Songs with color...

[Rick Henry]

there are a few song by Carpenters and Karen which mention color in them... let's talk about them.

My favorite (or anyway one of my favorites) is "Crescent Noon".

"crescent Noon" is all about color.

the lyric begins with "green September... burned to october brown"...it's a visual lyric... which describes the tones of the seasons with color.

at the end of the song the lyric reads..."a sea of midnight blue"... it's not just any blue... but it's the very dark shade of midnight blue.

the color blue can symbolize many different emotions and feelings... the most common being sadness and loneliness... but blue can also be a color of life such as the earth, sky and sea are all blue.

[beaner]

The song "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" mentions quite a few colors as well. "Paint a GOLD nugget....", "Where's that SILHOUETTE (which is usually associated with the color black) however the color BLACK is also mention in the song and then there is the color GREEN mentioned.

What exactly is this song all about? I know it was written by Neil Young and about the Clancy brothers but can you tell me more?

[wisejester7]

There are several Carpenters songs that mention color.

First, though, a song that speaks of lack of color:

"When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)"

Feelin' Blue - here are some of their songs that contain 'blue'.

"(They Long To Be) Close To You"
"I'm Caught Between Goodbye And I Love You"
"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"
"If I Had You"
"Last One Singin' The Blues"
"Only Yesterday"
"Little Girl Blue"

There are probably more 'blue' songs, but this is a good start.

[Rick Henry]

wisejester7 said:

Feelin' Blue - here are some of their songs that contain 'blue'.

"(They Long To Be) Close To You"
"I'm Caught Between Goodbye And I Love You"
"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"
"If I Had You"
"Last One Singin' The Blues"
"Only Yesterday"
"Little Girl Blue"

There are probably more 'blue' songs, but this is a good start.

Yes, there are several "blue" songs. Karen was a master at conveying the feeling of "blue"... but than again "blue" doesn't always have to be associated with loneliness and sadness as mentioned in my previous post... depending on the contest "blue" can symbolize life and movement... such as the earth and sky and ocean...

In the song "Close To You" the lyric mentions "eyes of blue"... this is a lovely use of "blue". These aren't any old blue eyes.. these are blue eyes with "starlight" sprinkled into them.

"Close To You" also mentions "gold"... "hair of gold". This hair of gold is sprinkled with "moon dust". Does anybody know what moon dust is? Does it make your hair shiny or dull? I would venture to say shiny taking the context it's used in this song.

In "Goodbye And I Love You"... the word "blue" is mentioned in conjunction with the sea. Generally the "blue sea" makes one think of sunshine and sailing. But in this song the word "blue" seems to be referred to in a dark sort of way... not a sunshiny way. This is a melancholy "blue"... it's a "deep blue".

In the song "I Can Dream Can't I?" the lyric begins with "As we eye the blue horizon's bend"... here the word "blue" is somewhat visionary... as we're looking out into the horizon... we're looking beyond the earth and sky... it may be filed with joy... it may be filled with disillusionment... the blue in this song hits different emotions ranging from joyful to melancholy.

In "Last One Singin' The Blues" the blue is of loneliness and sadness, maybe even disgust. But this is a song of victory... she's shedding the blues and moving forward. I love this song and it's message.

WJ7... I find it interesting that you list "Only Yesterday" with the "blue" songs as "Only Yesterday" does not mention the word "blue" in it. Although symbolically the song has blue all over it... both a joyful and a mournful blue with lyrics like..."After long enough of being alone, everyone must face their share of loneliness"... "you were the dawn breaking the night, the promise of morning light (which suggest the appearance of the blue sky)... "filling the world surrounding me" and "nowhere else on earth I'd really rather be"... our planet is known as the "blue" planet. It's easy to say that "Only Yesterday" is a song that relates to color blue quite well.

[Rick Henry]

beaner said:

The song "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" mentions quite a few colors as well. "Paint a GOLD nugget....", "Where's that SILHOUETTE (which is usually associated with the color black) however the color BLACK is also mention in the song and then there is the color GREEN mentioned.

What exactly is this song all about? I know it was written by Neil Young and about the Clancy brothers but can you tell me more?

In "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" I find the lyric... "the night isn't black, if you know that it's green"... this is an interesting thought. It's a somewhat optimistic view maybe? I don't know considering the other lyrics surrounding this line. How do the rest of you interpret this line?

[GoodOldDreams]

Great discussions on this topic so far, Rick, beaners and wisejester7!

Here are several more "Blue" songs:
From this Moment On
Ordinary Fool
Saturday
Rainy Days and Mondays
I Wanna be Free (excerpt from a medley: "...I wanna be free / Like the bluebird flying by me / Like the waves out on the blue sea..."?)

[wisejester7]

Sorry about that ... "Only Yesterday" does not belong on this post. It does refer to being blue, but that is not the premise of this exercise.

[Rick Henry]

In Karen's unreleased solo song "I Do It For Your Love" (written by Paul Simon)... there are many colors mentioned...

The sky was yellow and the grass was gray

Drank all the orange juice that we could hold

Along the way the colors ran the orange bled the blue

I especially like the last line about the orange bleeding to blue... this is referring to a rug found in an old junk shop. I wonder if there is any symbolism in the orange bleeding to blue...

Anyhow... it's a very nice modern sort of soulful song recorded by Karen.

[wisejester7]

"The Parting Of Our Ways" ... has "my days were sunny now they are gray".

[Rick Henry]

I'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet...

From "Crystal Lullaby"
That wrapped my cares in SILVER air and carried them away...

[Rick Henry]

In "dancing In The Street" is the line... "across the ocean blue... me and you"

[wisejester7]

Another song with "gray" is Aurora.
Eventide has "rose" ... and in this case I believe the rose color to be a pinkish-red.

[Rick Henry]

wisejester7 said:

Another song with "gray" is Aurora.
Eventide has "rose" ... and in this case I believe the rose color to be a pinkish-red.

Yes, I love the bookend tunes... absolutely soothingly beautiful.

I especially love the lyric in "Eventide" where Karen sings...
"The velvet rose of evening grows"

I always envisioned this "velvet rose" to be a pale purple... to symbolize "evening".

[wisejester7]

admin said:

wisejester7 said:

Another song with "gray" is Aurora.
Eventide has "rose" ... and in this case I believe the rose color to be a pinkish-red.

Yes, I love the bookend tunes... absolutely soothingly beautiful.

I especially love the lyric in "Eventide" where Karen sings...
"The velvet rose of evening grows"

I always envisioned this "velvet rose" to be a pale purple... to symbolize "evening".

Funny, I always envision some of the best sunsets glowing a rosy red-pink before the purple twilight of evening drops it's velvet curtain on the day.

[Rick Henry]

wisejester7 said:

admin said:

Yes, I love the bookend tunes... absolutely soothingly beautiful.

I especially love the lyric in "Eventide" where Karen sings...
"The velvet rose of evening grows"

I always envisioned this "velvet rose" to be a pale purple... to symbolize "evening".

Funny, I always envision some of the best sunsets glowing a rosy red-pink before the purple twilight of evening drops it's velvet curtain on the day.

Wonderful colorful thoughts here...