Blue Is the Colour, released October 1996, is The Beautiful South

The Beautiful South

The Beautiful South were an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. The duo were initially joined by Sean Welch , Dave Stead and Dave Rotheray , all of whom stayed with the group throughout...

's fifth original album following the two singles "Pretenders to the Throne" and "Dream a Little Dream", which never featured on any album until the release of the second greatest hits Solid Bronze in 2001. It was named after a pub in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

.

The album continued the melancholic tone of its predecessor Miaow

Miaow (album)

Miaow is the fourth album by The Beautiful South. It was released in March 1994.As with most Beautiful South albums, the songs were written by Dave Rotheray and Paul Heaton. The songs reflect a depressing moment in Heaton's life, and this continues with the follow-up album Blue is the Colour...

, and is generally considered to be the band's darkest effort, reflecting Heaton's life at the time. This comes across in songs such as "Liar's Bar" (about alcoholism), "The Sound of North America" (a sarcastic look at capitalism), "Mirror" (Prostitution), "Blackbird on the Wire", "Have Fun" (which Heaton has cited as his saddest song), and the self-explanatory "Alone".

The album spawned 4 singles, the first being "Rotterdam", which peaked at #5 in the charts in September 1996. The follow ups were "Don't Marry Her" which reached #8 in December, "Blackbird on the Wire", which got to #23 in March of 1997 and finally the single "Liar's Bar" which just missed the Top 40 in June. The lyrics to "Don't Marry Her" were substantially altered for radio release - changing from "Don't marry her, fuck me" to "Don't marry her, have me", and with "sweaty bollocks

Bollocks

"Bollocks" is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning "testicles". The word is often used figuratively in British English and Hiberno-English, as a noun to mean "nonsense", an expletive following a minor accident or misfortune, or an adjective to mean "poor quality" or "useless"...

" becoming "Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock is an Academy Award winning American actress and producer who rose to fame in the 1990s after roles in successful films such as Demolition Man, Speed, The Net, A Time to Kill, and While You Were Sleeping. She continued with films such as Miss Congeniality, The Lake House,...

s". On "Liars' Bar", Paul Heaton

Paul Heaton

Paul David Heaton is an English singer-songwriter. He was a member of The Housemartins, who disbanded in 1988, and a member of The Beautiful South, who disbanded in 2007. He is currently pursuing a solo career....

's vocal consciously imitates the style of Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, while in "Alone" the bass line serves as another allusion to him. The album itself topped the album charts on November 2 1996.

Some versions of the album come with a sticker saying "Track 1 contains some blue language which some people may find offensive"

Track listing

All tracks by Paul Heaton

Paul Heaton

Paul David Heaton is an English singer-songwriter. He was a member of The Housemartins, who disbanded in 1988, and a member of The Beautiful South, who disbanded in 2007. He is currently pursuing a solo career....

 & Dave Rotheray

Dave Rotheray

David Rotheray is a British musician, best known for being the lead guitarist for The Beautiful South.Rotheray was born the fifth of five children. His parents were both intellectual and had met through the Young Communist League...

 (except where noted)

1. "Don't Marry Her
   Don't Marry Her
   "Don't Marry Her" is a song by The Beautiful South, which was the opening track from their album "Blue is the Colour". Vocalist Jacqui Abbott begs a man to run away with her from the woman he is going to marry, and attempts to sway him by describing what she thinks married life with the other...
   
   " – 3:23
2. "Little Blue" – 3:17
3. "Mirror" – 4:05
4. "Blackbird on the Wire" – 4:57
5. "The Sound of North America" – 4:02
6. "Have Fun" – 4:44
7. "Liars' Bar" – 5:53
8. "Rotterdam" – 3:37
9. "Foundations" – 2:44
10. "Artificial Flowers" – 3:58 (Sheldon Harnick
    Sheldon Harnick
    Sheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
    
     & Jerry Bock
    Jerry Bock
    Jerrold Lewis "Jerry" Bock was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical Fiorello! and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof with...
    
    )
11. "One God" – 4:12
12. "Alone" – 4:58

Basic band

• Paul Heaton
  Paul Heaton
  Paul David Heaton is an English singer-songwriter. He was a member of The Housemartins, who disbanded in 1988, and a member of The Beautiful South, who disbanded in 2007. He is currently pursuing a solo career....
  
   - vocals
• Dave Hemingway
  Dave Hemingway
  Dave Hemingway , is a British musician and songwriter, and was a lead vocalist for the Hull-based band The Beautiful South until they disbanded in 2007...
  
   - vocals
• Jacqui Abbott
  Jacqui Abbott
  Jacqui Abbott Jacqui Abbott Jacqui Abbott (born Jacqueline Abbott, 10 November 1973, St Helens, Lancashire, was the female lead singer with the band The Beautiful South after 1994, following the departure of Briana Corrigan....
  
   - vocals
• Dave Rotheray
  Dave Rotheray
  David Rotheray is a British musician, best known for being the lead guitarist for The Beautiful South.Rotheray was born the fifth of five children. His parents were both intellectual and had met through the Young Communist League...
  
   - guitar
• Sean Welch
  Sean Welch
  Sean Welch was the bassist for The Beautiful South and previously roadie for The Housemartins.During his childhood, he played in a number of school bands, but unlike many budding musicians he was dismissed for his lack of musical skill...
  
   - bass
• Dave Stead
  Dave Stead
  David "Steady" Stead was the drummer for the alternate pop / rock band, The Beautiful South.-Life and career:...
  
   - drums

Additional musicians

• Damon Butcher – Keyboards, Programming, String Arrangements
• Martin Ditcham – Percussion
• Andy Duncan – Percussion, Programming

Other credits

• John Brough – Producer, Engineer
• Jon Kelly – Producer
• Ryan Art – Design
• Art Murphy – Paintings, Cover Painting
• Lawrence Watson – Photography