is approximately 349.228 Hz. See pitch for a discussion of historical variations in...
–C–G
G (musical note)
Sol, So, or G is the fifth note of the solfège starting on C. As such it is the dominant, a perfect fifth above C.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of Middle G note is approximately 391.995 Hz...
–E
E (musical note)
E or mi is the third note of the solfège.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of Middle E is approximately 329.628 Hz. See pitch for a discussion of historical variations in frequency.-Designation by octave:...
–D
D (musical note)
D is a musical note a whole tone above C, and is known as Re within the solfege system.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of middle D is approximately 293.665 Hz. See pitch for a discussion of historical variations in...
7. At the end of the progression, 47 seconds into the song, the intensity of the synthesier rises before an organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, bass guitar, and piano subsequently enter. At 1:16, Bono's vocals enter and the first verse begins, lasting three stanzas. After the first chorus concludes and the second verse begins at 2:59, The Edge begins playing a guitar riff. The second verse lasts two stanzas. After the second chorus, a piano interlude begins, with Lanois contributing pedal steel. The Edge begins a slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
solo at 4:59 that many critics compared to the playing style of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
. After the third chorus ends at 6:11, "Oh-oh-ohhh" vocals and a guitar figure
Figure (music)
A musical figure is the shortest idea in music, a short succession of notes, often recurring. It may have melodic pitch, harmonic progression and rhythmic . The 1964 Grove's Dictionary defines the figure as "the exact counterpart of the German 'motiv' and the French 'motif'": it produces a "single...
bring the song to its conclusion.
Lanois noted that the song had a very "Canadian sound
Music of Canada
The music of Canada has influences that have shaped the country. Aboriginals, the British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has subsequently been heavily influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between...
" that was like a tribute to The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, calling it the "Simcoe
Simcoe, Ontario
Simcoe is an unincorporated community and former town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada located near Lake Erie. It is the county seat and largest community of Norfolk County....
sound". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said the song "merges a Joshua Tree
The Joshua Tree
The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...
-style gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
feel with a hypnotically loping bass line and a syncopated
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
beat". The song makes prominent use of organ and piano.
Reception
"Moment of Surrender" was well-received by critics after the release of No Line on the Horizon. David FrickeDavid Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
of Rolling Stone enjoyed the song, writing, "The rising-falling effect of the harmony voices around Bono... is a perfect picture of where he really wants to be, when he gets to the line about 'vision over visibility.'" Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
considered it the high-point of the album, comparing it to the band's 1987 single "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by rock band U2. It is the second track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's second single in May 1987...
". Reviewer Rob Sheffield complimented the melding of bass, guitar, and vocals, calling it "the kind of gimme-divinity anthem that U2 cut their teeth on, except it really does seem like they've gotten better at these songs now that they've picked up some bummed-out adult grit. Bono actually sounds scared of something in this song, and whether his nightmares are religious or sexual, the fear gives his voice some heft." NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
felt that it was the "most impressive" song on the album, describing it as a "gorgeously sparse prayer built around Adam Clayton's heartbeat bassline and Bono's rough growl", and noting that despite its seven-minute length, it did not feel too long. Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
was more critical of the song, saying it "doesn't have enough of a tune to support the full seven-minute gospel treatment", a sentiment that The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
agreed with.
Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
reviewed the track favourably, calling it a "celebrity-at-the-crossroads soul ballad" with an "ambient gospel sweep that's both haunted and joyful". Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
praised the song's musicianship, saying it was "graced by swaggering performances" and that The Edge's "languid guitar solo" was reminiscent of David Gilmour. Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
echoed these sentiments, commending Bono's soulful singing and The Edge's solo. The reviewer christened the song as "this album's 'One
One (U2 song)
"One" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1991 album Achtung Baby, and it was released as the record's third single in March 1992. It was recorded at three recording studios, Hansa Ton Studios, Elsinore, and Windmill Lane Studios...
' or 'With or Without You
With or Without You
"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, and was released as the album's first single on 21 March 1987...
', with added bonus points". The Washington Post called the song one of the record's highlights and enjoyed the track's gospel qualities. The reviewer wrote, "The vocal harmonies on the choruses sound like something out of a church in some distant, dystopian world; the woozy, slightly detuned piano adds to that impression..." Hot Press
Hot Press
Hot Press is a fortnightly music and political magazine based in Dublin, Ireland founded in 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it had a circulation of 19,215 during 2007...
gave the song a favourable review, calling it a "sweeping" track and suggesting it "conjure[s] the same spiritual vibe as Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
's 'Abraham, Martin & John'". Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
gave No Line on the Horizon a negative review, but praised "Moment of Surrender" for its "heartbreaking melody" and Bono's "Oh-oh-oh" vocals that reminded the critic of the end of "With or Without You". Bono and Daniel Lanois both cited the song as their favourite track on the album, and Brian Eno thought the band should have chosen it as the album's first single. Musician Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter.-Career:Gavin was born in Dublin and grew up in Finglas, a neighbourhood located on Dublin's Northside...
described the song as "Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
on Irish steroids", and Hot Press editor Niall Stokes
Niall Stokes
Niall Stokes is the award-winning editor of the long-running fortnightly Ireland music and political magazine Hot Press based in Dublin. He has edited the magazine since 1977. He has been a longstanding champion of Irish music, most famously U2 in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s...
called it "a modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
classic" that will "stand forever as one of U2's most inspirational creations".
Despite not being released as a single, "Moment of Surrender" charted in two countries. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the song appeared on the Mediabase
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytical tools for radio and record industry professionals...
Triple A
Adult album alternative
Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....
chart at number 45 for the week of 17 November 2009. In Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the song appeared on the Ultratop 40 Singles Chart (Wallonia)
Ultratop 40
Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization...
for a week at number 35.
