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

[Herco]

I've just get my Vertigo- t-shirt, and was wandering about the meaning of the Unos, Dos, Tres, Catorce. (1,2,3,14)

I don't think it's just Bono being funny, it must have a purpose.

Maybe it's stands for the albums Lillywhite produced? The first three and the last (fourteenth)?

 

[bcrt2000]

14 LPs
and yes I think Lillywhite produced LPs #1,2,3 &14.. i think he took part in the 4th album too though didn't he? or maybe it was just a minor role

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

Bible reference. Don't know which one exactly, but that was discussed here before. And "concluded". Still, no official explanation so we can't be sure it's one thing or another...

 

[The_Edge89]

Unos actually means "Some" so I think B mixed up Uno (One) with Unos

 

[Herco]

i thought he took part on many albums, didn't he master/mix/produce? streets and much other songs.

But he FULLY did Albums #1,2,3 and MAINLY #14

Great meaning though....

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

oh here we go again...

there is no magic meaning behind it. if there is some magic meaning behind it, it's something so obscure that only bono and the guys in the band know about.

any way ya slice it, the "14 LPs" thing doesn't work. this isn't their 14th LP... it's their 11th. if you don't count rattle and hum it's their 10th. if you count under a blood red sky it's their 12th. if you count UABRS and the 4 track wide awake in america, it's their 13th.... the only way you can possibly get to 14 is if you count all 11 albums, the two EPs AND the Passangers album... that adds up to 14, but then what about the two greatest hits albums? why would you count passangers, a live album and a 4 track mini EP and not count the greatest hits albums, both of which contained new material? it's waaaay too much of a stretch... he said catorce because he either can't speak spanish, thought it was funny, or it's some sort of inside joke amongst the band. period.

 

[Herco]

everything you know is wrong and has a meaning....
I'm sure there is a meaning, maybe some biblical/discographical reference. Maybe we can ask Edge...



Damn did he stopped posting

 

[strannix]

he said catorce because he either can't speak spanish, thought it was funny, or it's some sort of inside joke amongst the band. period.

I lean towards "thought it was funny". Like calling an album "Achtung Baby".

 

[jick]

oh here we go again...

there is no magic meaning behind it. if there is some magic meaning behind it, it's something so obscure that only bono and the guys in the band know about.

If there was no magic meaning then U2 wouldn't have bothered to print it in their t-shirts or Bono mention it in his MTV Latin awards intro. In the live performances, it seems like Bono doesn't blurt out "turn it up captain" so that was probably an insignificant line - but the 1,2,3,14 is always sung. There is some magic meaning to it, we just haven't fully figured it out yet, but I promise you there is a magic meaning.

Cheers,

J

 

[bcrt2000]

list from http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/album.html (numbers by me):

#1 1980 Boy
#2 1981 October
#3 1983 War
#4 1983 Under a Blood Red Sky
#5 1984 The Unforgettable Fire
(not an LP)1985 Wide Awake in America [EP]
#6 1987 The Joshua Tree
#7 1988 Rattle and Hum
#8 1991 Achtung Baby
#9 1993 Zooropa
(not an LP)1995 Melon [Fan Club Only Release]
(not released as a U2 album)1995 Original Soundtracks No. 1 [Passengers]
#10 1997 Pop
#11 1998 The Best of 1980 - 1990 & B-Sides
#11 1998 The Best of 1980 - 1990
(not an LP) 2000 Hasta La Vista Baby! [Fan Club Only Release]
#12 2000 All That You Can't Leave Behind
#13 2002 The Best of 1990 - 2000 & B Sides
#13 2002 The Best of 1990 - 2000
#14 2004 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

this is the *end* of the no meaning to 1,2,3,14 argument.. if there is no meaning to something like that then Bono has gone senile-- which he obviously hasn't

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

"Some" sounds like "Psalm"

Which means nothing since most early psalms have less than 14 verses

 

[coach]

In the making of the joshua tree video bono goes on about how danny and brian make them play up to "11", meaning that the volume on an amp will only go up to "10"... so "14" would mean going waaaaay up.

That's what i think.

