What's the meaning of Unos, Dos, Tres, Catorce

[Inner El Guapo]

Punk bands used to use weird count-ins, maybe it's an homage to the old days.

 

[PowerSurge]

*hands everyone 1/2 a pint of Guiness and a shot of Jameson and Baileys*



everybody ready!

uno.......dos........tres.......

 

[deltau922]

On the first day Vertigo was released, someone in here pointed out that Vertigo is a biblical reference about Jesus being temped by the devil and that the song Vertigo was about temptation. AND that he looked up 'temptation' in a referential Bible (whatever that is ) and it specifically denoted Chapter 1, verses 2, 3 and 14 (in which book I don't remember). His/her post was a lot better than mine but it made a lot of sense.

 

[DaveC]

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe *gasp* it doesn't have a meaning???

Bono probably was just going for something that sounded Spanish.

 

[U2Fan101]

On the first day Vertigo was released, someone in here pointed out that Vertigo is a biblical reference about Jesus being temped by the devil and that the song Vertigo was about temptation. AND that he looked up 'temptation' in a referential Bible (whatever that is ) and it specifically denoted Chapter 1, verses 2, 3 and 14 (in which book I don't remember). His/her post was a lot better than mine but it made a lot of sense.

If this is the case, the closest I could find was from James.

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.


Probably not, but I could some what see it. With the whole Bono being satan over Edge's shoulder "give me what i want and no one gets hurt."

Oh well. it's probably nothing.

 

[Inner El Guapo]

On the first day Vertigo was released, someone in here pointed out that Vertigo is a biblical reference about Jesus being temped by the devil and that the song Vertigo was about temptation. AND that he looked up 'temptation' in a referential Bible (whatever that is ) and it specifically denoted Chapter 1, verses 2, 3 and 14 (in which book I don't remember). His/her post was a lot better than mine but it made a lot of sense.

That was me and the post is still over on the lyric forum on interference. and yes it was James Chapter 1.

linky dink http://forum.interference.com/t97326.html

And as I noted in that post, I thought it was pure coincidence, I just posted it for people who like that sort of thing.

 

[AtomicBono]

I've wondered if maybe it's Bono just being stupid, but I find it hard to believe he'd get so far without someone telling him "Hey, y'know, catorce is 14, not 4..." Personally I think it's just an inside joke with the band, to be honest. I read somewhere that Edge said the song started out with a "Bono joke" so that would imply some sort of, uh, joke. :B

The Biblical interpretation is interesting though, and U2 has always been very spiritual so it's entirely possible. However I'd go more with the I Am the Walrus explanation for all we know Bono just wanted to confuse everyone.

Oh, and Bono DOES say "Turn it up, captain!" at the TOTP preformance...

 

[jick]

and yes jick... it is possible that it's simply a silly count-off and nothing more. the "turn it up loud" captain part is muddled on the studio recording, where as the unos, dos, tres catorce is perfectly clear. the live versions all follow suit.

eddie vedder counts off "elderly woman..." at every pearl jam show with "one two three, four two three." is there some special magic meaning behind that? maybe... or maybe it's just that he's done it so often that people expect it to be part of the song at this point.

Well, I don't think Pearl Jam markets t-shirts of that song with a big 1-2-3-4-2-3 sign do they? U2 aren't the type to put meaningless stuff on their t-shirts. And it wasn't just randomly put, it was dead smack in the middle for everyone to read. Therefore that unos-dos-tres-catorce is an integral part to the song. As to its meaning, I don't quite know yet - but it is obvious that it was intentionally put there for a reason.

Cheers,

J

 

[MikeSt]

I just think because it sounds fuckin cool.


www.swaggerandstyle.com/dallas/indexds.htm

 

[ZigZag]

There is no flippin meaning to it.

You know that its easy to make the mistake of saying "catorce" as opposed to "quatro"? It's obviously just him poking fun of a mannerism of his. To infer anymore than that would be like staring at a math book and claiming the numbers are put in a special order to create some sort of hidden messege.