"I Surrender" is a song written by former

Argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

guitarist and singer Russ Ballard and first released by Head East as a single in October 1980 from their sixth album ''U.S. 1.'' It is better known for being a hit for

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

the following year, reaching number 3 on the UK Singles Charts.

Rainbow version

Released in January 1981, the song became the band's biggest hit in the UK. Originally, some backing vocals were recorded by

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal bands including Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Michael Schenke ...

, but after he quit the band, lead and backing vocals were sung by his replacement Joe Lynn Turner. Heavy metal band

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

were originally in the running to release the song and had already recorded the backing track and were adding the vocals when they were told to stop as Rainbow, being the bigger name, had been given the nod to record and release the song. Praying Mantis eventually made their version for their 2024 album ''Defiance''. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

"Vielleicht Das Nächster Zeit" is an instrumental song written by

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

and

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician. He came to prominence as the keyboardist of the rock band Rainbow during 1979–1982. He has been the keyboardist of Deep Purple, the band from which Rainbow was a spinoff, since 2 ...

and was titled with the English equivalent in brackets, "Maybe Next Time". Blackmore made a grammatical error with the German title, which was corrected for later releases as "Vielleicht das nächste mal". In 2017, the revived band, under the name Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, released a re-recording of the song as a digital single, with vocals from the current lead singer Ronnie Romero.

Track listing

7": Polydor / POSP 221 (UK) # "I Surrender" – 4:01 # "Vielleicht Das Nächster Zeit (Maybe Next Time)" – 3:23 12" Promo: Polydor / PRO 147 (US) # "I Surrender" – 4:01 # "Spotlight Kid" – 4:52

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

* In 1981, Finnish singer

Markku Aro Markku Aro (; born Markku Tuomas Puputti on 3 February 1950 in Mouhijärvi, Finland), is a Finnish singer who represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 in Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is a ...

covered the song in Finnish, titled "Ensi kertaa" for his album ''Mun suothan tulla vierees sun''. *In 1997, Cherie & Marie Currie re-released their 1980 album '' Messin' with the Boys'', with a cover of the song included as a bonus track * In 2001, Finnish metal band

Stratovarius Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band. Formed in 1984, they have released sixteen studio albums, six DVDs and six live albums. The band's line-up has changed many times, with no founding member left since the departure of drummer Tuomo ...

released a live cover on their 2001 compilation album ''

Intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a break between parts of a performance or production, such as for a play (theatre), theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with ...

''. * In 2002, German metal band At Vance covered the song as a bonus track for their album ''Only Human''. * In 2004, Japanese metal band Concerto Moon covered the song as a bonus track for their album ''After the Double Cross''. * In 2009, Swedish pop singer Tove Lo (under the alias Sue Ellen) covered the song for her album ''Sunday Hangover''. * In 2010, German house music duo The Disco Boys covered the song as a single for their album ''Volume 10''.

References

{{authority control 1980 songs 1981 singles 1980s ballads Rainbow (rock band) songs Songs written by Russ Ballard Song recordings produced by Roger Glover Rock ballads Polydor Records singles