Is it violence of violins?

[pentax]

In Mercy Bono sings about which because violence for me sits very well with Nero. Nero killed his wife, chopped of a servants manhood and he became is new lover. Nero also, decreed that all the richest under his rule and they were usually the Man of the house, to commit suicide and hand over all their wealth so that he could continue with his own desires. Hope this makes sense?

 

[U2girl]

I think it's violins. It makes more sense to me.

 

[pentax]

I think it's violins. It makes more sense to me.

See, i'm having trouble in connecting violins with Nero whereas violence and Nero i can see.

 

[Bonochick]

http://forum.interference.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113094

 

[wildhoney88565]

lol
you wanted violins,
and you got nero

 

[cdisantis83]

Nero is often said to have fiddled while Rome burned (there is no solid historical evidence for this, by the way), and in general to have believed himself to be an exquisite musician and actor. This is where the lyric comes from, although, as someone pointed out in another thread, violins did not yet exist in the first century CE.

 

[socceroo]

Maybe it was a stringed instrument of some sort. Maybe a Stratocaster?

 

[Clawgrabber]

it is definitely violins. the point of the lyric is that the woman wanted something romantic (violins) and got something completely different and catastrphic (Nero= the burning of Rome. Violin music played during something horrific)

it is a juxtaposition, just like the surrounding lyrics (if you are ice, i'm water), (we're binary code, a 1 and a 0) etc.

if she had wanted Violence, the lyric would
A. be a whole lot darker (almost S&M)
B. NOT be a juxtaposition, as she would have gotten exactly what she wanted.

And the concept of a man giving a woman Nero after she asks for violence doesn't seem to hold much of a metaphor. At that point, the song would turn from U2 to Marilyn Manson. CREEPY!

 

[Varitek]

I think it's violins, though sometimes I hear violence. But the other day I heard violets....now there's a new one. It works with the juxtaposition, she wanted pretty flowers and got the burning of Rome, but I'm still goign with violins.

 

[LemonMelon]

I have a hard time hearing what Bono specifically sings in several parts of Mercy:

1. You wanted violins/violence

2. I'm digging the ditches of someone else's love/luck

3. I feeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaar/feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel nothing

 

[Varitek]

1. Violins makes the most sense, though I can hear them both.

2. I hear love and luck at different times in the song, so I think it's an alteration in the chorus for different parts of the song.

3. I have never heard fear before, but given all the lyrics I've heard wrong for years until I read them or someone posts their same mistake in the embarass yourself thread, I'll have to give it a listen for fear/feel.

Edit: googled the lyrics (of course they are by no means official and probably came from here at one point). It's a mix. Whcih makes a little more sense than "i feel so much, i feel nothing," but either could work.

 

[Trinity3000]

off track but... I knew a punk who had a dog called Violence, but people thought it was called Violets. hahha