Colors

In Their Own Words

“I wrote this song so many years ago I can’t remember what I was thinking when it came out. But I still identify with the notion of fraudulence—who doesn’t? I guess I have always been big on clothes and shoes and broaches and bolo ties, and like any proclivity it has made me wonder what I’m compensating for. When I was younger and more awkward I felt I was going to have to develop some sleights of hand because I wasn’t exactly high-school hot and it seemed at the time like that was the pinnacle of achievement. I took note of the way people dressed themselves up, not just literally but with tics and quirks and music taste and all the rest, and I absorbed a lot of them into a kind of hodgepodge personality. Since then I’ve been working on relaxing but that comes with a knee-jerk fear that, if you peel away those accumulated layers, you end up with not much. 

Alex Bingham and I played this song together with a 10-piece band at a concert at Motorco during a snowstorm, and almost no one came to see it (cowards). Ever since then I’ve been dreaming about recording it with him, because we both really like to have fun. I hope that much is evident on this track we made. We did pretty much every single overdub with my Reslo ribbon mic, the only microphone I own, and my favorite part was screaming the “ahhs” at each other across the room.” - Libby Rodenbough

Lyrics

I don’t have all the colors that you see in me

It’s just a trick of light and trigonometry

And now you got it bad for a picture that you made in your head

I don’t have all the colors that you see in me

It’s just the way I dress that makes my eyes look green

And now you’re going mad for a dream that never got out of bed

Do you want it the hard way?

Stick around til the paint fades

I take off my clothes only to find it’s slipped away into a sea of grey

Credits

Written by Libby Rodenbough

electric guitar/ vocals/ pizzicato violin - Libby Rodenbough

bass/ mellotron/ Yamaha synth organ/ drum machine/ background vocals - Alex Bingham

drums/ percussion - Chris Gelb

vibraslap - Phil Moore

Production by Libby Rodenbough, Phil Moore, Alex Bingham

Recorded at the Lakehouse by Ryan Johnson

Additional Recording by Libby Rodenbough and Alex Bingham at home and at Bedtown

Mixed by Phil Moore

Mastered by Saman Khoujinian

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