From Chronicles Vol 1, p. 174/175/176
"One night Bono, the singer from U2, was over for dinner with some other friends. Spending time with Bono was like eating dinner on a train - feels like you're moving, going somewhere. Bono's got the soul of an ancient poet and you have to be careful around him. He can roar 'til the earth shakes. He's also a closet philosopher. He brought a case of Guinness with him. We were talking about things that you talk about when you're spending the winter with somebody - talked about Jack Kerouac. Bono knows Kerouac's stuff pretty good. Kerouac, who celebrated American towns like Truckee, Fargo, Butte and Madora - towns that most Americans never heard of. It seems funny that Bono would know more about Kerouac than most Americans. Bono says things that can sway anybody. He's like that guy in the old movie, the one who beats up a rat with his bare hands and wrings a confession out of him. If Bono had come to America in the early part of the century he would have been a cop. He seems to know a lot about America and what he doesn't, he's curious about."
[snip]
"It was just me and Bono sitting around the table. Everyone else was scattered about. My wife came by and said she was going up to bed. "Go on up," I said. "I'm going up in a minute." It took me a while to get there, though, and the case of Guinness was almost gone."
[snip]
"The night wore on. Out at sea, the lights of a freighter moved by every so often. Bono asked me if I'd had any new songs, any unrecorded ones. It just so happend that I did. I went into the other room and pulled them out of the drawer, brought them back and showed them to him. He looked them over, said I should record them. I said I wasn't so sure about that, thought that maybe I should pour lighter fluid over them - said that I had been having a hard time making records, making that work out. He said, "No, no," and he brought up the name Daniel Lanois ... said that U2 had worked with him and he had been a great partner - that he'd be perfect for me to work with - would have much to scramble into the mix. Lanois had musical ideas that were compatible to mine. Bono picked up the phone and dialed the man, put him on the phone with me and we spoke for a moment. Basically, what Lanois said was that he was working out of New Orleans and told me that if I was ever there, I should look him up. I said that I would do that. To be sure, I was in no hurry to record. Performing was what was on my mind first and foremost. If I ever did make another record, it would have to have something in common with that purpose. I had a clear road ahead and didn't want to blow the chance to regain my musical freedom. I needed to let things straighten out and not get mixep up anymore."
Thanks Popmartijn! I like Bob even more now! 
I wonder if Bono has read that already, reading something like that about yourself that was said by a hero of yours must put him in heaven. I bet this book must be great! 
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