I have been listening to this song everyday (m-f) for about a month...The lyrics are not great...but are rather direct...The guitar totally carries the song...as does Jagger's voice...who is this song about...what is it about....what is your interpretation of the lyrics?
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And it's sure been a cold, cold winter
And the wind ain't been blowin' from the south
It's sure been a cold, cold winter
And the light of love is all burned out

It sure been a hard, hard winter
My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground
And I hope it's gonna be a long, hot summer
And the light of love will be burnin' bright

And I wish I'd been out in California
When the lights on all the Christmas trees went out
But I been burnin' my bell, book and candle
And the restoration plays have all gone 'round

It sure been a cold, cold winter
My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground
And the fields has all been brown and fallow
And the springtime take a long way around

Yeah, and I wish I'd been out in Stony Canyon
When the lights on all the Christmas trees went out
But I been burnin' my bell, book and candle
And the restoration plays have all gone 'round

Sometimes I think about you, baby
Sometimes I cry about you
Lord well well well

Sometimes I wanna wrap my cold around you
Sometimes I wanna keep you warm
Sometimes I wanna wrap my cold around you
Sometimes I wanna burn a candle for you

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Winter" is a song by English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones featured on their 1973 album Goats Head Soup.
It bears many similarities to "Moonlight Mile" from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Credited to singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, "Winter" is likely the work of Jagger and the Stones' lead guitarist at the time, Mick Taylor. It was the first song recorded for the album and does not feature Richards at all. On the song, Bill Janovitz says in his review, "Here they were in sunny Jamaica, and the Stones were writing and recording an entirely convincing and evocative picture of a Northern Hemisphere winter. Perhaps they were so happy to be escaping the season they felt that starting the sessions with "Winter" could transition them out of the old and into the new climate. Though it bemoans many of the negatives of the season [in the] lyrics... "Winter" seems to simultaneously celebrate the season as something inherently beautiful, with other evocations of holiday scenes and wanting to wrap a coat and keep a lover warm."[1]
“      It sure been a hard, hard winter, My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground; And I hope it's gonna be a long, hot summer; And the light of love will be burnin' bright      ”
“      And I wish I been out in California, When the lights on all the Christmas trees went out; But I been burnin' my bell, book and candle, And the restoration plays have all gone 'round

I Love it, Thanks Mick and Mick!

I read somewhere that some person remembered that it was about some prostitute, but I don't remember where I read it. I also read somewhere that "She's a Rainbow" was inspired by that women's time of the month. But I don't remember.
I'm glad to have been of any assistance at all. [??] So, what the hell, here's a clip that sort of matches my feminine side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMG0C6m9i3E

It's not really about anything. 

Zack wrote on Feb 4^th, 2015 at 7:08am:

It's not really about anything.

It's The Blues of Cold Short Winter Days IMO
a very good Stones song one that always good to hear!

" I have been listening to this song everyday (m-f) for about a month...The lyrics are not great...but are rather direct...The guitar totally carries the song...as does Jagger's voice...who is this song about...what is it about....what is your interpretation of the lyrics? "


***************  " SIGH !!!!!  "  *****************


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnvT_Izb90M

I don't know why, but when I listen to it on warm days, it has no effect on me…but on cold days, it makes sense!

While Moonlight Mile has always seemed to be about the ending of an evening or weekend/bender of hard partying (didn't Greil Marcus say it was best listened to with a glass of scotch at 6am watching the sun come up?), I always imagine "Winter" is about the kind of tired you get when you've been, well, hanging out with too many speed freak drag queens for too long, like, say months. It seems a very New York song to me (though the references are squarely in the UK vernacular (restoration plays, etc.)).

Months and months of dealing with or having to deal with crazy, drug-addled wispy drama queens, everybody strung out, everybody involved in some shady scene, none of which hold any interest or charm any longer. Like, that morning when you wake up and you've had another party at your place and those two passed out half naked on the couch and you're like, oh great, THEY hooked up? What a shitstorm THAT is going to start and then there's someone sitting upright in the living room listening to, like, Bahaus or something, or maybe it's two of them, still chattering away about some new idea for a band or a movie or a road trip that's never going to happen, because those two people don't like each other sober anyways, and you look at all the flotsam and jetsam, the mirrors and the half-done lines and there's a goddamn used condom on the bathroom floor. And it's raining. And you're like, Jesus. This shit has gotten boring.

