"Wherever I go, she's always hanging 'round..."

[Am I Zoo]

(A pox on anyone who scolds me for posting this in the wrong forum...)

For ages now I've been describing "Lady w/the Spinning Head" as an ode to a groupie. Mainly because of the "figure of eight/six and nine again" line, which seems to refer to what Bono once called the "most democratic" sexual position. But it has suddenly occurred to me: the song is about the moon. Remember all the moon imagery in the second half of AB, the moon appearing as a sort of wifely glow that follows the hero on all his debauched travels.

Of course, this does nothing to explain the song's final, money-starved lines. But I don't care, I'm so pleased w/my new lunar theory I'm going to take it out for a drink.

 

[SicilianGoddess]

Best song on earth.

I particularly love it on full blast when I've had a few to drink.



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Here Today, Gone Tomorrow....
Always

 

[sharky]

hmmm...in a related note, I analyzed the lyrics to Mysterious Ways for a high school english class which is how I picked this up. Anyway, the Old Testament refers to God as both a man and a woman and uses symbols that compliment each other to illustrate this. One example is the sun and the moon-- the sun being the masculine side of God and the moon being the feminine side. Long story short, Bono could be sneaking in religious references again and talking about the feminine God.

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"Things will not be the same in this city for us." -Bono, Dublin, February 1980

 

[~LadyLemon~]

Have a drink on me.

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You Talkin' To Me?

 

[watch_more_tv]

I always thought it was a song about roulette and gambling....

 

[IvanClaytonJnr]

Love-sex-music-magic

I love this song

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

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"I suppose I do everything in extremes-laugh a lot, cry a lot, fight a lot, make love a lot, eat too much, drink too much, try too much, cry too much. Pass the onion..." -Bono

~April~

*~The Official POP_Whore of Interference~*

 

[Am I Zoo]

So, watch_more_tv has set me straight on this: "I always thought it was a song about roulette and gambling," he says.

Of course, he's right. The lady w/the spinning head is indeed a roulette wheel. A pretty anti-climactic explanation -- but yep, it adds up.



[This message has been edited by Am I Zoo (edited 09-27-2001).]

 

[Julyfly]

Originally posted by sharky:
hmmm...in a related note, I analyzed the lyrics to Mysterious Ways for a high school english class which is how I picked this up. Anyway, the Old Testament refers to God as both a man and a woman and uses symbols that compliment each other to illustrate this. One example is the sun and the moon-- the sun being the masculine side of God and the moon being the feminine side. Long story short, Bono could be sneaking in religious references again and talking about the feminine God.

I agree. Someone once asked me what I thought MW was about (myself being known among my peeps as a U2 freak). I explained Bono's fascination of & respect for women and his many spiritual references.... and you know how people say that God moves in Mysterious Ways? Well, I'd like to think that God put some of that magical, elusive element into woman/the feminine nature- which is often represented by the moon.

 

[sharky]

Originally posted by Julyfly:
I agree. Someone once asked me what I thought MW was about (myself being known among my peeps as a U2 freak). I explained Bono's fascination of & respect for women and his many spiritual references.... and you know how people say that God moves in Mysterious Ways? Well, I'd like to think that God put some of that magical, elusive element into woman/the feminine nature- which is often represented by the moon.

And of course, the elusive element explains why men can never figure us out.

Lady with the Spinning Head= Roulette Wheel? Hmm....I do have to say though that the other morning I woke up after a long night out drinking, and I was indeed a lady with a spinning head.

 

[ultraviolet299]

Hey, have u guys heard the: Ultraviolet (rare song compilation remix)?
Its a mix of Lady with the spinning head, and ultraviolet obviously. And it has a little bit of wake up dead man lyrics thrown in.. all in ONE song. Its pretty funky.

 

[oliveu2cm]

What are your interpretations on this line:

"They say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room"

 

[Sperber]

maybe an example for the fact described earlier in the line

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beLIEve

 

[Achtung_Bebe]

Originally posted by oliveu2cm:
What are your interpretations on this line:

"They say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room"

I think the sun is the woman that a man has been commited with, and the moon is that "mystery" woman... and it is expressing how the "moon" can sometimes get in the way of a commited relationship.

That's how I've always looked at it.

 

[SkeeK]

ultraviolet.. is that song you mentioned 5:18 in length?

 

[Am I Zoo]

Originally posted by ultraviolet299:
Hey, have u guys heard the: Ultraviolet (rare song compilation remix)?
Its a mix of Lady with the spinning head, and ultraviolet obviously. And it has a little bit of wake up dead man lyrics thrown in.. all in ONE song. Its pretty funky.

What you're referring to sounds like a track called "Take Me Down" from the Achtung Baby Working Tapes bootleg. It's basically "Lady w/Spinning Head" but with different lyrics -- and in this version the connection to "Ultraviolet" is more explicit. And, as you say, Bono does chant "wake up dead man" a few times near the end (as he does elsewhere on the Working Tapes). "Take Me Down" is such a hot rocking track that a lot of people prefer it to "Lady w/Spinning Head."