Winter (Song) (DISCUSSION ONLY)

[JoRu]

To sound professional, I think they should cut a little from the part coming just before the vocals go in. It's a little too long of the same thing, the song is already long enough, you know.

Also, the transition between the part of the pre-chorus with the "the young and used" stuff in it and the chorus is a bit unnatural. Both parts individually sound great, but I don't like how they come into each other. But then again, this song is not completed and if I got this right, it's a version from last summer? That's quite a long time ago.

 

[nadie]

I think this song has the most gorgeous chorus of any song on the album. It's just EXQUISITE. But it reminds me of Original of the Species: a beautiful song at its core, but ultimately destroyed by poor structural decisions.

Does U2 do this intentionally? Do they perhaps take a beautiful melody and hide it within in a messy structure just so that it isn't so commercially appealing? I really get the sense that this is what they do. Is it them? Is it Eno/Lanois? It's so frustrating.

I don't want to sound like one of those Mercy nuts, but this song deserves some real attention. If they just took out the strings/synth sounds at the beginning and replaced them with a guitar or something, really anything that didn't sound JUST like Livin la Viva Vida, and then cut out the talking and opera sections and repeat the chorus at the end with a crescendo of passionate vocals, wow.

Just a more conventional structure is all this song needs to be a classic.

I agree with most of this, but I like the talking and the opera, so I'd keep them.

This is such a beautiful, airy, sunny song, but it needs polishing. Aside from the beginning, the ending in particular comes to mind: it seems to taper off too soon.

 

[rihannsu]

Ok, I can't find where I saw it but some months back I remember reading an interview with either Chris Martin or Brian Eno where they talked about Eno's method for jumpstarting creativity by setting up these loops for the band to play off of and he decided to do an experiment and have both U2 and Coldplay start with the same piece of music and see where it took them. Martin was played U2's version and said he was blown away and was lucky that Coldplay's version was going to come out first. I can't find where I saw that and don't remember if they named the song but it sure sounds as if they were talking about Winter/Viva la Vida. I think Eno felt U2's song was better and we know Eno really wanted Winter on the record. Also Bono commented recently that he figures Eno probably told Coldplay to leave Viva la Vida off the record. I sure wish I could figure out where I saw that story.

Dana

 

[bram]

Bear with me (I haven't been around much lately), but has it been discussed yet that the "final" version of Winter discussed in the latest Rolling Stone doesn't match up with the one we have? It looks like U2 may have intentionally given us an old, less-finished version because they are still planning on putting this on Songs of Ascent.

 

[mikal]

Bear with me (I haven't been around much lately), but has it been discussed yet that the "final" version of Winter discussed in the latest Rolling Stone doesn't match up with the one we have? It looks like U2 may have intentionally given us an old, less-finished version because they are still planning on putting this on Songs of Ascent.

really? this i have not heard....

 

[bram]

really? this i have not heard....

Here's the part in Rollingstone that I'm referring to:

"In the basement of London's Olympic Studios, armed only with a MacBook and a Nord keyboard, Brian Eno is leading a doomed, one-man insurgency. It's early December and U2 are wrapping up their sessions for No Line, the track listing almost finalized, but Eno is still pushing for prayerful, moody songs that were long ago abandoned. He's most passionate about "Winter", which sounds like no other U2 song. It begins with fingerpicked, chiming acoustic guitar and falsetto backing vocals, and once Bono hits a key line - "Summer sings in me no more" - Eno's dramatic strings kick in. "Listening to the silence, the deaf and dumb roar of white noise/your voice", Bono sings at one point, followed by a choral chant. "Beautiful, isn't it? They're bonkers to leave it off," Eno says with real sadness, as the tune winds up with soaring, dissonant strings - they're synthesized played on his little keyboard down here in the basement."


The "dramatic strings" that the article refers to kick in at the beginning of the version we have and not during/after "Summer sings in me no more". Also, those lyrics don't match with our version, do they? (I may be wrong on this as I haven't listened to Winter in a while.) Also, where are the dissonant strings/synths at the end?

Based on a close reading of their description, it seems that Winter may have progressed at least a little since the Linear version. This would imply to me that they still have plans for the song--otherwise, why not give us the most up-to-date version?

 

[mobvok]

Here's the part in Rollingstone that I'm referring to:

"In the basement of London's Olympic Studios, armed only with a MacBook and a Nord keyboard, Brian Eno is leading a doomed, one-man insurgency. It's early December and U2 are wrapping up their sessions for No Line, the track listing almost finalized, but Eno is still pushing for prayerful, moody songs that were long ago abandoned. He's most passionate about "Winter", which sounds like no other U2 song. It begins with fingerpicked, chiming acoustic guitar and falsetto backing vocals, and once Bono hits a key line - "Summer sings in me no more" - Eno's dramatic strings kick in. "Listening to the silence, the deaf and dumb roar of white noise/your voice", Bono sings at one point, followed by a choral chant. "Beautiful, isn't it? They're bonkers to leave it off," Eno says with real sadness, as the tune winds up with soaring, dissonant strings - they're synthesized played on his little keyboard down here in the basement."


The "dramatic strings" that the article refers to kick in at the beginning of the version we have and not during/after "Summer sings in me no more". Also, those lyrics don't match with our version, do they? (I may be wrong on this as I haven't listened to Winter in a while.) Also, where are the dissonant strings/synths at the end?

