Blue Is the Colour

Blue Is the Colour
Studio album by The Beautiful South
Released	October 1996
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	49:56
Label	Go! Discs Records
Producer	Jon Kelly
The Beautiful South chronology
Miaow (1994) Blue Is the Colour (1996) Quench (1998)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	A[2]

Blue Is the Colour, released in 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 2 November 1996.

Some versions of the album come with a sticker saying "WARNING track one contains some possibly offensive blue language"

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 (or Anywhere)" – 3:37
9. "Foundations" – 2:44
10. "Artificial Flowers" – 3:58 (Sheldon Harnick & Jerry Bock)
11. "One God" – 4:12
12. "Alone" – 4:58

CD Single/CDEP B-Sides

As was their usual modus operandi, The Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums.^[3]

from the "Rotterdam" CD5

• "Rotterdam" (single version)
• "A Minute's Silence"
• "Pollard"

from the "Don't Marry Her" CD1

• "Don't Marry Her" (clean version)
• "God Bless The Child" (Arthur Herzog, Jr. & Billie Holiday)
• "Without Her" (Harry Nilsson)

from the "Don't Marry Her" CD2

• "Don't Marry Her" (clean version)
• "Dream A Little Dream" aka "Dream a Little Dream of Me") (music by Fabian Andre & Wilbur Schwandt, lyrics by Gus Kahn)
• "Les Yeux Ouverts"* (music by Fabian Andre & Wilbur Schwandt, French lyrics by Brice Homs & Kurin Ternovizeff)

Note: The French version of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" ("Les Yeux Ouverts") was recorded for the movie French Kiss. It was re-used in the film The Devil Wears Prada.

from the "Blackbird On The Wire" CD1

• "Blackbird On The Wire"
• "Lean On Me" (Bill Withers) (featuring Paul with the London Community Gospel Choir from Later... with Jools Holland 12-24-1996)
• "You Just Can't Smile It Away" (Bill Withers) (featuring Paul with Jools Holland and Courtney Pine from Later... with Jools Holland 12-3-1994)

from the "Blackbird On The Wire" CD2

• "Blackbird On The Wire" (featuring Jools Holland on piano, taken from Later... with Jools Holland Special)
• "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" (taken from Later... with Jools Holland Special)
• "The Sound Of North America" (featuring The Black Dyke Mills Band, taken from Later... with Jools Holland Special)

from the "Liar's Bar" CD1

• "Liars' Bar" (remix, featuring The Black Dyke Mills Band, taken from Later... with Jools Holland Special)
• "Dumb"
• "You've Done Nothing Wrong" (Iris DeMent) (with Jools Holland (piano) and Iris DeMent (vocals), taken from Later... with Jools Holland Special)

from the "Liar's Bar" CD2

• "Liars' Bar" (live remix, featuring The Black Dyke Mills Band, taken from Later... with Jools Holland Special)
• "The Opening Of A New Book"
• "Hold On To What?" (taken from Later... with Jools Holland Special)

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