Friday, July 12, 2024

La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "Fifty Shades of Grey" Edition

So from just the other day, please enjoy my friend and guitar god Benny Landa (with the Papa Dukes band) and a freaking great cover of The Hollies' classic "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress."

I've known (and worked occasionally with) Benny since the last century (here we are at some outdoor gig in Queens in 1994)...

...and he just contributed fabulous guitar to the A-side of my forthcoming single (a cover of The Replacements' "I'll Be You," if you can believe it. I mean really -- just what the world needs, right? A recording of a 76 year old nasal voiced Jewish guy performing Paul Westerberg. But that's a story I'll catch you up with in a few days,)

Anyway, that leads us to the business at hand. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Elvis pop/rock/soul/folk/country/hip-hop song referencing a specific color in its artists' name/title/lyrics is...???

No arbitrary rules whatsoever, except if you nominate something involving the Blues (as in the music genre) I will come to your house and smack you silly.

Discuss.

And in case you're wondering what both my favorite AND least favorite is...

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choice(s) be?

Meanwhile, have a great weekend, everybody!!!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most hated

Blue Velvet - Bobby Vincent

Captain Al (it’s easier to hate this early in the day!)

Anonymous said...

Jimmy Buffett liked that song so much that he used it as the title of one of his albums but substituted the word 'carnation' for the word 'crustacean'.
Genius and hilarious.
my choices would be
wear your love like heaven by donovan lists off a whole paintbox full of different colours in the lyrics. also by donovan the songs colours and mellow yellow. rs

John K said...

Favorite, Paint It Black, Rolling Stones.

mistah charley, sb, ma, phd, jsps said...

the first time i experienced cannabis intoxication the album side on the record player ended on the track "nights in white satin"

the bonzo dog band had a song "can blue men sign the whites or are they hypo-crites"

the white album by the beatles is a classic, of course

I never had a white sport coat or a pink carnation, but when i heard the song as an elementary school kid it sounded very suitable for a romantic occasion - it's easy to imagine al jardine wearing that outfit at his high school prom

and the mental juke box comes up with a contrasting color - zappa's "brown shoes don't make it - quit school, why fake it?" - maybe i should have taken that advice, but i didn't - who knows if it's good or bad? - it definitely would have been different

Anonymous said...

One more, one of my favorites -
Green Grass and High Tides - Outlaws
rob


Anonymous said...

Green onions by Booker T and the M G s

steve simels said...

What — no love for JA and White Rabbit?😘

Anonymous said...

How about Red Octopus by JS

pete said...

Baby's in Black

steve simels said...

Pete -- in my high school we used to sing it

"Oh dear, what can I do
Baby's in black,
and she's not a Jew
tell me oh, what can I do

She's dressed in black
Because she thinks she's a nun
And it isn't very much fun
if she's a nun"

Hey, it was a long time ago....

Rob B Mullen said...

Hesitation Blues - Hot Tuna
Scarlett Begonias
U.S Blues - Grateful Dead
rob

Alzo said...

Best: 20/20 "Yellow Pills"

Worst: Coldplay "Yellow" (not a bad song, but it's just fun to hate on Coldplay)

I hope my choices weren't too jaundiced.

steve simels said...

".. hope my choices weren't too jaundiced."

I saw what you did there.....

Anonymous said...

Couple more -
Lady Blue - Leon Russell
China White - Little Feat
White Light/White Heat - Velvet Underground
rob

Anonymous said...

Hendrix Bold As Love
Cleveland Jeff

Anonymous said...

Elvis & The Attractions:

(The Angel's Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
Green Shirt
Black & White World
Blue Chair
The Scarlet Tide (okay, the Imposters, close enough)

and the rest I'm not remembering right now

cthulhu said...

Lessee…Best:
The Who, “Behind Blue Eyes”, would probably be my pick for the best in this category.
Pour Down Like Silver, album from Richard & Linda Thompson, the title taken from a song in the album, “Night Comes In”. Also has “Dimming of the Day” and “For Shame of Doing Wrong”. One of their best.
“Calvary Cross”, another from the Thompsons, “…watched you with my one green eye”
Roy Orbison, “Blue Bayou”
Procol Harum, “Whiter Shade of Pale”
Lou Reed, “The Blue Mask”
Velvet Underground, “White Light/White Heat”
Tommy James and the Shondells, “Crystal Blue Persuasion”
Chris Isaak, “Blue Hotel”
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, “Devil With a Blue Dress”
Bob Dylan, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Tangled Up in Blue”
Van Morrison, “Saint Dominic’s Preview”, lyric “And I hear blue strains of Ne Regrette Rien”, beautiful song, beautifully performed

BG said...

Like:
"Brown-Eyed Women and Red Grenadine" - The Dead
"Black is Black" - Los Lobos
"Whiter Shade of Pale" - Procol Harum
"Bluebird" - Buffalo Springfield
"Pink Cadillac" - Aretha

Hate:
"Ballad of the Green Berets" - Barry Sadler
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" - Tony Orlando
"God Didn't Make Little Green Apples" - Roger Miller


steve simels said...

BG -- Black is Black is Los Bravos, not Los Lobos.

Although who knows -- Los Lobos might have covered it sometime.

Anonymous said...

Steve, although Los Lobos never covered it 64 others did a few were that included
"Los" - Los Bulldogs, Los Barracudas, Los Players, Los Thunder Boys and so it goes

getawaygoober said...

My Little Red Book - Love

Anonymous said...

How could we overlook Mr Zappa -
An iconic song from Apostrophe
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow
rob

Tinpot said...

i see red Split Enz