Black is the Colour

It's been ten years since my trip to Ireland. I went there for the love of music and really hoped to get some sort of musical insight out of the trip. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. I can't really tell. Anyway, for various reasons, I've been forced to ponder upon my own musical and artistic abilities lately. I've been playing with lots of different bands doing lots of different kinds of music, for a long time, but I haven't really gotten anything done myself for some time. So, when I started thinking about recording a few songs myself I remembered the old songs we used to play on the trip to Ireland. Songs like Long Black Veil and Ride On. And especially Black Is The Colour.

Christy Moore


I hadn't heard this song for years until a special person sent me quite a surprising version of it. And I loved it. Christy Moore always had the best versions of these old irish tunes even though everybody played them. Or thats how I remembered it. But now I am not so sure. I still love his version but I also stumbled over several other versions on youtube and all are great. Unfortunately I couldn't find the Nina Simone version. That one is really something else.

I remembered what an impact this song made on me 10 years ago.
I was thinking about recording it myself but there are so many good verions around that I wonder if I can do it justice. Here is the Paul Weller version. Note the alternation of the melody and the fantastic string arrangment. Great stuff.

Paul Weller


Speaking of string arrangements, or orchestral arrangements actually....
I thought this next version was a bit boring at first. But come to think of... it is quite brilliant. Oh, and the Braveheart/Titanic/Lord Of The Rings- majestic part in the middle and in the end is maybe a wee bit too much. No, it's just fine. The Ulster Orchestra is just fantastic on this one. Really beautiful and etheric orchestral arrangement. The piano is so pretty, and so is Cara Dillon.

Cara Dillon w/ The Ulster Orchestra


Anyway. This is the version that grabbed my attention recently. It is totally different. In every way. But it is just fantastic. It has atmosphere and a cool new arrangement. Aaah, I can't think straight when I listen to this. There are so many things that can go wrong when you rearrange an old classic like this but nothing is wrong with this version. The same vibe is there as in the Christy Moore version, but heavily updated... it is just more of the good stuff.

The Twilight Singers


So maybe I will record it. Maybe I wont. And If I do. I'll just have to find 9 other songs that are equally good in order to make an album.
Ha, nothing could be easier...