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Monday, July 20, 2009

Rainbow Coalition of Songs

Welcome to my second ever Monday Music Moment!

Today, I will be listing my favorite songs that have colors in their title!

Yellow
"Yellow" by Coldplay
"Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you"
I first heard this song by witnessing it's accompanying music video. In those days, I lived with my papa, and my sisters had control over the remote control. They apparently weren't Coldplay fans since they always changed the station when it came on. So I don't think I ever got to hear the song in its entirety back then, but I did know that it was super famous. Many years later, I rediscovered the song, got to hear the whole thing, and loved it. Despite some great songs they've put out since "Yellow," it is still my favorite Coldplay song. I also think the story about the song's conception (involving the yellow pages) is kind of cute. Plus, Brooke White covered it.
Honorable Mention: "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell

Black
"Black Balloon" by The Goo Goo Dolls
"A thousand other boys could never reach you
How could I have been the one?"
This is another song I heard during the 90s when I was not in complete control over what I listened to. I remember it coming on the radio all the time and liking it, like many other tracks from The Goo Goo Dolls. When I finally reached the age where I could buy my own CDs, I bought Superstar Car Wash, A Boy Named Goo, Dizzy Up The Girl, and Gutterflower and loved them all. While "Black Balloon" is not my #1 favorite GGD song, it one of their best songs off one of their best CDs. And I love when a song is recognizable from the first few distinctive notes and this is definitely one of those songs. Also, I love the lyrics, even though they don't make complete sense at times (wait, the spoon was her womb?!)
Honorable Mention: "Back to Black" by Amy Winehouse

Red
"Red Eye" by Ace Enders and a Million Different People
"Now you're the only thing that keeps me moving here"
You probably don't know Ace Enders or this song, but it's a good song with a color in its name. "Red Eye" is a somewhat sappy song about how Ace is going to take the red eye home to be with his lady. He won't say goodnight, he won't, cause he doesn't want to be alone tonight. I've been a fan of Ace since his days with The Early November (another band you don't know!) and love his solo work. I've seen him 7 times in concert and he's been amazing each time! Plus, he's real nice in person and even remembers me sometimes!
Honorable Mention: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Jesus (does anyone know who actual wrote that song?)

Gold
"Gold Dust Woman" by Fleetwood Mac
"Rock on ancient woman
Take your silver spoon
And dig your grave"
"Gold Dust Woman" closes Rumours, Fleetwood Mac's most critically-acclaimed and commerically successful album (40+ million sold!). The song is one of Stevie Nicks' creepier tunes, not only because of the music and the lyrics (see above), but also because it was written about cocaine. Despite that, I still love "Gold Dust Woman." Plus, Hole covered it.
Honorable Mention: "Golden" by Fall Out Boy

Blue
Blue by Joni Mitchell
"Songs are like tattoos
You know, I've been to sea before"

I prefer Joni Mitchell when she tries to make me depressed, which is what she does in "Blue." I love the lyrics in this song, the subtle piano, and especially Joni's delivery of it. You totally understand how she feels just from the way she sings this song, which beat out the other 20 songs in my music library to become my favorite track with 'blue' in the title. And btw, with songs like "Big Yellow Taxi," "Blue," "Blue Boy," "Black Crow," "Blue Motel Room," "Two Grey Rooms," "Roses Blue," "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire," "The Beat of Black Wings," "Turbulent Indigo," and "Little Green," it seems like Joni likes colorful songs!
Honorable Mentions: "Blue Lips" by Regina Spektor
"My Blue Heaven" by Taking Back Sunday

White
"White Houses" by Vanessa Carlton
"He's my first... mistake"
When V. Carlton was prancing around pretending she was Michelle Branch so that she could get a fanbase, I wasn't feeling her. I thought "A Thousand Miles" was overrated and rolled my eyes every time I saw her. But when I saw the amazing video for the debut single from her 2nd CD, I suddenly became a fan. At first, I was like, "Oh, this is a nice, melancholy song." Then I reached the bridge and was shocked to find out that the song is really about how V. gave up the goods to some dude in a white house. I was surprised by her honesty and liked the song even more. Now, I only question whether she actually lived in a white house with her friends or whether she's just trying to be symbolic....
Honorable Mentions: "White Horse" by Taylor Swift
"Wearing White" by Martina McBride

What are your favorite songs of color??

