In 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story' (Knopf), Bono, the activist, artist and lead singer of U2, writes a memoir about a lifetime of music, personal challenges, and fights for social justice.
When we set out on that first proper tour of the United States in March 1981, our white van had morphed into a giant blue bus that would take us through what Paul called"the land of our opportunity." Sitting up front with Billy the driver felt more cinematic and less novelistic than driving through Europe. Now the windshield was wide-screen, and each of us took turns up there, marveling at the sheer size of America through the window.
Marvelous, meaning utterly a marvel. American endeavor building towers of steel and glass out of melted sand.Texas, a flat continent of freeways and fields, cities poking their heads out of black sticky ground. Black gold and white privilege standing over it, still struggling to be free from race and Civil War politics. The Bible Belt and its unchristian undertow leaving welts on the bare bottoms of unbelievers.
Nashville, the buckle of the Bible Belt where songs of praise live in the office next door to songs of redneck braggadocio, so Irish it feels too familiar.