 

[strannix]

list from http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/album.html (numbers by me):

#1 1980 Boy
#2 1981 October
#3 1983 War
#4 1983 Under a Blood Red Sky
#5 1984 The Unforgettable Fire
(not an LP)1985 Wide Awake in America [EP]
#6 1987 The Joshua Tree
#7 1988 Rattle and Hum
#8 1991 Achtung Baby
#9 1993 Zooropa
(not an LP)1995 Melon [Fan Club Only Release]
(not released as a U2 album)1995 Original Soundtracks No. 1 [Passengers]
#10 1997 Pop
#11 1998 The Best of 1980 - 1990 & B-Sides
#11 1998 The Best of 1980 - 1990
(not an LP) 2000 Hasta La Vista Baby! [Fan Club Only Release]
#12 2000 All That You Can't Leave Behind
#13 2002 The Best of 1990 - 2000 & B Sides
#13 2002 The Best of 1990 - 2000
#14 2004 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

this is the *end* of the no meaning to 1,2,3,14 argument.. if there is no meaning to something like that then Bono has gone senile-- which he obviously hasn't

It a stretch to count the "Best of" releases, but it's an enormous stretch to count both "Best of" releases twice.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

It a stretch to count the "Best of" releases, but it's an enormous stretch to count both "Best of" releases twice.

Each is only being counted once, it says 11/11 and 13/13

 

[bcrt2000]

It a stretch to count the "Best of" releases, but it's an enormous stretch to count both "Best of" releases twice.

I didn't count them twice, look again

list from http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/album.html (numbers by me):

#1 1980 Boy
#2 1981 October
#3 1983 War
#4 1983 Under a Blood Red Sky
#5 1984 The Unforgettable Fire
(not an LP)1985 Wide Awake in America [EP]
#6 1987 The Joshua Tree
#7 1988 Rattle and Hum
#8 1991 Achtung Baby
#9 1993 Zooropa
(not an LP)1995 Melon [Fan Club Only Release]
(not released as a U2 album)1995 Original Soundtracks No. 1 [Passengers]
#10 1997 Pop
#11 1998 The Best of 1980 - 1990 & B-Sides
#11 1998 The Best of 1980 - 1990
(not an LP) 2000 Hasta La Vista Baby! [Fan Club Only Release]
#12 2000 All That You Can't Leave Behind
#13 2002 The Best of 1990 - 2000 & B Sides
#13 2002 The Best of 1990 - 2000
#14 2004 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

this is the *end* of the no meaning to 1,2,3,14 argument.. if there is no meaning to something like that then Bono has gone senile-- which he obviously hasn't

both best of 1980's are labeled #11, and both best of 1990's are labeled #13

and imo i don't think its a stretch to count the best ofs because they were full blown releases, new songs, promos, the works

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

the fact that this can be debated makes it a stretch... by industry standards, Under A Blood Red Sky is an EP... too long to be a single, but not quite a full album in it's own right. if you consider it to be an LP that's fine... but that is your opinion, thus making it a stretch that Bono
a) would be thinking about putting a reference to the number of albums they've released as the opening to a song
b) that you and he have the exact same opinions on what's an LP, what's an EP, wether greatest hits albums should count, etc. etc. etc.

is it possible that that's what the count-off means? sure i guess.... but not bloody likely.

john lennon grew tired of people attempting to look into his lyrics too much and make false assumptions as to what he actually meant, if there was a meaning at all. so in response, he wrote "I Am The Walrus," a song completely devoid of meaning. Still... people thought that there actually was a deeper meaning to the song that was in Lennon's subconcious and it all came out through the lyrics. People claimed Goo goo g'joob was actually a Biblical reference to Job, because if you take one "o" from each of the words it says Go Go Job (which is wrong... it actually says Go Go G'Job... perhaps Lennon was telling these people they had too much time on their hands and they need to go go get a job and stop trying to look for something that wasn't there )

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.

 

[bcrt2000]

the fact that this can be debated makes it a stretch... by industry standards, Under A Blood Red Sky is an EP... too long to be a single, but not quite a full album in it's own right. if you consider it to be an LP that's fine... but that is your opinion, thus making it a stretch that Bono
a) would be thinking about putting a reference to the number of albums they've released as the opening to a song
b) that you and he have the exact same opinions on what's an LP, what's an EP, wether greatest hits albums should count, etc. etc. etc.

is it possible that that's what the count-off means? sure i guess.... but not bloody likely.

