Meaning of Winterlude in Dylan Song

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Klaus Gerhardt - 16 Apr 2008 17:11 GMT

Hello,

I'm looking for the meaning of Winterlude in general and in the Bob
Dylan Song "Winterlude". All I found with Google was about the festival
in Ottawa during the winter.

This ist the first verse:

Winterlude, Winterlude, oh darlin',
Winterlude by the road tonight.
Tonight there will be no quarrelin',
Ev'rything is gonna be all right.
Oh, I see by thee angel beside me
That love has a reason to shine.
You're the one I adore, come over here and give me more,
Then Winterlude, this dude thinks you're fine.

The complete text you will find here:
http://www.superlyrics.de/70264/songtext/a/a.html

Thanks and regards
Klaus

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ADPUF - 16 Apr 2008 23:36 GMT

18:11, mercoledì 16 aprile 2008, Klaus Gerhardt:

> I'm looking for the meaning of Winterlude in general and in
> the Bob Dylan Song "Winterlude". All I found with Google was
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> Thanks and regards
> Klaus

I'm afraid, Klaus, that this isn't the right newsgroup, since
Bob Dylan doesn't speak British English.

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°¿°

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Birgitte - 17 Apr 2008 05:24 GMT

> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> Thanks and regards
> Klaus

Could the word "winterlude" be a lyric poet's playing with the words
"winter" and "interlude"?

Best regards
Birgitte

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John Hall - 17 Apr 2008 09:47 GMT

>Could the word "winterlude" be a lyric poet's playing with the words
>"winter" and "interlude"?

That's my assumption too.

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John Hall
"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts;
but if he will be content to begin with doubts,
he shall end in certainties." Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

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Peter Duncanson - 17 Apr 2008 11:02 GMT

>> Hello,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>Could the word "winterlude" be a lyric poet's playing with the words
>"winter" and "interlude"?

Yes. It is what is called a "portmanteau word":
http://www.onelook.com/?w=portmanteau+word&ls=a

noun: a new word formed by joining two others and
combining their meanings (Example: "'motel' is a
portmanteau word made by combining 'motor' and hotel'")

More at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau_word

The Winterlude disambiguation page on Wikipedia says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterlude_%28disambiguation%29

Winterlude can refer to:

* Winterlude, an annual winter festival held in Canada's
National Capital Region; [1979]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterlude
* Winterlude, a rock band from Denmark;
* Winterlude, a song by Bob Dylan on his album New Morning;
[1970]
* Winterlude is an instrumental Christmas album produced by
Josh Darnall; [1997]
* Winterlude, a book of poems by Vernon Scannell; [1982]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Scannell
and
* Winterlude (film), a 1996 film.

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in uk.culture.language.english)

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Klaus Gerhardt - 18 Apr 2008 08:12 GMT

Hello,

thanks for your hints. In another forum somebody helped me to find this:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Morning#Songs>
a humorous love song directed at a girl named Winterlude

<http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Bob+Dylan>
New Morning [Columbia, 1970]
In case you were wondering how definitive that self-portrait
was, here comes its mirror image four months later. Call it
love on the rebound. This time he's writing the pop (and folk)
genre experiments himself, and thus saying more about true
romance than is the pop (or folk) norm. Two side-closing
throw-ins--a sillyditty about a gal named "Winterlude" and
the scatting beatnik send-up "If Dogs Run Free"--almost steal
the show.

Which of course doesn't contradict to the assumption that it is a play
with the words winter & interlude.

Klaus

Klaus Gerhardt schrieb:

> Hello,
>
> I'm looking for the meaning of Winterlude in general and in the Bob
> Dylan Song "Winterlude". All I found with Google was about the festival
> in Ottawa during the winter.

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Discussion Groups / British English / April 2008

Meaning of Winterlude in Dylan Song