Blue is the color of night/
When the red sound disappears from the sky.

Lucinda Williams’ “Blue” is about depression and how she uses is to cope. After long bouts of depression, you almost can’t imagine your life without it. Her sadness seems to be a part of her.

Williams describes that she and her companion  get along well enough, but there is not much intimacy between them. They are both somewhat down and out.

They look for escape—whether it be in the form of a song or religion. The only mindset that Williams can get into is a sense of depression, which she calls “blue”. It “feeds me when I’m hungry, quenches my thirst, loves me when I’m lonely and loves me first.”

Williams sad delivery really makes this song. When accompanied with the light instrumentation on the track, Williams voice really shines. The song is in the country-blues tradition but is good enough to appeal to anyone who enjoys good music. Lucinda William’s Blue is an underrated classic.

Blue Lyrics

Go find a jukebox
And see what a quarter will do
I don’t want to talk
I just want to go back to blue

Feeds me when I’m hungry
And quenches my thirst
Loves me when I’m lonely
And thinks of me first

Blue is the color of night
When the red sound disappears from the sky

Raven feathers shiny and black
A touch of blue glistening down her back

We don’t talk about heaven
And we don’t talk about hell
We’ve come to depend on
One another so damn well

So go to confession
Whatever gets you through
You can count your blessings
I’ll just count on blue

Songwriters: Nicholas Keith Whitecross / D. Jhingore / J. Williams / Stephen Rudden / Yinka Charles