I always love it when you hear a song and then you remember that it was a song you’d heard before (and loved) but totally forgot about it and because of that you didn’t research it to find out what it was called and who sang it. This is what happened to me a couple of days ago with “Sweet Surrender“.
I wasn’t even searching for this song because I’d forgotten that it actually existed and that I loved it. As I was lying down on my bed relaxing, my iTunes was playing 90s songs in shuffle mode and one of the songs that came on was “Love Is All Around” by Wet Wet Wet. I knew that this was, by far, the band’s most famous song. But at the same time, I realised that it was the only song that I actually knew from the band.
So this set me off on a journey of discovering Wet Wet Wet’s music from their long career and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a number of hits (mainly in the UK) during the 80s and 90s. But the song that most grabbed my attention and stuck in my mind was “Sweet Surrender.”
Because I’d heard it before (and recall loving it), I instantly connected to its rhythm. And when I actually found out what the lyrics were about, it made me love the song even more.
The song deals with the moment that you fall in love with someone at first sight. The feeling that you get when you look at them and feel love overpower you is what the singer refers to as the “sweet surrender.” That moment feels like you’re surrendering yourself to them because you have been so consumed by love in that one moment.
Rhythmically, my favourite part of the song is the part just after the chorus where the lyrics begin with “I don’t know, I don’t care”, not just because it sounds good but because it’s the part that triggered my memory that I’d heard this song before.
I really hope that you also appreciate this song for what it is. I think it’s a song that has been largely forgotten by many compilations of 80s love songs. I’m also guilty of forgetting this song myself. Enjoy!
