Catorce?

At the beginning of the song "Vertigo" from U2’s latest album, you can hear the lyrics "unos, dos, tres, catorce." That’s almost Spanish for "one, two, three, four," which would make sense. But it’s actually "ones, two, three, fourteen." Why is "one" plural and why "fourteen" instead of "four"? With U2 being the world-travellers that they are, and being very plugged in to other cultures (especially helping the less fortunate in other cultures), I wouldn’t guess that it’s an error. On the other hand, while I could see "catorce" being maybe some kind of joke, "unos" just seems honestly incorrect.

Posted by Anthony on Jan 31, 2005 | 11 replies
Filed under: Music

Comments:

01. Jan 31, 2005 at 06:57pm by Rolly:

I’m pretty sure it’s "uno...", not "unos...."

02. Jan 31, 2005 at 07:04pm by Rolly:

wait, I take that back, I checked one lyrics sits that has "unos" and another that has "uno". I thought it was uno. I’ll have to listen closely next time I hear it

03. Jan 31, 2005 at 07:25pm by Anthony:

My copy is very clearly "unos" and u2.com lists it that way too.

04. Jan 31, 2005 at 07:39pm by Rolly:

Check the thread starting 10/13/20004 on this website for some speculation.
oops

05. Jan 31, 2005 at 09:49pm by Anthony:

Some people in that thread are speculating that "14" is a reference to the fact that this is their 14th album; that seems a logical explanation. Someone said that "3" followed by "14" was a reference to the mathematical constant pi, and "backed it up" by the fact that there are spinning circles in the video... baaahahahaah. Hilarious. And then there are some good quotes from some haters there too: "they should just all split up, and play solo music on acoustic guitars."

06. Feb 1, 2005 at 08:02am by Rolly:

I’ll buy the 14 album idea. I had that thought when I first heard the song. Sounds like something Bono would do. Hey you posted at 9:49. Didn’t you watch 24?

07. Feb 1, 2005 at 02:01pm by Anthony:

I don’t like to watch it with the commercials. 24 is much more like a movie than a TV show, since it’s a single continuous plot for the entire season, and the commercials take away from that. Also I watched the whole first and second seasons and most of season three on DVD or via download, so I’m not used to seeing the commercials, and they just irritate me. They make it seem fake -- which it is, of course, but they ruin my suspension of disbelief.

Anyway each episode is available to download a couple hours after it airs on TV, so I’ve been watching them that way. I did see last night’s, and I’m SO glad that Almeida is back!

08. Feb 1, 2005 at 02:16pm by Mike:

The soulpatch is back too! Hopefully Michelle and Tony’s Cubs mug won’t be far behind. Since I’ve watched from the beginning (back in the days of worrying over whether or not FOX would pick it up for the entire 24 episodes instead of cancelling it after 12 due to it’s then-lagging ratings), I’m kind of used to the commercials, but it is so much nicer watching on DVD when you can watch like 10 in a row without having to pace during the breaks.

As for U2, well, I don’t know. We Irish just do strange things sometimes. Just be thankful he said it in Spanish instead of Gaelic. Then we’d all be really confused.

09. Feb 1, 2005 at 02:24pm by Rolly:

What’s the soulpatch?

10. Feb 1, 2005 at 02:45pm by Mike:

<<<>>>

Tony’s furry lower lip.

11. Feb 1, 2005 at 07:29pm by Anthony:

Baahahaha. Ridiculous!