24 comments:

that's J-O-S-H said...

I love you Enrico. You featured two of my fav songz of all time here. "Black Balloon" was my #1 song throughout all of high school while "White Houses" was my #1 throughout my first year of college. You know I learned to play it on the piano all by ear right?! Did I ever play it for you!? I still think that the metaphor of the "white house" is brillz.

Both amazing songz and I wish I could do a post similar to this without completely ripping you off.

Chris D. said...

Wow. You are such a font of musical knowledge! I don't think I could easily come up with a list of songs with colors in their names. However, the first song with a color in the name that popped into my head happens to be one of my first favorite songs: Greensleeves. I first heard the Roger Whittaker version when I was a wee lad. It seemed like such a sad romantic song. But according to Wikipedia it may have actually been about a prostitute. :(

Jere Keys said...

No "99 Red Balloons"? Or are you saving that for your post about songs that include colors AND balloons (e.g. 1967's "Yellow Balloon" and "White Balloon" by the Sick Puppies). Kidding aside, "Somewhere That's Green" from Little Shop of Horrors is among my top 100 all-time favorite songs.

Adam said...

Honorable Mention: Yellow Submarine ... i love the Beatles! :)

john said...

White: "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes, it is a very pretty song.
Red: "Red" by Belly. Love that song.
Green: "Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland" by The B-52's, one of their later songs from the first cd after the death of Ricky Wilson. "On The Greener Side" by Michelle Shocked is a runner up.
Blue: "Blue Skies" by BT feat. Tori Amos. "Blue Bell Knoll" by the Cocteau Twins is a runner up.
Orange: "Orange Colored Sky" by Nat King Cole.
Yellow: "Bright As Yellow" by The Innocence Mission. Not their best song, but good none the less.
Black: "Black Coffee In Bed" by Squeeze. Runner up: Black Uhuru by Thievery Corporation.
Gold: Enrico, Mark will be so disappointed, how could you not pick "Goldfinger" by Miss Shirley Bassey? Runner up: "Underneath Gold" by Black before Red.

Anonymous said...

What about White Horse by taylor swift, love that song!

GoKitty said...

Creative post, Enrico!

Black - Ladytron's "Black Plastic"
Green - Goldfrapp's "Crystalline Green"
Blue - Blur's "Blue Jeans"
White - Emiliana Torrini's cover of "White Rabbit"
Red - Shudder to Think's "Red House"
Yellow - Throwing Muses' Bright Yellow Gun"
Gold - Supreme Beings of Leisure's "Golddigger"

FDot said...

Hm. I don't think I've heard any of those songs. Oh well.

White - Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin"

Black - Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun"

Blue - Neil Diamond's "Forever in Blue Jeans"

Raspberry - Prince's "Raspberry Beret"

Green - Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine"

Red - The Crykle's "Red Rubber Ball"

Rose - Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Rose Tint my World"

john said...

GoKitty: YAY! Love the Muses!

polt said...

john: Black Coffee in Bed, great selection. Even better was Goldfinger, by Miss Shirley Bassey. Awesome choices.

HUGS...

hoteltuesday said...

Josh: Yes, you played it for me in the basement of the music building!

Chris: What's wrong with prostitutes? I'd rather a song be written about a prostitute than cocaine XD

Jere: Wow, 4 songs with colors and balloons. That's odd. And I love that song! Then again, I like most of the Little Shop soundtrack (esp. "Skid Row," "Suddenly, Seymour," and "Don't Feed the Plants."

John: I haven't heard of ANY of those songs! lol

Anonymous: "White Horse" got an honorable mention!

