Electric Co. (Boy Album)

[Carl]

my transcription:

[2:21]
One three four
I can't stop
You stay still in the song
You stay still in the song
Say reach out

[3:37]
See someone breaks the willow
To say the sound go
To the top of casandro
Covering me
Just to hear me
Two hours...
Two hours and two hours
Listen I can't find my way home
So alone...
(Can't you, can't you get it)

You know
And you know
And you know
And you know
And you know

rivergoat:

[2:21]
One three four
I can/can't so/sew?
You stay still
Sit up tall
You sit still
Sit there tall
He's sitting tall

[3:37]
So he starts/stops under this lonely load
He stops don't/won't go
To the top of this long road ... this long road
Please start with me ... this long road

Just believe

It's a long road, you know
She follows, she's 'right there'/'meets him'
I can't find my way home
It's a long road
(fade out)
And she comes with me
... a long road
(fade back)
It's a long road
End it now (x5)

[Edited on 2003-12-26 by Carl]

[rivergoat]

just a note to say that the words separated by a slash / mark in my version of THESE lyrics could be either one or the other... see my Boom II reply..

I need to be consistent...

much love

goat

}:)~

[Carl]

hehe, no actually i started editing them.  I use the slashes on the site how you use them on boom, but with spaces between words.  I'm thinking slashes without spaces between words will mean either or, and the single quotes mean it is the phrase which is either or.  

We should agree on a set system, I use parenthesis to deal with hushed comments in the actual pages, where I don't have single quotes or unspaced slashes yet.

[rivergoat]

Ok, so the slash between with no spaces for either/or, single quotes around either/or phrases

Parentheses for whispers/background talking/etc.

Italics for backing vocals maybe?

hmm.. what else.. oh yeah...

<these doohickeys> (my mind just went blank) for commentary within the lyrics...

just a thought...

goat

[Carl]

Originally posted by rivergoat
Ok, so the slash between with no spaces for either/or, single quotes around either/or phrases

Parentheses for whispers/background talking/etc.

Italics for backing vocals maybe?

hmm.. what else.. oh yeah...

<these doohickeys> (my mind just went blank) for commentary within the lyrics...

Hehe, the italics work.
http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/mwfaq.php

I use [brackets] instead of the <doohickeys> for comments.

I try and stay away from Bold, but sometimes it gets used as defined in the top of the song.  Perhaps the craziest example of it being used is here: http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/022_03.php

[dagobah]

Back when I bought the Deluxe Editions of Boy, October, and War, I must have been so busy with other "life" things that . . . . . . I think I verified they were in good condition and then I placed them on my CD shelf without actually reading them.  So here I am reading through the pages of my Deluxe Edition of Boy and I discover that the page with lyrics for The Electric Co. is incomplete.  It's missing some of the lyrics from the last half of the song, starting with:
One three four
I can't stop
You stay still in the song
You stay still in the song
Say reach out

The Deluxe Edition page also fails to list what Bono says (not necessarily sings) . . . . . starting at about 3:45

I would think that this being the definitive Deluxe Edition of Boy, it would include the lyric info I'm referring to.

On a separate note:
As far as the first half of The Electric Co. is concerned, the lyrics (listed in the Wanderer lyrics section) don't match up word-for-word with the lyrics in the Deluxe Edition.  I'm not sure if one of you guys (Aaron/Brad/Carl/Trevor/etc.) is interested in changing the lyrics section of the Wanderer website.

I just happened to notice these lyric issues by chance.  It's weird, too, because The Electric Co. is one of my least favorite U2 songs.

It does make me wonder if the lyrics (for any of the other songs in these Deluxe Editions) are consistent with the lyrics in the Wanderer lyrics section.

[Carl]

I haven't listened/checked the song for a while, but there are times when we purposefully deviate from the lyrics in books.

1) They are often incomplete (background vocals, spoken bits, etc).
2) They are often wrong (read the lyrics for Gone in the Pop liner notes while listening to the album version).

That said I'd be interested in seeing what they are.

[Aaron]

The lyrics in the booklet are as follows:

Boy, stupid boy
Don't Sit at the table
Until you're able to.

Toy, broken toy
You can shout and shout, 'til you're inside out
But if you don't know
Electric Co.

Red, running red
You play for real
But the toy can feel
Holding your head
You won't shout
You still beg
If you don't know
The Electric Co.

If you don't know
Electric Co.
If you don't know
Electric Co.

[slaneman]

The lyrics printed in the Boy, October, and War Deluxe booklets are all the same as those found in the U2.com lyrics section. What is interesting (to me, anyways) is that some of the printed lyrics in the JT Deluxe booklet are the normal 'official' lyrics as found at U2.com but a few others are from Bono's earlier drafts. Same case in the AB Super Deluxe book. It's fascinating to see an early draft and compare it to the 'finished' lyric in the song.

Even not considering snippets, off the cuff remarks during a song, etc., I wonder if there is even one 'official' lyric version on U2.com that is exactly the same as what he sang. There might be a few.

Well there's Spiderman...tho not actual U2 songs, they're Bono lyrics. Those lyrics printed in the album booklet are perfectly accurate to what was sung.

The lyrics are usually the last thing to be 'finished' for a U2 recording, if they can ever be considered finished. Often, especially on the earliest albums, the recording still has 'Bongolese'. He'll keep working on those before the tour starts, during the tour...

Of course B's lyrics are always a work in progress. Even discounting the snippets there will be changes made in the live versions. You can even hear him working on lyrics during sound checks, especially the famous one before they performed The Wanderer live for the Johnny Cash Tribute. There's also a great video of a soundcheck before the special concert at the Brandenburg Gate where Bono is trying out different phrasings for his 'rant' at the end of SBS that became a staple during the 360 tour.

He's always tweaking things to fit the live situation. Sometimes if they haven't played a song in a long time he'll go back to an earlier version. Whatever version he comes up with for a tour he usually sticks with it the whole tour unless there is some special circumstance. I often wonder if these days he just goes online to U2.com to find his 'official' one. Or maybe even takes a peek at U2Wanderer. 

Or maybe he has everything on his iPad?

I've had a few dreams where I've met Bono on the street and asked him what he was trying to do in Another Time Another Place. I always wake up just before he answers. Hopefully one time I'll catch him with his iPad. 


(Not that there's any obsession there...)