Based on a close reading of their description, it seems that Winter may have progressed at least a little since the Linear version. This would imply to me that they still have plans for the song--otherwise, why not give us the most up-to-date version?

That's definitely describing a different version. After the first "summer sings in me no more", Winter transitions directly into "I'm 25, trying to stay alive", without any string business. And then during the spoken part, at 3:50 Bono mentions "listen to the silence of the fallen ground", but nothing like what the Rolling Stone interviewer says. That whole section we have is very murmery and difficult to pick out, so if RS actually had definitive lyrics I think we can assume either that section's lyrics are clearer in Eno's favored version or the interviewer had to doublecheck with Eno on what exactly was being said.

Either way, veeery interesting.

 

[edgeplaytheblue]

When I heard the song first i said "coldplay" ...
Now i have heard this song many times and I really enjoy this song actually.
Musically very very nice and the lyrics are catching me in a way.

So I created my own lossless cd incl. winter and NLOTH2

 

[TooFree]

The "dramatic strings" that the article refers to kick in at the beginning of the version we have and not during/after "Summer sings in me no more". Also, those lyrics don't match with our version, do they? (I may be wrong on this as I haven't listened to Winter in a while.) Also, where are the dissonant strings/synths at the end?

Also, no falsetto backing vocals at the beginning . . .

And I can't find the reference now, but wasn't Winter rumored to be on an upcoming movie soundtrack? Maybe that's where we'll hear a final mix?

I love this song, but I really don't understand why U2 let a song go public in such a rough version.

 

[bram]

Also, no falsetto backing vocals at the beginning . . .

And I can't find the reference now, but wasn't Winter rumored to be on an upcoming movie soundtrack? Maybe that's where we'll hear a final mix?

I love this song, but I really don't understand why U2 let a song go public in such a rough version.

Yeah--whatever happened to the movie soundtrack aspect?

Regarding your last point--it does seem odd, but it gives me some hope that they are still planning on finishing the song. Also, while it is technically "public", it's only going to reach a very small audience, as with the demos they've been releasing on the Remasters. Except this one isn't even on a CD.

 

[popacrobat]

i think that movie got pushed back to the fall? i thought i read that somewhere, i may be mistaken though.

 

[rihannsu]

The Movie is Brothers from Jim Sheridan and the release was moved back to October/November.

Dana

 

[luna_lovegood]

I've just heard this song for the first time. I can't understand why they didn't put it in the place of White as Snow. Its serves the same purpose, but is 100% times better. Its has far more inspired lyrics and its uplifting. This song has Eno written all over it. They should put more trust in him. There is no excuse for this not being on No Line.

 

[bonocomet]

I'm glad it's not on No Line on the Horizon, at least not the way it sounds right now. I listened to it a lot because I didn't care for it at all at first. I wanted to see if it would grow on me. It did a little, and I love the beautiful solo but am sad that it's pretty much burried in there. Maybe this song can evolve into something better for the next album, or a b-side, but right now, thank you U2 for keeping it away. I like White As Snow so much more than Winter, but they are 2 completely different songs and maybe Winter can become something special one day too.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Believe it or not I haven't even heard Winter yet.

 

[Laugend]

I place "Winter" in third position in the album NLOTH and it sounds great!!!

I don't understand why U2 didn't give us this song officialy in the new album !

 

[intedomine]

I love the song, I just wonder about Bono's vocals.....maybe required more work during the choruses, kinda sound unappealingly squeaky....

Top song, works beautifully on the Linear tracklisting.

 

[shart1780]

I still can't forgive the toast lyric.

 

[bonocomet]

The toast lyric reminds me of Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings...

"I feel thin, stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread..."

 

[mo786]

its easily good enough to be on the album..even better with some work

its 100x better than BOOTS, so i wiould happily get rid of that crap song.

 

[bonocomet]

^ No way. Boots is actually a great song. I don't know what everyone's problem with it is. Anyways... just my opinion but Winter is not better than any song on that album, especially Boots.
imo

 

[mo786]

I would have preferred a more serious feel for the album than shite like BOOTS

This song feels like it should have a killer solo at the end, like the infamous ACROBAT.

Oh, wonder if they will play ACROBAT live next tour

 

[standrums]

Winter in this form should not be on the album, it is definite B-side quality - if it's finished up then maybe.

NLOTH's current format doesn't need Winter - perhaps a finished copy of Winter will make it onto the next album?

 

[Needle_Chill]

I think one of the main reasons they're releasing another album is to get songs like Winter out... I'm sure they know it's good enough, but they just didn't like how it fit on this album.

 

[Batfink27]

Was Winter The Rose

That NLOTH so badly needed?.

 

[mikal]

no.

 

[gareth brown]

haha mono-syllabic, thread-damning replies can be so harsh!

 

[mikal]

haha mono-syllabic, thread-damning replies can be so harsh!

hehe. in all honesty though, to me, Winter is like North And South Of The River, Salome, Love Comes Tumbling, etc....

all great songs that are nice gems to have along with incredible albums.

 

[namkcuR]

hehe. in all honesty though, to me, Winter is like North And South Of The River, Salome, Love Comes Tumbling, etc....

all great songs that are nice gems to have along with incredible albums.

Love Comes Tumbling is as good as anything on UF not named The Unforgettable Fire or Bad, imo.

 

[mikal]

Love Comes Tumbling is as good as anything on UF not named The Unforgettable Fire or Bad, imo.

agreed. that may be a bad example, i guess, because i would easily replace Indian Summer Sky with Love Comes Tumbling.