GoKitty: The only song I recognize is "White Rabbit" which, had it appeared here, would have beaten out "Gold Dust Woman" for creepiest song. Unless I'm thinking of the wrong song.

FDot: Well I haven't heard any of THOSE songs either, so we're equal.

GoKitty said...

john: Did you like Belly as well?

enrico: I know you're just dying for a music compilation!

john said...

GoKitty: Totally! "Red" by Belly was one of my color choices. I also love Tanya's solo stuff and have a bunch of it....

Polt: At my last job, none of the 6 staff in my group had ever heard of Squeeze! There was something wrong with them.

Enrico: I think you would like a good chunk of them. Perhaps a music exchange is in order....And I might have to talk to GoKitty about the same.

GoKitty said...

john: Oh, I was wondering who was the other person who bought Innocence Mission was... it was you! I can't remember her name but she has such a sweet voice. At little heavy on the spirituality though.

Michelle M. said...

Where's Polt with "Purple Haze" and "Purple Rain"?

Chris D. - I've seen Roger Whittaker in concert.
FDot - For the longest time I thought it was "Reverend Blue Jeans".

And I love "Yellow" by Coldplay. And Sarah McLachlan does a great cover of Joni Mitchell's "Blue".

"Silver" - The Williams Brothers. I first heard this on Baywatch. Don't judge.
"Golden Slumbers" Beatles
"White Lines" Grandmaster Flash
"Back in Black" AC/DC
"Another Grey Morning" James Taylor
"A Boy Named Charlie Brown" Rod McKuen
"Pink Moon" Nick Drake
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" Elton John
"Red Skies at Night" The Fixx
"Blue Bayou" Linda Ronstadt
"It's Not Easy Being Green" Kermit the Frog
"Orange Colored Sky" Nat King Cole

Anonymous said...

i love Black Balloon. And i could of swear you stole my Dizzy Up the Girl CD
gabi

john said...

GoKitty: HOLY CRAP! I thought Innocence Mission fans were like gay republicans. I know they exist, but I've never met one.

Karen Peris is the singer in IM. I love them. I think Glow is their best cd, it was a nice development musically. I agree, the spirituality got a little heavy. I think it hit its highest point around "Birds Of Our Neighborhood". I read that her mother passed away during the making of that cd. There are a few good songs on that cd. I have 6 of their 8 cds.

I saw them in concert for free when "Glow" was released. It was a great, but brief show. I think we might have to exchange some music.

Michelle M.: White Lines! I totally forgot about that song!

Michelle M. said...

john - I first heard of Innocence Mission off the Empire Records CD.
Rang dang diggety dang di-dang - don't do it!

john said...

Michelle M.: That is "Bright As Yellow" off Glow, there is soo much more to them than that. That is one of the weaker songs on that cd.

"Twice as sweet as sugar, twice as bitter as salt
And if you get hooked, baby, it's nobody else's fault, so don't do it!"

GoKitty said...

john: email me and we can work out an exchange. Just click on my name and you should find my email and... my cool blog.

Anonymous said...

Little Bit Of Red - Serena Ryder

Great song, check it out !!

GoKitty said...

I actually like Duran Duran's cover of "White Lines" better than the original.

hoteltuesday said...

If I was sent a CD of music, I'd have to find an old CD player to play it -- my computer drive doesn't take CDs anymore (thanks to its introduction to fruit punch) and my car CD player is broken. lol.

Delisa said...

Cool post though I've only heard two of the songs. I like your honorable mentions a bit more than the winners though lol. Here are some of my faves

"Gold Lion" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Sun Red, Sky Blue" by Kenna (I absolutely love this song, do listen!)
"Girls Not Grey" by AFI
"Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse
"White Light" and "O Green World" by Gorillaz
"Blood Red Summer" by Coheed and Cambria
"Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eifel 65 (Some say, if he were green he would die.)
"Brown Eyes" by Bob Marley
"Geek in the Pink" by Jason Mraz