Of all the colours in the musical spectrum, orange is by far the least popular. Perhaps that's because of the long-held belief that nothing rhymes with it. According to wikipedia, this hardly makes it unique, though for some reason orange always gets picked on - despite plenty of half-rhymes and proper name rhymes that could be called upon to get any lyricist worth their salt out of a pickle. Maybe, as they used to say in the old Kia-Ora ads, it's just too orangey for (Counting) crows.
Special mention goes to the mighty Edwyn Collins, though I'm sticking with my rule about not allowing colourful band names in this list, only song titles. I could have used them too as you'll see. To fill my quota this time... a certain orange creativity was required.
10. Richard Thompson - Orange Coloured Sky
Part of Richard Thompson's excellent 100 Years Of Popular Music collection (which also saw him covering acts as diverse as Britney Spears and Bowling For Soup), this was originally recorded by Nat King Cole back in the 50s.
I was walking along minding my business, when love came and hit me in the eye
Flash, bam, alakazam, out of an orange colored sky
Well, one look and I yelled timber, watch out for flying glass
'cause the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out, I went into a spin
And I started to shout I’ve been hit, this is it, this is it!
9. Johnny Cash - Orange Blossom Special
Johnny Cash appears here far more frequently than certain other artists in my record collection. Yes, I own a lot of Johnny Cash records, but no more than I do by Bruce or Moz or Costello or Pulp or Thea Gilmore... just off the top of my head. Perhaps Johnny diversifies his titles more. Or he just likes colour.
8. Mercury Rev - Vermillion
The Secret Migration album marked the point where my love affair with Mercury Rev cooled. This is OK, but it's hardly Goddess On A Hiway. They can't spell vermilion, but then they couldn't spell highway either. Is vermilion more red than orange? Probably. But I needed one more track to make ten.
7. Peter Sarstedt - Frozen Orange Juice
I am quite fond of Peter Sarstedt... but I don't think I'll ever be able to take him seriously, thanks to Flight Of The Conchords.
6. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Peaches /
The Stranglers - Peaches / Prince - Peach
There will be a separate Pink Post in this series, because I found loads of pink songs. As an overspill from that, here are three peaches. Apparently, there's some kind of euphemism going on here. Which only makes me think of Nicolas Cage's infamous coming of age experience in Wild At Heart. "Take a bite of... peach."
5. Diana Ross - Theme From Mahogany
Look, mahogany was on my orange colour chart, OK? Besides, my Brown Countdown is full up, so I've got to squeeze this in somewhere. Give me a break.
Post-Supremes Diana Ross gets a lot of unnecessary stick, but she'll do for me. I've never seen the movie this comes from, but I'm led to believe it also stars Norman Bates and Lando Calrissian. Which can't be bad.
Do you know where you're going to?
4. The Fall - Kurious Oranj
I'm not a huge expert on The Fall either, though I do respect Mark E. Smith's place in the great Peel-endorsed hierarchy of cool. The truth is, I'm only aware of this song because of the sketch below... "I Am Curious Orange!"
3. Echo & The Bunnymen - Rust
Echo & The Bunnymen experienced something of a renaissance in the late 90s, swept along by the Britpop bandwagon and some anthemic masterpieces like this, Nothing Lasts Forever, and What Are You Going To Do With Your Life?
Give me one more try
And I'll come flaking back to you
I can't get over how much Mac looks like Stuart Maconie on this video.
2. Morrissey - At Amber
Morrissey is stuck in a grubby hotel with cold rooms and only one phone, in the foyer. He's having such a miserable time of it, he calls up his invalid friend for support. They slam the receiver down, remarking, "If I had your limbs for a day, I would steam away!"
In other words, Moz, shut up whinging. Things could always be worse.
You could have to write radio ads for a living.
1. REM - Orange Crush
From the album Green, which missed its chance last week.
According to Michael Stipe, this is all about a young American football player who goes off to fight in the Vietnam war and ends up suffering a nasty encounter with Agent Orange.
I'm glad he explained that, these lyrics could just seem nonsense otherwise...
Follow me, don't follow me
I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush
Collar me, don't collar me
I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush
We are agents of the free
I've had my fun and now its time to
Serve your conscience overseas (over me, not over me)
Coming in fast, over me
So... what did I miss? Do you have a favourite orange song? Can you even think of one?
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14 rants and reactions:
And yet you didn't pick the Kia-Ora song?
Audacious!
I would have gone with "Love Train " by the O'Jays
I'm fond of a track by The Chemical Brothers called Orange Wedge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU1IPgOn_L0
But really Orange Crush is the first to come to mind. One of their best from that era too.
And then there's the lovely Tori Amos with this:The Power Of Orange Knickers, which has to be the best title that contains the word Orange!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTRCw4-DM4
It's a duet with Damien Rice.
Kelvin - I don't allow jingles, given my job.
Cody - breaks my no band names rule I'm afraid.
Simon - you win points for the orange knickers. Even despite Damian Rice.
I got all excited for a moment and then realised it was Mr Tambourine Man not Mr Tangerine Man.
It had never occurred to me before that there were so few songs with orange in the title.
Ooops that was me. The rest of my name fell off.
Yes, but if I were allowing groups, I suppose I could have squeezed in some Tangerine Dream.
Apart from the REM track, my iTunes throws up a Lush b-side called 'Plums And Oranges'.
It's late-era Lush though (implication of low quality), so I doubt that it would make your Top Ten.
Offhand, I would suggest Orange Fell or Oranges & Apples (both by The Trashcan Sinatras). Or Orange Car by Mary Goes Round. Or Lorca and the Orange Tree by The Mummers. Or Bowl of Oranges by Bright Eyes. Or Orange Appled and Pink Orange Red by Cocteau Twins. A search through my external hard drive also brings up Back in the Orange Grove by Kingsbury and Orange Kisses From Kazan by The The. I've typed orange so many times now that it looks misspelled.
Steve - thanks. My Lush knowledge is sadly lacking, beyond the obvious.
Larissa - many thanks. I can always rely on you... I should probably consult you before writing these things!
That picture is clearly a clementine, Rolbert.
As a redhead, I recently joked to my boyfriend 'The Future's bright, The Future's Orange.'
Reader, he laughed so much I think he may well marry me. Watch this space.
Matthew - isn't a clementine a variety of orange?
Laura - my breath is baited.
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