Trains on Crumbs?

[spacejunk]

Hi everyone. This is my first post on this site.

Either I'm completely wrong about this, or I'm the last U2 fan on the planet to figure it out.

But if I am right, and you haven't figured it out, check this out. Sometimes you don't have to be right anyway for it to send a shiver up your spine. It certainly did for me.

Remember Bono's analogy of standing around and watching the Jews being put on the trains, to describe what the world is doing in relation to the emergency in Africa?

In Crumbs, there is this musically beautiful series of four foghorn-like sounds that occurs again and again throughout the song. But listen to those four "foghorn sounds" after Bono sings "Dignity goes by". I think they're slightly different.

Like I said, maybe I'm wrong, but intuitively I put these slightly different sounds and Bono's preceding three words together, and I somehow I had the chilling experience of absolutely knowing that this time the "foghorns" were the sound of a train pulling out. Whether I was right or wrong, I have never heard a more powerful musical depiction of dignity going by.

I'm really curious to know if anyone else agrees, and if the band could possibly have actually intended that.

 

[BonosSaint]

Will have to look for that spacejunk. Didn't notice.

 

[nickypiemcg]

Don't usually go for stuff like this but I totally hear what you're saying. You've got me freaked out now!

 

[xana dew]

I love the little effects U2 puts in their songs and I always listen closely for them, but I missed these. Must check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

I'll have to check it out, thanks for the heads up.

 

[RobH]

A great song -- best off Bomb.

 

[spacejunk]

Okay, time's up guys. You've checked it out. Now tell me - could I be right about this?

 

[sniggirb]

I just went up and grabbed the cd and took a listen and that kinda freaks me out. Now everytime I listen to that song I will hear the train pulling up.

Its sort of like in Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, at 4:26-27 I swear I can hear a camera click. Anybody else notice the camera noise?

 

[tiny dancer]

I would love to hear this song played live!

 

[2Hearts]

Trains on Crumbs? I'll have to check it out, but obviously the train sounds (which again are references to Bono's train analogy) are in LAPOE. This is common knowledge right? I would think so, it really stands out to me.

 

[2Hearts]

I hear the foghorn sounds right after 'dignity passes by'. Even on headphones, I had to 'search' for them though. They are embedded deep into the mix. I'm sure they will stand out more now, since I know they are there. Good post!

Oh yeah, regarding LAPOE, the 'lay your love on the tracks/ we're gonna break the monster's back' is a giveaway. Obvious reference to the trains and concentration camps.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Oh yeah, regarding LAPOE, the 'lay your love on the tracks/ we're gonna break the monster's back' is a giveaway. Obvious reference to the trains and concentration camps.

ummmm... care to explain how "obvious" this is?

 

[2Hearts]

Sure. The 'tracks' are train tracks. You can hear a chugging sound and a clicking sound which reminds me of the clicking that a train makes as it moves along the tracks (1st verse). There's also a 'blowing steam' sound effect (start of 2nd verse, maybe other times also). You already know about the comparison Bono makes b/w us in the West watching Africans die of AIDS, and the people in WWII who watched Jews being taken away to concentration camps. In the "Bono: In Conversation" book, he says "I want to find people who will lie across the tracks." As I read that, I immediately remembered the line in LAPOE that I quoted above.
Does that make sense?

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Can anybody explain the analogy he is talking about?

 

[2Hearts]

Here is the analogy as clearly as I can put it:

- In World War II, Nazis loaded Jews onto trains and took
them to concentration camps where they were killed. A total of 6
million Jewish people were killed by the Nazis in this prescribed
genocide. Many non-Jewish Europeans saw the trains being
loaded, knew what was going on, and did nothing to stop it.

- Currently in Africa 6,500 people are dying every day from AIDS.
The rest of the world is watching this happen, and not doing
what it takes to stop it. Do you see the analogy now? In both
cases, millions of lives depend on the actions of others.

I have oversimplified both situations. I'm simply trying to explain this analogy that Bono has made many times.

 

[U2DMfan]

In Europe, when Jews were being hoarded up onto trains taking them off to concentraton camps (almost all were eventually murdered), most people just stood by and watched, and more or less allowed it to happen because they did nothing.

So the analogy is, that Bono is saying Africa is bursting into flames because of poverty and AIDS while most people sit around watching as people die, while doing nothing.

In both cases, people knew/know it was/is wrong, but didn't take action.

If that's the analogy you were asking about.

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Thanks for the explanations.

I can definitely here the sound but it will be really great if we can find out if it is train whistle for sure. Props for U2 on the "hidden" meanings.

 

[drt4]

I don't know about trains in Crumbs, but those foghorn sounds always remind me of the guitars from My Bloody Valentine's Loveless album. Anyone else agree?

 

[Zoots]

Did they actually use fog horn sounds in Crumbs or does it just sound like it? Does anyone know?

I guess I can kinda see the imagery of trains pulling up at the station while listening to those sounds. By the way, I love Crumbs From Your Table. Probably my fav song on the new album along with Miracle Drug.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Sure. The 'tracks' are train tracks. You can hear a chugging sound and a clicking sound which reminds me of the clicking that a train makes as it moves along the tracks (1st verse). There's also a 'blowing steam' sound effect (start of 2nd verse, maybe other times also). You already know about the comparison Bono makes b/w us in the West watching Africans die of AIDS, and the people in WWII who watched Jews being taken away to concentration camps. In the "Bono: In Conversation" book, he says "I want to find people who will lie across the tracks." As I read that, I immediately remembered the line in LAPOE that I quoted above.
Does that make sense?

it's a decent theory, but i wouldn't exactly call it "obvious"

 

[MacPhistoPT]

I can't hear the trains. But I can hear a great song, my 3rd in the bomb.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

yea i still don't hear trains... i hear a guitar, no trains... and i grew up less than a mile from a train station.. i know trains... done not hear any here

 

[ADecentMelody]

I listened to this reference over and over and I don't hear trains or foghorns. Not to belittle your theory, but I just hear people (Bono & The Edge, possibly) singing ooooohhhhhhh four times.

 

[MumblingBono]

There are 4 air raid-like bellows, fairly far apart (6-7 seconds?), after the "dignity passes by" verse, during the first guitar solo.

I don't hear trains at all.

 

[popacrobat]

starting at the 3:17 mark and carrying on for about 20 seconds

i always figured it was bono just singing

"mmmmmmmmmmmmm"

but i guess it COULD be a train.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

starting at the 3:17 mark and carrying on for about 20 seconds

i always figured it was bono just singing

"mmmmmmmmmmmmm"

but i guess it COULD be a train.

ok now i hear it... yea i could see that being a train whistle... not deffinite, but it could be

anyone have the linear notes that includes all the instruments used durring the song?

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

Yeah, it sounds like a train but I always thought that it was just a sound effect they came up with and added there.