Winter

[slaneman]

Winter
Linear Video

The yellow sun
Well it took the hand
Of a country boy
To a city in a far off land

We made no mark
No shadow at all
On the ancient holy streets
Where I learned to crawl

The broken and the bruised
The young and the used
The sure and confused
All here

Words would land on me
Then abandon me
Mangle, untangle me
Leave me on the floor

Rhymes they sprang in me
Summer sang in me
But summer sings in me no more

Now I'm 25
I'm trying to stay alive
In a corner of the world
With no clear enemies to fight

It's hot as hell
And we're like butter on toast
But there's no army in this world
Can fight a ghost

The broken and the bruised
The young and the used
The sure and confused
All here

Words would land on me
Then abandon me
Leave me stranded
In ? on the door. (this part sounds edited)

Rhymes began in me
Summer sang in me
But summer sings in me no more

Oooo…

*** (Spoken)

Listening to the cries
The strangeness (ers)
The silence in the foreign ground

Listening to the thunder
The sky stretched
Stretched over every one

Listening to the tanks (?)
The shy soul (?)
The monster wants to pay (?) (runs thru pain)

Listening to a chorus
Shining
And searching
***

At 21
I was born a son
And on that day I knew
I could kill

To protect the ones
We put bullets in guns
Or anything it takes
To take a life or kill the ?

Oh…


First take, -A very fine set of lyrics--wish I had more time but Tiger is on TV...

Hmmm...Tiger lost his match and my confidence is lost on the spoken part

[God, Part II]

So, for those of us that intentionally haven't listened to the NO LINE ON THE HORIZON album yet, does this definitively answer whether or not "Winter" is the same song as "White as Snow"?

[Scarlet]

Winter is a different song than White As Snow.


Incredible work by U2 on this, no one will be disappointed that has been holding back, a real gem. 

[God, Part II]

Scarlet, thanks for answering my question.  Having purchased the Bespoke Box of NLOTH, I did an audio rip of "Winter" from the included DVD and burned it to CD.  I agree with you 100%, a phenomal piece of work, far better than some of the songs that made the final playlist of NLOTH.  I pity those who settled for the download version of LINEAR...

[Brad]

The audio is definitely better on the Linear DVD than on the download.  Comparing the two in an audio editor, the levels were set much to high when the audio was mastered on the download.

[Z000]

Moved from another thread, per slaneman's suggestion:

My newest peeve is in the last verse of Winter, when he says, "to protect the ones;" he never completes the thought. "The ones." The ones who what?

One thing I really like in Winter, though: "summer sang in me / but summer sings in me no more." This is an allusion to a sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

When I have a little time I'll see if I can contribute to the confusing sections of the lyrics above.

[slaneman]

Ok Z000, looking forward to a second opinion on these lyrics cos I'm beyond fried.

I think "the ones" Bono is protecting are his family, i.e., the son born to him when he was 21 in the previous verse. He's lamenting the new knowledge that once you have someone that important in your life you find you're willing to put bullets in guns and do anything to protect them. A sad change of heart to realize you may not be the peaceful idealist you thought you were. And if you have kids you know what he's talking about.

[Carl]

I remember some quote about the subject... from the 80s?  Dug it up in third person form by a google search:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZNmWlsojcdAC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=bono+kitchen+knife+ireland&source=bl&ots=lkWgTp4lWI&sig=cLktNh7kYcm8fUA96Re8Q65lYNk&hl=en&ei=XFg8SsOrBo6osgPYlZT5Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

[Z000]

I was assuming something like that as well. I'm just a little bit of a nazi about grammar, so I give song lyrics a little wiggle room but not much.

Thanks for that tidbit, Carl. It's a great story.

[Bobsboy]

The last line of the song, i noticed that in the transcription above there are "?"'s...i dont mean to step on anyone's toes, but i hear "...or anything it takes to take a life until it's still."

[Z000]

That's what I hear as well.