Lyrics:Winter Is Blue [Live version (a)]:
from Beck's live version
Winter is blue
Living is gone
Some are just sleeping
In spring, they'll go on
Our love is dead
Nothing but crying
Love will not even
Find a new morning
Why must I sit here
Rain comes, I'm sitting here
Watching love moving
Away into yesterday
Winter is blue
Everything's leaving
Fires are burning
Life has no reason
I am alone
Waiting for nothing
If my heart freezes
I won't feel the breaking
Why must I stay here?
Rain comes, I'm sitting here
Watching love moving
Away into yesterday
The Song:"Winter Is Blue" is originally a song by Vashti Bunyan. Bunyan had a short, relatively unsuccessful recording career in the late '60s and early '70s. Eventually she gave up music after one album and a few singles. From what I understand though, "Winter Is Blue" was recorded as a single, but remained unreleased for many years.
Then in 2000, her album was re-released as she had become somewhat of a cult figure. This led to her releasing a couple of more albums (one of which Beck's friend, Devendra Banhart, played on).
That's all to say, Beck had become aware of her stuff, and in 2006, he covered "Winter Is Blue" at an acoustic show. I also believe that Beck likely recorded it at a session of cover songs he did for fun in Nashville just prior to that 2006 show (see below).
Live:Played live 2 times:
Earliest known live version:
October 22, 2006Latest known live version:
October 20, 2011Beck played this twice, surprisingly 5 years apart!
And there's cool bootlegs of both times! So here is the first one, in 2006:
and then later in 2011: