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In the lyrics to Money Never Build a Mountain by Ronnie Davis, which is an old Reggae song about God the Creator, there is the line

Who makes tomorrow and one out yesterday?

I couldn't quite parse that line. In general, the rest of that page is carefully transcribed so I don't think it's a typo or anything like that. But on the other hand I couldn't find an entry in wiktionary for "one out", or a fitting entry for "one".

So what can "one out yesterday" mean?

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  • I checked out "make something/someone out", but didn't find anything solid.
    – Cardinal
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 6:39
  • From listening to the song, to me it sounds like "bore" or "born our yesterday", ie "gave birth to our yesterday".
    – jonathanjo
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 15:22
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    Despite my answer below, I think 'bore our yesterday' is a very plausible answer as well, since it fits well with the first part of the phrase. Unfortunately I think now that this may less a problem of understanding the MEANING of the song, and more that it's hard for even a native English speaker to understand exactly what the words are at that part!
    – Meg
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 15:49

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I believe it is a transcription error, although not a typo. The phrase makes sense if you spell it "won out"-- which sounds exactly the same when spoken, or in this case, sung.

"Win out" is an idiom that roughly means "achieve victory (over something or someone)". From The Free Dictionary Idioms:

win out

To defeat someone or something; to prevail.

We had a vote, and this is the yearbook cover that won out.

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  • But can "win out" be transitive? Or do you interpret "yesterday" as an adverb?
    – Omar and Lorraine
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 15:15
  • I think it is an adverb here, and used in the sense of "the general past". Although yesterday as an adverb it is usually used for either the literal day before today or more figuratively the recent past, this isn't always the case. Since this appears to be a Christian song, I will relate it to The Bible as an example-- Hebrew 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever".
    – Meg
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 15:46
  • Having read the lyrics, I don't think this can be the correct answer.
    – RonJohn
    Commented May 5, 2023 at 20:58
  • @RonJohn I think in retrospect that is probably true. I looked at several difference sources for lyrics and none of them had transcribed the lyrics of that line in a way that makes any sense to me. Most of them say "Who makes tomorrow and wanna yesterday". I can't even speculate on what that means.
    – Meg
    Commented May 10, 2023 at 19:55

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