Moment Of Surrender

theu2edge definitely nailed this one. Although I do not think the song is about "moments" but rather THE MOMENT... the defining realization that we're all living our lives in a catatonic stupour of ridiculousness while the true meaning of our existence is right there in front of us waiting to be grasped. Let me expand upon this interpretation with some thoughts to consider on this absolutely awe-inspiring ballad.

"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"

An introduction, demonstrating how our carefree attitude can even be found in our so-called love relationships. The semi-precious stone may refer to the importance we put on the damn diamond ring, and the nonsense surrounding wedding... two souls too "smart" to stop and realize the true meaning of what is happening. To worried about the "busy"-ness of invitations, decorations, thank-you cards... the STRESS!

"I was speeding on the subway Through the stations of the cross"

The stations of the cross are all around us. For Christians, we've been educated our entire lives to understand that Christ is all around us, manifesting in so many forms. We just fail to see this, rushing around in our daily lives without taking the time for reminiscing about faith, eternity, and the power of our consciousness. We barrel forward through our lives, streaking by the signs all around us.

"Every eye looking every other way Counting down 'til the pain would stop"

Our common way of fighting the pain in our lives is simply to complain about all the shit piled upon us and wish it would all end... count down the days until things will be better. Maybe buy a lottery ticket and wish, instead of turning back to God and giving in to the true plan and mission of our lives.

"At the moment of surrender Of vision over visibility"

Probably THE MOST powerful line in the whole song. Visibility is simply the ability of our eyes to look around. But to truly have VISION... to truly see what is meant to be seen around us, to realize what life is truly TRULY about; that is the ultimate answer and the only way we will achieve it is to surrender to eternity and quit confounding our existence with the trivialities, addictions, and "horrors" of everyday life.

"I did not notice the passers-by And they did not notice me"

A clear indication of the personal nature of this realization; the fact that everyone must experience it in their own way. When the protagonist does, there is a clear separation between him/herself and everyone else around, who are still continuing on through the deadness of life.

It's actually about God. Tie myself to let the horses run free: When Jesus was put on the cross to forgive the sins of the world (horses run free). Also ref to stations of the cross: that's a Catholic ritual during Lent. I think its about how busy we are and we forget God at times but then we have moments where we really see him/her, the moment of surrender.

Song is about an addict. Tied myself with wire...Tying off the arm while injecting the drug.. Let the horses run free... common term for those experiencing th initial rush of the drug entering the blood stream. Punching in the numbers at the ATM machine...Getting more money to get another fix. I did not notice the passers by and they did not notice me... He's higher then a kite.

I hate to do this because the song works on so many levels but B did mention one of the characters on the album was a junkie and I think I got this one. I thought it was about how fame changed him at first but....

I tied myself with wire--tying arm to shoot up To let the horses run free--horse, another name for heroin Playing with the fire until the fire played with me-you have to cook heroin The stone was semi-precious--heroin is a rock We were barely conscious--um, yeah Two souls too smart to be in the realm of certainty--people often talk about their drug as a love affair Even on our wedding day--first time he tried heroin

So is the moment of surrender to the drug or to God once the character's addicted?

The marriage/sexuality thread of this song demands more attention, in my opinion.

A lot of good thoughts here. U2 does engage religious imagery constantly and clearly. But this dimension, though quite important, is overemphasized (equally clearly and constantly) by many people who care deeply for their music.

I think this song is about infidelity ,betraying some part of yourself , betraying the marriage, and the subsequent guilt, living a life with someone you betrayed and dealing with the guilt and that is sometimes feeling empty and meaningless , trying To find the hardest forgiveness : to forgive yourself "the moment of surrender"

The brilliance of this song is in its balance between a clear theme and intentional vagueness. What we can all agree here is that this song is about "surrender". However, what we seem to have the most disagreement about (from what I have read from the posts here so far) is the moment or moments of surrender that Bono is singing about. As an artist, it disappoints me to see so many people readily dismiss this song as being about one thing, whether it be God or heroin/meth/drugs. Has it occurred to many of you that the reason why this song is able to affect so many people in the many ways that it does is because it is left intentionally vague?

This song is fun for me to listen to because my interpretation of it changes every time I listen to it; it stays "fresh" for me. Hence, I don't really have a specific interpretation to share at the moment, but I can share a few possible interpretations that still keep me guessing.

1.) "I tied myself with wire to let the horses run free" is too vague to be a Jesus reference in particular. Rather, it is probably more important to point out the contradiction that the narrator needed to bind himself in order to experience freedom. Perhaps Bono is singing about the binding sacrifice of marriage: surrendering one's self to his/her spouse. The mention of a "semi-precious stone" and "wedding" in this same stanza make this seem more plausible. Then again, it could be Jesus on the cross, or about a tweaker tying his arm to ride the "white pony" (common slang for narcotics).

2.) "Black holes" and "Dark stars" have been extensively studied in cosmology, but there are still many unanswered questions about them that might be impossible to answer. From this physics interpretation, the narrator might be surrendering to the fact that these questions might never have answers. Black holes also absorb everything everything (nothing can escape them other than Hawking radiation), so another interpretation could simply be that the reference to black holes is supposed to conjure feelings of surrender to an inescapable process. On the other hand, "being in black holes" and "at alters of dark stars" could be interpreted more figuratively in the sense that the narrator has had "dark" moments of even larger "dark" deeds. In this case, the imagery would be used to only provide texture to the lyrics. Who knows?

3.) "At the moment of surrender, of vision over visibility. I did not notice the passers-by, and they did not notice me." Could "vision over visibility" mean "to see is better than being seen"? Here, the narrator would be surrendering to humility and virtue. He is so comfortable with himself that he doesn't care what anyone else thinks of him (hence not noticing the passers-by), and so humble that he doesn't need anyone to think of him or acknowledge him for validation. All of his value is gotten internally. However, these lines can also mean the opposite in the sense that the narrator is so disillusioned, perhaps hallucinating, that he literally is having trouble seeing reality. Thus, he would have such a distant sense of self that he would be a bum and no one would notice him. A combined interpretation also exists where the narrator becomes so humble that he doesn't need anything more from life other than life itself... I call this the Taoist interpretation. In this case, the narrator has surrendered everything, even possessions, to live a life of poverty and thus be ignore by passers-by.

4.) (best for last here, I'm so excited). Lastly, I want to talk about the stations of the cross reference. Sure, the first time I heard this stanza I thought it was the narrator describing a moment in life that might have been analogous to the passion of the Christ. But then I imagined the narrator in church going through the stations of the cross like many good Christians do during Lent. I imagined the narrator being at church looking for help and spiritual strength to make it through his personal crisis: depressed and defeated. It is common for people in hard times to look to God for strength and courage, but the challenging thought here is that maybe the narrator went to church and didn't find God (ie, God, the all seeing "eye", "looking every other way"). The narrator would be so devastated after looking for God and not finding Him that all he has left is to surrender to his suffering and "count down 'til the pain stops".

...Then again, it's too vague to say for certain.

This song is about suffering, and our lack of awareness while within it.

He is dry flammable hay tied with wire, eaten by horses, is consumed with fire after playing with it. We play with life until it plays with us when we realize we can't control our fate, and yield to our inevitable infallibility.

The stone represents how a diamond symbolizes eternity, but a marriage is not, and we know it even on our wedding day. Whether death or divorce, it will end. But those moments are still so precious despite their impermanence.

We become impassioned (on fire), and can't resist our feelings. We believe our passions are an outside force, and worship them like a spiritual force.

The subway is a tunnel of life, with stops and destinations. Like Jesus during the crucifixion, we all suffer, yet become so consumed with our own suffering, and don't make eye contact, a metaphor for empathizing deeply with the suffering of others.

A black hole, or dark star, is depression. And painful moments in life. Light cannot escape them. A disconnection from heart, soul, consciousness and rhythm.

Like how death releases our struggle with impermanence, the moment we surrender to our suffering, we're finally able to let it go. And realize that the many others are more important than our single self.

To me, this song is about redemption through suffering. It describes a man who, despite being wise, had lost himself for leading a superficial and futile life, which could be interpreted as drug addiction, ambition, selfishness, promiscuity...), but has experienced salvation and peace by surrendering to god and learning what's really important in life. Faith and maturity have taught him how to "see" things in a deeper manner. He now falls to his knees in pursuit of god's acceptance.

It kind of lets me down that so many U2 songs are full of religious interpretation, but the poetry, elusiveness and the complexity of human existence Bono adds to the songs disguises he narrowness of mind and blind devotion of christian themes.

1st to comment on this U2 epic! I'm not really sure what it means but it might be about being terribly alone. Adam's bass line is quite similar to that is "If god will send his angels".