I always thought of it as Mick having a catharsis with the whole kind of Lou Reed-y seediness of early 70s New York. Like, once this glitter was enchanting, but now it's just boring and I'm lamenting the passing of it.

" While Moonlight Mile has always seemed to be about the ending of an evening or weekend/bender of hard partying (didn't Greil Marcus say it was best listened to with a glass of scotch at 6am watching the sun come up?), I always imagine "Winter" is about the kind of tired you get when you've been, well, hanging out with too many speed freak drag queens for too long, like, say months. It seems a very New York song to me (though the references are squarely in the UK vernacular (restoration plays, etc.)).

Months and months of dealing with or having to deal with crazy, drug-addled wispy drama queens, everybody strung out, everybody involved in some shady scene, none of which hold any interest or charm any longer. Like, that morning when you wake up and you've had another party at your place and those two passed out half naked on the couch and you're like, oh great, THEY hooked up? What a shitstorm THAT is going to start and then there's someone sitting upright in the living room listening to, like, Bahaus or something, or maybe it's two of them, chattering away about some new idea for a band or a movie or a road trip that's never going to happen, because those two people don't like each other sober anyways, and you look at all the flotsam and jetsam, the mirrors and the half-done lines and there's a goddamn used condom on the bathroom floor. And it's raining. And you're like, Jesus. This shit has gotten boring.

I always thought of it as Mick having a catharsis with the whole kind of Lou Reed-y seediness of early 70s New York. Like, once this glitter was enchanting, but now it's just boring and I'm lamenting the passing of it. "



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Absolutely Outstanding Posting !!!!!!   ... Well Done  ..... Super !


She Rat   --- Please feel free to take the rest of the day off work .


JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ. " Snuggles " Fly ! ™

Thank you, Joey. Today's my birthday though, so I'll prolly be drunkposting later.

:pullanolte

" Thank you, Joey. Today's my birthday though, so I'll prolly be drunkposting later.   "


Happy Happy Twenty - First  Birthday She Rat   !!!!!!!

Merry Xmas, Sherat!!

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/2054754/ab-fab-o.gif

I am sooooo Patsy.

http://littlemissqaddafi.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/patsy.jpg

SheRat wrote on Feb 4^th, 2015 at 11:56am:

Thank you, Joey. Today's my birthday though, so I'll prolly be drunkposting later. :pullanolte

Happy Happy's Miss Rat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_fK0u7uobE

Rocks! My favorite Aerosmith record! Thanks, sweetcharmedlife!

And thanks to Paranoid Android for starting this thread and reigniting a love affair with Goats Head Soup!

:smilestu

"Winter", like 90% of Stones songs, isn't "about" anything. It's lyrics are purely imagistic designed to complement the music, which always holds precedence.

In short, it's about being tired of winter and hoping for warm weather.

Oh, and belated happy birthday SheRat! Hope it was jolly.

The spring time does take the long way around.

Thanks, Mr. Yeats!

The groundhog saw his shadow on Monday. And I hear in Glasgow the weather's very spring-like.

It's about 5 and a half minutes. :loloncemore

I love Winter and all of Goats Head Soup.  I've decided that when anyone asks me, I'm going to call it my favorite album, despite the beating it's taken in Morrissey's Autobiography and Marlon James' great novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings (recommended to all Bob Marley fans).

However, as far as what Winter is "about," let us consider Lester Bangs' declaration in his period review of the album: "Van Morrison started his career imitating Mick Jagger, and now Mick is ending his career by returning the favor."  It stings, but it explains a lot.

Lester Bangs was liable to say anything, and he usually did.
Whether Van copped Jagger's mannerisms is doubtful, as they both had the same influences and were/are very different and distinct singers, even in the mid-'60s.