Live performances
"Moment of Surrender" made its live debut on the opening night of the U2 360° TourU2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. It was named for a stage configuration that allowed the audience to almost completely surround the stage...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
during the encore, as the show's final song. It was played at nearly every subsequent concert on the tour as the closing song, being excluded from the setlist for only two of the tour's 110 shows: the 9 December 2010 concert in Brisbane, Australia and the 29 May 2011 concert in Winnipeg. Prior to performances of "Moment of Surrender", a disco ball
Disco ball
A disco ball is a roughly spherical object that reflects light directed at it in many directions, producing a complex display...
was lowered and the stage lights turned off, and Bono encouraged fans to take out their mobile phones and create "a stadium full of tiny stars". The National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
commented that despite being a "big-concert cliché", the move was effective and created a feeling of intimacy amongst the audience. Rolling Stone enjoyed the visual effect in context of the tour's space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
theme, saying it "truly made it seem like the stadium had reached outerspace, with thousands of cellphone lights turning into stars". The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
praised the "galaxy of mobile phones", saying that despite the tour's impressive stage and visual effects, "the most beautiful sight came when we couldn't see [the stage]". In reviewing a Paris show from July 2009, the Sunday Times called "Moment of Surrender" the only track from No Line on the Horizon performed that evening that was strong enough to deserve inclusion with the rest of the show's set list. NME was not as receptive to the song in a live setting, questioning the decision to end concerts with the song. A U2 360° Tour performance of "Moment of Surrender" appears on the group's 2010 concert video U2 360° at the Rose Bowl
U2 360° at the Rose Bowl
U2 360° at the Rose Bowl is a 2010 concert film by Irish rock band U2. It was shot on 25 October 2009 on the band's U2 360° Tour date at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Rose Bowl concert featured an audience of over 97,000 people, and was broadcast live over the Internet via YouTube...
. In a review of the film, Andrew Mueller
Andrew Mueller
Andrew Mueller is an Australian-born, London-based journalist and author. He is a contributing editor at Monocle, and also regularly writes for The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Financial Times, Esquire, The Guardian, Arena, The Times, Uncut, High Life, Harper's Bazaar, New Humanist,...
of Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
called "Moment of Surrender" an "[i]ll-chosen closer", as well as "overlong and under-realised". In 2009, the song was performed by the band on the 35th season premiere of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, and at the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. On 18 June 2011, Bono closed the song with lyrics from "Jungleland
Jungleland
"Jungleland" is an almost ten-minute long closing song on Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album Born to Run, and tells a tale of love amid a backdrop of gang violence. It contains one of E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons' most recognizable solos...
" to honor the recently-deceased E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
saxophonist Clarence Clemons
Clarence Clemons
Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. , also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with "You're a...
. The song was also one of only three non-single tracks to be played by the band in their headline set at the Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
in 2011.
Legacy
"Moment of Surrender" appeared on several music publications' "best of" lists for 2009 and the 2000s decade. EsquireEsquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
called "Moment of Surrender" one of "The 10 Best Songs You (Probably) Didn't Hear in 2009". Rolling Stone ranked it the best song of 2009 and the 36th best song of the decade, calling it "The most devastating ballad U2 — or anyone — has delivered since 'One.'" In Rolling Stones voting for the decade's best song, Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
drummer Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
placed "Moment of Surrender" in the number-one spot on his ballot. Rolling Stone updated its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
" in 2010 and placed "Moment of Surrender" at number 160—just one year after the song's release—marking the fourth-best position of any U2 song on the list.
"Moment of Surrender" is the tenth track in the Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...
film Linear
Linear (film)
Linear is a 2009 film directed by Anton Corbijn. The film includes music from U2's 2009 studio album, No Line on the Horizon, and was included on both digital and DVD formats with several editions of the album.-Development:...
, based on a story by Corbijn and Bono where a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian traffic cop travels across France and the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
to visit his girlfriend in Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
. During the sequence, the cop (played by Saïd Taghmaoui
Saïd Taghmaoui
Saïd Taghmaoui is a French actor and screenwriter. One of his defining screen roles was that of Saïd in the award winning 1995 French film La Haine directed by Mathieu Kassovitz...
), leaves the bar and begins to wander the streets of Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
at night, eventually making his way down to the beach where he falls asleep on the sand. In the morning he wakes up and the next track, "Cedars of Lebanon", begins.
A live performance of "Moment of Surrender" taken from a 18 September 2010 concert in Paris appeared on the group's 2010 live EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Wide Awake in Europe
Wide Awake in Europe
Wide Awake in Europe is a live extended play by rock band U2. The release was created by the organizers of Record Store Day to bring customers into independent record shops for holiday shopping. A limited number of EPs were produced, and were released on Black Friday in 2010, mostly to record...
.
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak |
|---|---|
| Belgium Singles Chart (Wallonia) Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization... |
35 |
| U.S. Mediabase Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytical tools for radio and record industry professionals... Triple A Adult album alternative Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats.... |
45 |
Personnel
- Additional keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
– Terry Lawless - CelloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
– Caroline DaleCaroline DaleCaroline Dale is a widely-recorded British cellist who has performed music for numerous films, including Truly, Madly, Deeply, Hilary and Jackie, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as well as the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and 2007's Academy Award winner Atonement... - ProductionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
– Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Daniel LanoisDaniel LanoisDaniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie... - EngineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
– Richard Rainey - Engineering assistance – Chris Heaney
- Additional engineering – Declan Gaffney, and Carl Glanville
- MixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
– Daniel Lanois and Declan Gaffney - Mixing assistance – Tom Hough, Dave Clauss, and Dave Emery