john lennon grew tired of people attempting to look into his lyrics too much and make false assumptions as to what he actually meant, if there was a meaning at all. so in response, he wrote "I Am The Walrus," a song completely devoid of meaning. Still... people thought that there actually was a deeper meaning to the song that was in Lennon's subconcious and it all came out through the lyrics. People claimed Goo goo g'joob was actually a Biblical reference to Job, because if you take one "o" from each of the words it says Go Go Job (which is wrong... it actually says Go Go G'Job... perhaps Lennon was telling these people they had too much time on their hands and they need to go go get a job and stop trying to look for something that wasn't there )

its more likely that the count off means nothing than meaning something, given the fact that you can reasonably argue they have consider themselves to have done 14 records (and there are other arguments like bible references)? in my personal opinion i think not, but it is your opinion i guess, but you make it sound as if you *know* that they didn't mean anything with 1,2,3,14

i wish the old U2.com was still up, I'm pretty sure they had Under a Blood Red Sky in the album list and I clearly remember seeing/counting 13 albums in a list somewhere on their website (not sure if it was in the timeline or the place where it had descriptions/quotes from the albums) starting from Boy going up to the Best of 1990-2000

 

[bcrt2000]

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.

but that seems more like a *cool* thing to do... 1,2,3,14 doesn't really sound cool if it was just for fun.. my brother who is a big U2 fan thought it was 1,2,3,4 but when I told him it was 14, his initial reaction was "thats retarded"

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Maybe it's just "taking it to the next level"

1 2 3... skip 4-13.. 14!

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

if he thinks that UABRS is an LP or not, he had to go with 14 because it wouldn't make sense to count 1, 2, 3, 13 or 1, 2, 3, 15... get it?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

its more likely that the count off means nothing than meaning something given the fact that you can reasonably argue they have consider themselves to have done 14 records (and there are other arguments like bible references)? in my personal opinion i think not, but it is your opinion i guess, but you make it sound as if you *know* that they didn't mean anything with 1,2,3,14

i wish the old U2.com was still up, I'm pretty sure they had Under a Blood Red Sky in the album list and I clearly remember seeing/counting 13 albums in a list somewhere on their website (not sure if it was in the timeline or the place where it had descriptions/quotes from the albums) starting from Boy going up to the Best of 1990-2000

occam's razor... when presented with multiple scenarios, go with the simplest explanation.

like i said in my last post, it's possible that bono had absolutely everything that you said in your post in mind when he came up with the line, or that there's an even deeper philisophical reason behind it... or that it's just a count-off that he thought sounded cool/funny.

until i see proof other wise, i'll go with the simplest explanation, thank you.

 

[bcrt2000]

occam's razor... when presented with multiple scenarios, go with the simplest explanation.

like i said in my last post, it's possible that bono had absolutely everything that you said in your post in mind when he came up with the line, or that there's an even deeper philisophical reason behind it... or that it's just a count-off that he thought sounded cool/funny.

until i see proof other wise, i'll go with the simplest explanation, thank you.

okay, like i said its your opinion, but don't try to shoot down other theorys without some solid evidence

and I did a little bit of googling on UABRS and it is too long to be an EP aparently, its considered a mini-LP (i'm not 100% sure on this but just some information i gathered from a few sources)

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Ok, clearly the whole 14 LP's theory is wrong.

Can't anybody just be on the lookout for a new bono interview? Any half-assed reporter should ask what the hell the "14" (catorce) means.

And as jick said, there is definitely a meaning behind it because otherwise why would they put it on their shirts?

 

[strannix]

I didn't count them twice, look again



both best of 1980's are labeled #11, and both best of 1990's are labeled #13

Yeesh. Good thing I'm never this wrong in the FYM forums!

Sorry, bcrt.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

And as jick said, there is definitely a meaning behind it because otherwise why would they put it on their shirts?

because it looks cool on a t-shirt

 

[tackleberry]

1. It does sound cool
2. It goes with the theme of Vertigo. The lyrics sigify confusion, dissaray. Hence, saying 1,2,3,14 is someone who is confused, who has the "Jungle in your head" Plus it's clever to say 1 2 3 14. It's witty. Not Biblical

 

[Rafiennes]

I think it's a Guinness induced Spanish lesson

 

[u2bonogirl]

bono is so cute
he probably knows that people are freaking out over his lyrics.
If i could go into that head of his and report to you just what he was thinking i would

welllll if i ever came out

 

[Herco]

i like my t-shirt

 

[Inner El Guapo]

I saw an interview recently where one of the members of the band stated "well, this is our eleventh album, ....blah blah blah"
I don't remember the context of the interview.

So if you made no stretches whatsoever and just accepted face value fact, then it would lead you say "this is U2's eleventh album" and you would be agreeing with one of the band members.

And as for the question in this thread, check out the lyric forum to see the thread on this.