Big Girls Are Best

[rivergoat]

So, what do you think this song is about? Here's some things that others have said:

1. Quote from The Edge:
"I wouldn't be too much into the lyric but it's a great rock'n'roll vibe. I think when Bono talks about big girls, he means large girls - not big breasted, or anything like that. He's talking about women who aren't stick insects. We managed to find 15 minutes in L.A to finish it - and it came together. It's pretty tongue-in-cheek and throwaway."

2. "I cannot make it through this song without giggling. And dancing. This song is good for giggles and dancing." (from a random blog)

3. Lyrics interp:

I'm gonna change like the weather, hot to cold  <--- "Gotta lay off the sex now, she's too far along."
Oh yeah yeah yeah
She keeps it all together, she's got the motherlode  <--- "motherlode" may actually be "mother load" i.e. pregnant! }: )~
Oh yeah yeah yeah

She feels it, every sensation  <--- kicking in the womb, going into labor
Sh's gotta smile like salvation   <--- just after delivery, relief and joy
She's got a baby at her breast   <--- baby gotta eat!
She knows big girls are best   <--- gotta get big and strong!

4. "Avenue Atlantico 1702" may refer to the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Website: http://www.copacabanapalace.com )
Their street address is Avenida Atlântica 1702.

5. If none of the above, what do YOU think it's about?

goat

}:)~

[Between Two Worlds]

I had to look up "motherlode" (assuming that it does not refer to the four women group from Bellingham, Washington and Portland, Oregon) and found that it rfers to: The starting place or origin of a metal. A vein which contains the original metal "in place".  This could refer to pregnancy just as well. Either way I found your interpretation plausible and even before I came across the following

BIG GIRLS ARE BRASILIAN
From our mailbox: Hey, I'm Lully, one of the moderators of Ultraviolet, the Brazilian Mailing List, and I wanted to say that in his last B Side, "Big Girls are Best" Bono mentions an address in the lyrics: Avenue Atlantico, 1702. This address (Avenida Atlantico, 1702) is where Hotel Copacabana Palace is located, the most traditional hotel in Rio de Janeiro. All the U2 and U2 crew were hosted in there; Jonas Akerlund also shooted some scenes to the Walk On video on the roof. We think he mentioned their address in the lyrics because we heard that Bono had known Ali's pregnancy in Rio, in that weekend they were promoting ATYCLB in Brazil.

which I have copied from http://u2log.com/archive/000729.shtml

The weather change is likely to be temporary...

[steerpike]

the lyrics for "Big Girls Are Best" at U2.com do say it's 'motherload' and not 'motherlode'.

[Carl]

Hmmm.

Motherload isn't an actual word, which was why I stuck with motherlode - which still makes sense metaphorically.  It'd be nice if I could tell what "official" lyrics came from the band and which came from random transcribers.

They still haven't gotten around to transcribing Are You Gonna Wait Forever, Ave Maria, etc - oddly enough they did do the Jacknife Lee remix of Fast Cars, though it looks like they just copy pasted what they had for the album version.  I'm rather surprised they even put up Big Girls Are Best considering they usually don't touch recent b-sides.