What would be wrong with Mick comping a bit of Van's style anyway? Jagger's always been a musical sponge. He could do a lot worse. I suppose "Winter" could reflect a bit of Morrison's vibe, but who knows? And Jagger "ending his career" in '73? Lester knew that wasn't close to being true at the time, but knew that his own career was on the wane so he drank more and took more drugs and said amusing, highly inflammatory, and often nonsensical things in print. Poor old Lester.
And what 'stings' and what is explained?

SheRat wrote on Feb 4^th, 2015 at 10:53am:

While Moonlight Mile has always seemed to be about the ending of an evening or weekend/bender of hard partying (didn't Greil Marcus say it was best listened to with a glass of scotch at 6am watching the sun come up?), I always imagine "Winter" is about the kind of tired you get when you've been, well, hanging out with too many speed freak drag queens for too long, like, say months. It seems a very New York song to me (though the references are squarely in the UK vernacular (restoration plays, etc.)). Months and months of dealing with or having to deal with crazy, drug-addled wispy drama queens, everybody strung out, everybody involved in some shady scene, none of which hold any interest or charm any longer. Like, that morning when you wake up and you've had another party at your place and those two passed out half naked on the couch and you're like, oh great, THEY hooked up? What a shitstorm THAT is going to start and then there's someone sitting upright in the living room listening to, like, Bahaus or something, or maybe it's two of them, still chattering away about some new idea for a band or a movie or a road trip that's never going to happen, because those two people don't like each other sober anyways, and you look at all the flotsam and jetsam, the mirrors and the half-done lines and there's a goddamn used condom on the bathroom floor. And it's raining. And you're like, Jesus. This shit has gotten boring. I always thought of it as Mick having a catharsis with the whole kind of Lou Reed-y seediness of early 70s New York. Like, once this glitter was enchanting, but now it's just boring and I'm lamenting the passing of it.

Wow. best post I've read in ages. Time for a late night Goats Head Soup spin.

SheRat wrote on Feb 5^th, 2015 at 11:07pm:

And thanks to Paranoid Android for starting this thread and reigniting a love affair with Goats Head Soup!

You are quite welcome.
I,too, have a great regard for GHS. I really consider it to be (if there must be one) The Stones at their best Sgt Pepper's period. I think it is full of imagery, experimentation (without self-indulgence), mood, and intention.

I can only theorize what Andrew meant about the comparison to Van Morrison "stinging," perhaps it's just that one would think Mick himself wouldn't like to be compared to someone lower on the totem pole? Certianly, Lester had mucho respect for Van so whether the comparison was meant snarkily, we'll never really know, Lester not being here to clarify for us. Not sure we cdan say Lester "knew" the Stones weren't drawing to an end, I thought it was sorta common to assume back in those days that these bands weren't going to last forever.


Comparisons are generally made to be instructive, this one wasn't immediately...except to say that" Winter" is perhaps edging towards the pre-semiotic in the sense that it's going for an overall feel, as opposed to any sort of narrative, which Van is so good at. As Marvin (;-)) said, "imagery, experimentation (without self-indulgence), mood, and intention." I'm not an art person, but the word impressionistic comes to mind?

SheRat wrote on Feb 7^th, 2015 at 3:29pm:

I can only theorize what Andrew meant about the comparison to Van Morrison "stinging," perhaps it's just that one would think Mick himself wouldn't like to be compared to someone lower on the totem pole? Certianly, Lester had mucho respect for Van so whether the comparison was meant snarkily, we'll never really know, Lester not being here to clarify for us. Not sure we cdan say Lester "knew" the Stones weren't drawing to an end, I thought it was sorta common to assume back in those days that these bands weren't going to last forever. Comparisons are generally made to be instructive, this one wasn't immediately...except to say that" Winter" is perhaps edging towards the pre-semiotic in the sense that it's going for an overall feel, as opposed to any sort of narrative, which Van is so good at. As Marvin (;-)) said, "imagery, experimentation (without self-indulgence), mood, and intention." I'm not an art person, but the word impressionistic comes to mind?

We seem to agree on the intent and overall effect (or is that affect?) of "Winter", SheRat.

But what's this about Van Morrison being 'lower on the totem pole' than Jagger?
That seems an incredible view to hold, even retroactively, about the state of popular music in 1973.