unos, dos, tres, catorce reference to Exodus 3:14?

[learn2kneel]

A friend just told me that he had heard that unos, dos, tres, catorce was a reference to:
the 1st testament the 2nd book the 3rd chapter the 14th verse of the bible - Exodus 3:14

The verse says:
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Interestingly, enough this verse is on the pages of the the first page that you open up to on the booklet and is referenced in All Because of You.
Could this be the answer the mystery of the counting. It sure is making me think twice.

 

[U2democrat]

wow........now there's something i could accept as the reasoning. good job

 

[2861U2]

nice

 

[whackjester]

Whether or not this is true, it is interesting and a good find. I would be of the belief that it is true, espeically after the ATYCLB cover J33-3 reference.

 

[nurse chrissi]

Good catch - that Yahweh and I AM THAT AM are synonymous with each other- this theory is the best I've seen
Just some backup here
15+ years of Catholic education - something had to stick

http://www.tedmontgomery.com/bblovrvw/C_2a.html
YHWH or Yahweh, the "I AM"Jehovah = Adonai + YahwehEladditional names for and attributes of GodGod's Name on the City of Peacesuffering a result of disobedience and rebellionGod's response; Noah saved
YHWH or Yahweh, the “I AM”
The four-consonant Hebrew word “YHWH” is the name by which God called Himself after revealing Himself to Moses in a burning bush (Exo. 3:2a,14—see “the Angel of the Lord”: C-8, P-I, S-1); it means “I Am That I Am” or, more simply, “I AM.” This signifies that no one fully can describe or define God other than God Himself. “YHWH” is short for “Yahweh,” because the entire word was (and still is by many) regarded to be too sacred to speak or write. Many Christians use “Yahweh,” since Jesus taught us to speak in a familiar, personal manner to and about God.

God told Moses to tell the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you” (Exo. 3:14b), and also, “The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you” (3:15). The Hebrew for “Lord” sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for “I AM.” (1)

 

[mofo82]

Awesome...you had to know there was something behind it. Now if we could only figure out what the Boom-chas really mean

 

[popacrobat]

all because of you i am...

i like this interpretation out of all the possibilities so far

 

[beau2ifulday]

lol, I bet when they were writing 'Veritgo', Bono was thinking 'hah, they'll never guess what my unos, dos, tres, catorce is REALLY about'

Sounds like the most probably theory to me, especially when the have the quote in the booklet too.

Bono'll have to make the references even more obscure next time!

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I am the Walrus
(not meant to be a joke on "I AM," more just a comment on what I think the nature of the intro is)

 

[xovonob now!]

so what you're saying is that it really doesn't matter that Bono mispronounces the Spanish??? (lol)

 

[U2Kitten]

That is good, and they do use Bible verses. So it's between that and the producer thing for me, either one is likely.

 

[MaxFisher]

thanks for clearing up that mystery

 

[grbounds]

ehhhh im sorry, but i doubt it. just my opinion, but i think its nothing more than a joke on bono's part. not everything has a hidden meaning.

 

[cm]

>>so what you're saying is that it really doesn't matter that Bono mispronounces the Spanish??? (lol)

But he doesn't mispronounce the Spanish. 'Unos' can be interpreted as 'about' so we see 'about 2-3:14' which makes perfect sense to me.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I still think it's just for fun. Or, like Lennon's "Walrus," he might be doing it to see what kind of interpretations people come up with. The 90s pretty much show they've got a taste for postmodernism

 

[boosterjuice]

Hah, the mystery grows! I love it.

 

[angelordevil]

that's great...good job

...certainly sounds a lot better than just Bono caught in some kind of drunken and/or stupid moment while coming up with lyrics!

 

[learn2kneel]

i also recently heard that "unos" can mean "about" in spanish so he could be saying the album is "about Exodus 3:14". Any spanish-speakers want to confirm or deny this?

 

[EPandAmerica]

ehhhh im sorry, but i doubt it. just my opinion, but i think its nothing more than a joke on bono's part. not everything has a hidden meaning.

I think they DO put several things here and there to see if and when someone will figure it out.

On the HTDAAB dvd, Bono makes note of the Stories for Boys / Vertigo connection (for the trainspotters he said with a sly grin).

