It\'s cold outside...

[rivergoat]

Was listening to Zooropa to day (the song) and noticed the line "It's cold outside..." being the same as on 11 O'Clock Tick Tock. I know, I know, one little line? But check the verses that it's attached to:

11 O'Clock Tick Tock
It's cold outside
It gets so hot in here
The boys and girls colide
To the music in my ear
I hear the children crying
And I know it's time to go
I hear the children crying
Take me home


Zooropa
Don't worry baby, it'll be alright
You got the right shoes
To get you through the night
It's cold outside, but brightly lit
Skip the subway
Let's go to the overground
Get your head out of the mud baby
Put flowers in the mud baby
Overground

11 O'Clock talks about going home in the midst of chaos, Zooropa talks about stepping out into that chaos and enjoying it..

Well, that's my perspective anyways...

}:)~

[Edited on 2004-9-21 by rivergoat]

[Carl]

Or maybe 11 O'Clock tick tock is just escapism from the chaos, and Zooropa is embracing it... after all it's a club heated up by bodies colliding to rock n roll.

Whenever I hear the line in Zooropa "It's cold outside, but brightly lit" it makes me think of driving by one of those huge parking lots by a mall at night.  The feeling of having all those streetlamps illuminating it but hardly any cars... the cold is a sense of isolation that (sub)urban life can provide.   Flourescent lights.

Like, the parking lot is brightly lit, look, isn't it safe and inviting?  But at the same time, it is very sterile, dead, and almost touchingly nostalgic, a ghost of its daytime bustling self.

[rivergoat]

Originally posted by Carl
Whenever I hear the line in Zooropa "It's cold outside, but brightly lit" it makes me think of driving by one of those huge parking lots by a mall at night.  The feeling of having all those streetlamps illuminating it but hardly any cars... the cold is a sense of isolation that (sub)urban life can provide.   Flourescent lights.

Like, the parking lot is brightly lit, look, isn't it safe and inviting?  But at the same time, it is very sterile, dead, and almost touchingly nostalgic, a ghost of its daytime bustling self.

With me its just the opposite, that line makes me think of walking around a busy city street at night, with all the noises and colors and action going on... not a dangerous place, just exciting and 'oh wow cool!' kind of thing.

}:)~

[Carl]

I guess for me, the cold outweighs the brightly lit, where for you it is the other way around.

I think yours is closer to the original meaning.  IE sure it isn't climate controlled, but at least there is natural sunshine.

I still like my interpretation when I drive by well let empty parking lots at night though.

[Between Two Worlds]

And thematically, do you think 11 O'Clock Tick Tock is a bit like Vertigo? Is that one of the ways in which HTDAAB is meant to be U2 "first" album?

I hear the relevant lines in Zooropa as stepping out and embracing the uncertainty, unknown, even chaos (like rivergoat in some ways) but I seem to detect just as much irony here as in the opening lines of the song - so the bright lights cannot in the end make the coldness go away...

But I am sure I have not listened to the song nearly often enough - I don't claim to understand it but it's one of my favourites...

[Carl]

Zooropa holds a special place in my heart as well... the imagery is great. It definately does seem to be about embracing chaos, about ditching the routine, being a creative force (put flowers in the mud baby).

And I have no compass
And I have no map
And I have no reasons
No reasons to get back

I've always liked this line... like "I'm lost but it's enjoyable being this way.  I don't know where or what things are, so I can just experience them." Which leads into:

And I have no religion
And I don't know what's what
And I don't know the limit
The limit of what we've got

Again a sort of "I don't have a set worldview dictating what is or isn't possible, so because I don't know what the limits are [supposed to be] I can surpass them.  I can dream up the world I want to live in, because I'm not bound to what everyone says it has to be."

Skip the subway
Let's go to the overground
Get your head out of the mud baby
Put flowers in the mud baby
Overground

First of all, I just love the word "Overground"  It's like when people say RL... in a virtual reality "real life" is just an acronym.  The subway could be seen as efficiency, speed, success... but just go outside.  It's cold, not climate controlled, but you can make beauty from the ugliness (flowers > mud).  Don't be underground, be free.