Day #43 – Colour Of The Sun
Day #43 – Colour Of The Sun
When Jimmy and crew wrote this song, I doubt they had eclipses on their mind, but it was on my mind when I first posted, because it was on the day of a solar eclipse. Since my original post, we experienced the continuation of the cycle and the lunar eclipse and now we have moved right out of eclipse season. But the sun is with us every day, sometimes bright and hot, sometimes muted and it feels like no heat comes from it at all, and about a million variations in between. No matter how it shines, it’s still a gift in the sky and the thing our whole little solar system rotates around, giving life to us, inspiring us.
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Original post from 10/14/2023
Day #43 – Colour Of The Sun
Colour Of The Sun was released on JB’s 2013 album called Songs From St. Somewhere, a nod to the many, many islands in the Caribbean with saints in their names, a little nod to his quirky sense of humor but also the many places he has traveled.
Colour Of The Sun is another soft and lyrical song, tied to travels around the world, but also hinting at our personal path through life. This song was written by Jimmy, along with several members of the Coral Reefers, including Mac McAnally, who we have spoken about, but also Peter Mayer, long time lead guitarist in the band, and Roger Guth, handling rhythm and drums. I can just imagine a group of musicians and friends who have played together for over 30 years (in most cases) and just letting this song flow out and become something beautiful.
“The best of times can still be found…”
This song has nothing to do with solar eclipses, but it does have to do with the sun and how it can change, depending on the atmosphere, or in this case, the moon blocking its light, if only for a little bit. While I personally hate to see a smoky sky, there is something stunning about how the sun can appear a deep red ball behind the haze. Or when it’s foggy, and the sun looks exactly like a full moon, ghosting through the mist.
Eclipses are certainly not rare. Our world experiences them twice yearly, almost always in pairs (sometimes we get three in a cycle), solar and lunar following each other in a cycle as old as the moon. I always enjoy eclipses, though the rare part is actually being able to see them at the location you might be on earth. Here in eastern Montana, we will get to see about 60% of the sun’s light blocked by the moon. Annular solar eclipses are more rare, because the moon needs to be farther away from the earth, giving the perception of a ring of fire burning around the edges of the moon. Our world is a beautiful, amazing place!
“For all your worldly treasures, For your battles lost and won, Nothing left to measure, Just the colour of the sun”.
This is such a pretty song. It’s the type of song that I don’t think many people associate with Jimmy, but he was incredibly diverse in his musical interests, and always manages to touch my heart.
“Even the worst of beaches, will never let you down …”
Please enjoy Colour Of The Sun, which I have included in the link below. And remember not to look directly into the eclipse.
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I came across this statement by Jimmy after my initial post, and I thought I would share his thoughts on this song, the writing process, and how the sun influenced his music and choices.
In regard to Colour Of The Sun, “That was a collaboration, because Pete had started that and that’s what we took to writing camp in St. Barts. We’ve done that a few years. So people come down and people stay around the house and I’ve got a little studio there. And it’s a great environment in which to write. We went down there and I love again the story was just about 90% there, be I wanted to COLOUR a little of the Colour Of The Sun with my ideas about … cause it inspired me… it’s something that on it’s own… originally was inspiring and I was in an inspiring place and then a couple more lines came to me so I kind of tweaked it a little bit, and that’s another one people really, really like. I can’t wait to do that one LIVE. But right now we’ll sneak it out there. This is our sneak album debut… Colour of the Sun.”
I am grateful for the collaboration of the process, how inspiration leads to tweaking just right and how we are rewarded with a gorgeous song, one that defines something important to Jimmy.
Stacy
Please enjoy Colour Of The Sun. I have included the link below. Enjoy!
The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
