# Lists or repetitions of colours in songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743 "2002-08-20T14:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/21 "2002-08-21T13:58:31Z")
**Green Eyed Lady** was done by Sugarloaf sometime in the 70’s. (Thanks Lib.) ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/22 "2002-08-21T14:10:04Z")
How about Ken Nordine’s [Colors](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001PAI/qid=1029938462/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/002-9674917-3301612) album? Sample lyric from “Gray” “Absolute gray is the grayest gray / That’s the same distance from absolute white as it is from absolute black,” ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/23 "2002-08-21T15:29:38Z")
Um… **Yellow Submarine**. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/24 "2002-08-21T15:52:04Z")
Purple Haze - Jimi Black & White - Three Dog Night ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/25 "2002-08-21T16:48:04Z")
“White Room” by Cream. > [@](#): > > In the white room with black curtains near the station. > Blackroof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings. > Silver horses… ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/26 "2002-08-21T16:56:11Z")
A couple of likely suspects: Don Gibson’s #20 hit in 1958 **Blue, Blue Day** Bobby Vinton’s (#3, 1960 **Blue on Blue** Foreigner’s (#15, 1979 ) **Blue Morning, Blue Day** Los Bravos (#4, 1966) **Black is Black** For a fairly obsure title, how about either version of **Black Denim Trousers** from 1955? You could pick either The Cheers’ #5 version or the Vaughn Monroe :eek: #38 version. The chorus: “He had black denim trousers and motorcycle boots and a black leather jacket with an eagle on the back.” If a folk song would work, there’s the New Christy Minstrels’ **Green, Green** , a #14 charter from 1963. And from the Vegas circuit, **Red Roses for a Blue Lady** , mostly associated with Wayne Newton, who took it to #23 in 1965. [Sidelight] According to my trusty Joel Whitburn’s, Newton’s version placed the _lowest_ of the three charted versions. Bert Kaempfert’s insturmental hit #11, and Vic Dana’s vocal went to #10. Don’t remember who covered who on this one, but was interested to note that Dana covered another multiple color song, Neil Diamond’s #62, 1968 **Red, Red Wine**. Dana did a version in 1970 that reached #72. Ah, the joys of a good reference book! [/Sidelight] ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/27 "2002-08-21T17:23:51Z")
The Monkees did a song called “Shades of Grey” with this lyric: > [@](#): > > There is no black or white > Only shades of grey Robin ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/28 "2002-08-21T17:49:06Z")
“There’s a smart young woman on a light blue screen Who comes into my house every night. And she takes all the red, yellow, orange and green And she turns them into black and white.” - Elvis Costello - “Green Shirt” ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/29 "2002-08-21T21:31:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aro \* > \*\*That rainbow song…“Red and yellow and orange and green…” > Ok, forget that too. > > \*\* \ Red and yellow and pink and green Purple and orange and blue I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too Listen with your eyes, listen with your eyes Sing everything you see I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing along with me Red and yellow and pink and green Purple and orange and blue I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too I remember singing this song in 2nd grade, which probably would’ve been about 1979 or 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Minor\_Irritant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Minor\_Irritant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minor_Irritant)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/30 "2002-08-21T21:34:11Z")
_I see a red door, and I want to paint it black No colours anymore, I want them to turn black…_ Paint it Black, The Rolling Stones. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/31 "2002-08-21T21:37:19Z")
How does that old Black Sabbath song go? “Black is white and blue is brown/ All the colors now are different somehow . . .” Something like that. It’s off the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album if I’m not mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/32 "2002-08-21T21:43:57Z")
Okay. The song is “Killing Yourself To Live,” and the lyrics to the verse I was thinking of are: “I don’t know if I’m up or down, Whether black is white or blue is brown, The colors of my life are all different somehow . . .” and Ozzy goes on to sing some stuff that’s incomprehensible if you’re not on acid . . . ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/33 "2002-08-21T23:44:36Z")
Kate Bush, in “Symphony in Blue,” uses “blue” five times in five lines, and in a later stanza, “red” three times. XTC’s “Senses Working Overtime” uses “black” in three consecutive lines. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/34 "2002-08-21T23:56:39Z")
See I am Wonder Mike, and I’d like to say hello, To the black, to the white, the red and the brown, The purple and yellow. - Sugarhill Gang, _Rappers Delight_ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/35 "2002-08-22T04:18:38Z")
“Red, White, and Blue” by Loretta Lynn, 1976 “The Coloring Song”, by Petra. Contains all the colors of the rainbow. 1970’s “Be-bop-a-lula” by Gene Vincent, 1957? “She’s the girl in the red blue jeans” “Lavender Blue” by Burl Ives among others. “Tan Shoes and Pink Shoelaces” by Dodie Stevens, 1959, names at least three colors, four if you count polka-dot. _MUST STOP NOW…_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/36 "2002-08-22T05:05:14Z")
Kermit the Frog, **It’s Not Easy Being Green** ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/37 "2002-08-22T14:55:58Z")
> [@](#): > > There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one > That won’t accept the red one that won’t accept the white one ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/38 "2002-08-23T00:16:08Z")
Mark Lindsay’s **Arizona** has a line about “colors of green and gray” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/39 "2002-08-23T01:34:22Z")
sol.una… reply back if this is helping because if you want this well informed group could actually get serious about your request. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743/40 "2002-08-23T01:49:06Z")
“Black, white, green, red, Can I take my friend to bed? Pink, Brown, yellow, Orange and Blue, I Love You” –The Beatles_All Together Now_ Chris W [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lists-or-repetitions-of-colours-in-songs/124743.md?page=3)