Blue Is the Colour

Blue Is the Colour, released October 1996, is The Beautiful South's fifth original album following the two singles "Pretenders to the Throne" and "Dream a Little Dream", which never featured on any album until the release of the second greatest hits Solid Bronze in 2001. It was named after a pub in Sheffield.

The album continued the melancholic tone of its predecessor Miaow, and is generally considered to be the band's darkest effort, reflecting Heaton's life at the time. This comes across in songs such as "Liar's Bar" (about alcoholism), "The Sound of North America" (a sarcastic look at capitalism), "Mirror" (Prostitution), "Blackbird on the Wire", "Have Fun" (which Heaton has cited as his saddest song), and the self-explanatory "Alone".

The album spawned 4 singles, the first being "Rotterdam", which peaked at #5 in the charts in September 1996. The follow ups were "Don't Marry Her" which reached #8 in December, "Blackbird on the Wire", which got to #23 in March 1997 and finally the single "Liar's Bar" which just missed the Top 40 in June. The lyrics to "Don't Marry Her" were substantially altered for radio release - changing from "Don't marry her, fuck me" to "Don't marry her, have me", and with "sweaty bollocks" becoming "Sandra Bullocks". On "Liars' Bar", Paul Heaton's vocal consciously imitates the style of Tom Waits, while in "Alone" the bass line serves as another allusion to him. The album itself topped the album charts on November 2, 1996.

Some versions of the album come with a sticker saying "Track 1 contains some blue language which some people may find offensive"

Track listing

All tracks by Paul Heaton & Dave Rotheray (except where noted)

1. "Don't Marry Her" – 3:23
2. "Little Blue" – 3:17
3. "Mirror" – 4:05
4. "Blackbird on the Wire" – 4:57
5. "The Sound of North America" – 4:02
6. "Have Fun" – 4:44
7. "Liars' Bar" – 5:53
8. "Rotterdam" – 3:37
9. "Foundations" – 2:44
10. "Artificial Flowers" – 3:58 (Sheldon Harnick & Jerry Bock)
11. "One God" – 4:12
12. "Alone" – 4:58

Personnel

Basic band

• Paul Heaton - vocals
• Dave Hemingway - vocals
• Jacqui Abbott - vocals
• Dave Rotheray - guitar
• Sean Welch - bass
• Dave Stead - drums

Additional musicians

• Damon Butcher – Keyboards, Programming, String Arrangements
• Martin Ditcham – Percussion
• Andy Duncan – Percussion, Programming

Other credits

• John Brough – Producer, Engineer
• Jon Kelly – Producer
• Ryan Art – Design
• Art Murphy – Paintings, Cover Painting
• Lawrence Watson – Photography

References