I wanted to do the whole album in black and white, and it really killed me that when you see it in the light it's got green in it. I don't know what the hell that was about.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I think about that first DeBarge album, I remember being so green... just pristine. Nothing mattered to me but writing songs. I remember staying locked up in a room with my piano and just singing and writing songs all day long. I remember being a perfectionist about it... wanting to change this and fix that.
The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.
With the White Stripes we were trying to trick people into not realising we were playing the blues. We did not want to come off like white kids trying to play black music from 100 years ago so a great way to distract them was by dressing in red, white and black.
When I wrote 'Green, Green,' it was like a really a statement of where I was at philosophically in my life.
Steven Spielberg's 'The Color Purple' might as well have been about a bunch of dancing eggplants for all it has to say about black history.
I'll refer to my music in color, like 'This song needs to be bright red.'
Color is an intense experience on its own.
When I was in pre-production for Trees Lounge, I was hearing the cinematographer talking with the production designer about colours and this and that, and feeling like I was losing control.
Green and black go well together, don't they?
I definitely associate music with color. For example, my first record has a red cover but it is totally green and blue to me.