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Bono feat. Mary J. Blige - Moment of Surrender (live, 2013)
Bono and Grammy-winning singer Mary J. Blige like performers at the Robin Hood Foundation’s 25th anniversary.
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 producers 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 ballads "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". Although it was not released as a single, Rolling Stone named "Moment of Surrender" the best song of 2009, and in 2010, they ranked it 160th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
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.
The lyrics:
I tied myself with wire
To let the horses roam free
Playing with the fire
Until the fire played with me
The stone was semi precious
We were barely conscious
Two souls too smart to be
In the realm of certainty
Even on our wedding day
We set ourselves on fire
Oh God, do not deny her
Its not if I believe in love
(But) If love believes in me
Oh believe in me
At the moment of surrender
I folded to my knees
I did not notice the passers by
And they did not notice me
I’ve been in every black hole
At the alter of the Dark star
My body's now a begging bowl
That's begging to get back
Begging to get back
To my heart
To the rhythm of my soul
To the rhythm of my consciousness
To the rhythm that yearns
To be released from control
I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine
I could see in the reflection
A face staring back at me
At the moment of surrender
Of vision over visibility
I did not notice the passers by
And they did not notice me
I was speeding off the subway
Through the stations of the cross
Every eye looking every other way
Counting down till the pain will stop
At the moment of surrender
Of vision over visibility
I did not notice the passers by
And they did not notice me