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25/10/2019 9:01 pm
Black Rainbow
Out Of The Woodwork
© 1986 by Gary E. Andrews
All Rights Reserved for the Globe
Chords:
E O221OO
F#m X44222
G#m X66444
Gm X55333
Verse I
You run your fingers,
Over the mirror,
And paint a Black Rainbow.
Shadows of sorrow,
You talk of tomorrow,
And say things that just ain't so.
(Chorus)
Don't promise honey,
Milk and pots of gold.
You know there's nothin' but sorrow,
At the end of a Black Rainbow.
Ooo-oo-oo Ooo-oo-oo
Verse II
You kiss me twice.
Your hands cold as ice,
Brush across my face.
Your eyes, like cinders,
They look and remember,
To hide what they cannot say.
Don't ask me honey,
Ask me how I know-o-o.
There ain't nothin' but sorrow,
At the end of a Black Rainbow.
(Bridge)
You've got a lover.
You've found another.
He's waiting for you to call.
You don't need me.
You don't need my love.
You don't need nothin' at all.
So Don't promise honey,
Milk and pots of gold.
You know there's nothin' but sorrow,
At the end of a Black Rainbow.
Ooo-oo-oo Ooo-oo-oo Ooo-oo-oo-ooo
(Extra verse?)(Alternate Chorus?)(Nahhhh!)
Don't ask me honey,
Ask me how I kno-o-ow.
One kiss is for the money.
The other is for the road.
More Info...
"Black Rainbow" Copyright 1986 by Gary E. Andrews. All Rights Reserved for the Globe.
I wrote this in that summer of 1986, standing on a hillside overlooking Rt. 23 North, watching the sun set on the west side of the Scioto River Valley, at Portsmouth, Ohio. (On my first Applause guitar, which led me to my first Ovation guitar.)
The image of the girl (The Love-Interest Character) dragging her fingers over the steamed mirror, leaving the 'black rainbow,' something unspoken between her and the boy (The Singer-Character, in the intimate setting of their bathroom, Hooked me. The rainbow concept, with the end of the rainbow value, reversed from colors and gold treasure by the 'black' concept, seemed to inspire the negative of the love triangle.
Despite 1,000's of years of Songwriting humans have not exhausted the possibilities. There will always be another Song to be written. Someone will write it. Why not you? www.garyeandrews.com
28/10/2019 4:20 pm
Hi Gary,
thank you so much for sharing this lyric with us. Really amazing. Beautiful.
Every once in a while I get in the mood or so... and start to play...
Topic starter
30/10/2019 8:52 am
I'm glad you enjoyed it Martin. I thought the concept had merit, and the Rhyme-Scheme broke out of the straight four-Line mode, making for interesting Rhythm.
The 'fingers/mirror' of Lines 1 and 2 is a 'Near-Rhyme', not a 'Hard-Rhyme' or 'Perfect-Rhyme'.
Then THE Hook, the title, comes in Line 3, and is, as yet, un-Rhymed, Nursery-Rhyme style.
Next the tool of alliteration, repetition of a consonant sound, in 'Shadows/sorrow' and 'talk/tomorrow' works the Rhythm, the beat, and the un-Rhymed 'Rainbow' is picked up with, 'and say things that just ain't so.'
That's enough 'set-up', enough 'Exposition' of the situation in the story to go quickly to the Chorus, and the concept of a rainbow, but not a pretty one as a portent of the end of the emotional 'rain'. The Chorus is brief, just long enough to say a few things, and hit THE Hook again.
The dictates of Rhyme set in Verse I demanded the same or similar Nursery-Rhyme style in Verse II and I guess I found them. 'twice/ice' and the un-Rhymed 'face'. Then 'cinders/remember' and picking up the 'face' by Rhyming 'say'. Very visual imagery and action too.
That enabled a Repeat of the Chorus, with some variation, which is usually ill-advised. Ideally a Chorus is most memorable if Repeated identically each time. Perhaps the brevity of it all makes it work.
The Bridge maintains Nursery-Rhyme style, 'lover/another/call', 'me/love/all'. Some 'license' with 'rules/tools' is available to the Songwriter, bending, breaking rules if you don't go to extremes. In a Song with such short sentences you can get away with some of that.
Thanks for reading.
For those who don't know, Martin G. is an Austrian Songwriter.
Despite 1,000's of years of Songwriting humans have not exhausted the possibilities. There will always be another Song to be written. Someone will write it. Why not you? www.garyeandrews.com
30/10/2019 7:00 pm
I really like this, Gary. However, I didn't immediately get that they are in the bathroom and that the mirror is steamed up. I think it's important for the listener to be able to form this picture as soon as he/she hears the words, so that he/she is immediately taken there. How about something like this?
Steam on the mirror,
You paint with your finger
The arc of a black rainbow.
Just a suggestion. It's a great lyric. By the way, what are all those numbers after the chords?
I may or may not be an enigma
http://mysteriousbeings.com
Topic starter
30/10/2019 9:02 pm
I shouldn't have put the idea in your head. Songs don't come with explanations. They have to work with the words they contain.
The numbers are finger/string positions, to help amateur guitarists learn how to play it, if only they had a recording to hear.
An E Chord leaves the bass E, the Sixth string, Open, O for Open.
The Fourth and Fifth strings are held on the second fret, the 2 and 2.
The Third string is held on the first fret, the 1.
The First and Second strings are played Open, O and O.
O221OO
Despite 1,000's of years of Songwriting humans have not exhausted the possibilities. There will always be another Song to be written. Someone will write it. Why not you? www.garyeandrews.com
31/10/2019 4:17 am
Well explained Professor :).
The "tab" (022100) was something that confused me to death. Also the I-V-VI and stuff.
I always used the chord-symbols ... even the Bb5maj7 ... :)... was good enough for me.
Every once in a while I get in the mood or so... and start to play...
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