 

[Joshua_Tree_Hugger]

It's a nice theory (and more realistic than some we've heard!) but I think it's probably looking to deeply. I doubt there's really anything too deep to that "fourteen". But then I could be wrong

 

[corner]

I hate to piss on your bbq, but Bono was genuinely stumped upon being asked the significance of "uno, dos, tres, catorce" on Radio 1 the other week. Jo Whiley touched on the fact that "Catorce" means 14 instead of 4 to which Bono in his slow calculating way replied "um.............is it?", incredulously! He then goes on to say "there may have been some drink involved" The whole interview is on the Jo Whiley mini-site on the Radio 1 website and if you skip forward to 1hr 9 mins you can hear this part:

It was actually really funny, cos Im sure most people were expecting a deep meaningful response from the big man but in reality it was a on his part.

 

[xovonob now!]

All joking aside about the "unos" thing.... clearly bono's spanish is not fantastic. But i'm darn sure it's better than thinking catorce means four. if this theory about Exodus 3:14 is correct, bono likely wasn't going to admit it on BBC 1 and look overly sincere and religious on a song where he later screams "turn it up loud, captain!" Whether you like pina coladas and dancing in the rain or not... all these spanish and echo sections of vertigo are just meant to be silly.

do you also think the "turn it up loud" means something?

Also, i can understand your "tres" and "catorce" explanation. The "Dos" for second book of the bible arguable. The "uno" seems a bigger stretch. One b/c it is the old testament, the first testament? or because the Pentateuch was the first chunk of the old testament? I guess it could make sense, but bono would really have to be looking for it.

 

[UVMan]

This is the answer I hope it is. Just like angelordevil said, I'd rather believe he was making reference to an important moment in the bible than just messing up a foreign language. Maybe someday, somewhere, a U2 fan will find some secret document that Bono lost explaining the relevance of that mysterious lyric.

 

[sesito]

Bono and DaVinci s Code:

1... 2... 3...
All Because of you is the track 6 1+2+3 = 6 I AM

1...2... 3... 14...
The track 11: Yahweh = YHWH = I AM THAT I AM = GOD 1+2+3+1+4= 11

 

[yimou]

that's great...good job

...certainly sounds a lot better than just Bono caught in some kind of drunken and/or stupid moment while coming up with lyrics!

Well i certaintly find it more interesting if it was a moment of fun and drinks.

So what about the mumbling after the 1-2-3-14 part ???,, Does anybody have a biblical explanation to that one too ??? Skipper ??
Or could it be they had a fun moment on the record ??,,

 

[Lemonator]

I remember hearing that this is their 14th album (including everything), so maybe 'catorce' is a reference to that. Also, Yahweh is hebrew for Jehovah, which is God's name.

 

[caragriff]

I hate to piss on your bbq, but Bono was genuinely stumped upon being asked the significance of "uno, dos, tres, catorce" on Radio 1 the other week. Jo Whiley touched on the fact that "Catorce" means 14 instead of 4 to which Bono in his slow calculating way replied "um.............is it?", incredulously! He then goes on to say "there may have been some drink involved" The whole interview is on the Jo Whiley mini-site on the Radio 1 website and if you skip forward to 1hr 9 mins you can hear this part:

It was actually really funny, cos Im sure most people were expecting a deep meaningful response from the big man but in reality it was a on his part.

i'm not saying the exodus 3:14 is absolutely true, but it is a possibility.
i heard that interview with jo whiley and seriously, bono was just being coy.
he said "is it?" pretty playfully.
it's not as if jo whiley was the first person to tell him, "hey bono, catorce is 14, not 4", but he played along with her without giving anything up about why the hell he did it.
it's about mystery.

 

[Dalton]

I hate to piss on your bbq, but Bono was genuinely stumped upon being asked the significance of "uno, dos, tres, catorce" on Radio 1 the other week. Jo Whiley touched on the fact that "Catorce" means 14 instead of 4 to which Bono in his slow calculating way replied "um.............is it?", incredulously! He then goes on to say "there may have been some drink involved" The whole interview is on the Jo Whiley mini-site on the Radio 1 website and if you skip forward to 1hr 9 mins you can hear this part:

It was actually really funny, cos Im sure most people were expecting a deep meaningful response from the big man but in reality it was a on his part.

I heard this too, but this wouldn't be the first time of Bono underselling the true meaning of something.

I believe Bono just messed up the language, but ya never know with that guy.

 

[doctorwho]

I believe Bono just messed up the language, but ya never know with that guy.

Messing up "unos" for "uno" is possible. But no one messes up "catorce" for "quatro". Clearly there is something there. The biblical references are fun, but I doubt it's that involved - sounds more like Bono just said "14" more for the pure fun of it (or to help illustrate how messed up a person experiencing vertigo would be).

 

[Flying FuManchu]

Numerology anyone?