Violent Blue

[Image: 'Chagall Guevara' Front Cover]

Sections:

Lyrics

Hey, don't I know you from some other life?
You were wide-eyed and green
And a little bit taller
And you didn't look away
When spoken to

Do you still take two sugars?
You seem a little tense
And I can't help but notice how hard you appear
When I look into your eyes
A violent blue

Was it sudden?
Was it clean?
Were there a lot of shades in between?

Step away
Let off
Throw it down
And lose yourself

Hey, are you in there?
Or don't you recall
When the perfume of belief was all we needed
It was all we needed
To set our sights

So when did you throw out
The rest of the world
Deaf from the din of your self-righteous babble?
I think you've been blinded
By your own light

Was it hatred?
Was it pride?
Or did you just have a lot to hide?

Come away
Throw down
Let it burn
And lose yourself

Passion to ashes
To smoldering ruin
Bathed in your violent
Are you in there?
Are you in there?

Am I boring you?
I could say more
We were destined for somewhere but that was before
You traded in your peace sign
For a finger

And I don't believe it's the way you were raised
Or the cards you were dealt
Or a poor self-image
I think you love yourself too much

You want to rule some sovereign state?
You want to smother in all that hate?

Get away
Lay down
Strip it off
And lose yourself

Recorded Appearances

Albums

Singles

Promos

Bootlegs

About The Song

From Chagall Guevara: What's in a Name?, CCM Magazine, March 1991:

Says Taylor of the guy in "Violent Blue": "He's a personal friend that you used to know, but you lost of track of him. Later, you get together with him and he's different."

"You find out after all these years that he's become an attorney," jokes Nichols.

From The Three Faces Of Steve, The Lighthouse Electronic Magazine, April 1996:

Let's talk about your dive into the mainstream with Chagall Guevara [the band--with Steve Taylor as lead singer-- recorded one album and a video--"Violent Blue"--in February, 1991.]

I really was not into that video. In fact, we were all pretty disappointed with it. That was one of the reasons that I got back into doing it myself. We came up with the idea of setting it in this cave--it was an incredible location--it had this big chandelier and everything like that. We all saw a bunch of director's reels and the guy that we hired is a good director, but I just don't think he was able to make the most of that opportunity. I think primarily it was just the way it was shot. I think, more than anything else, it was a lighting problem--it looked very flat.

From Steve Taylor Interview - UCB Music Academy, The UCB Music Academy, May 21st, 2014:

MR: Let's finish tonight's artist case study with a piece of music from Chagall Guevara. "Violent Blue", talk us through that.

ST: I think it was a song about the death of idealism in a friend. That probably is as short of a description and accurate as I could give you.

MR: So it was about a specific person?

ST: No, it was a composite of different friends and attitudes, but it seemed like it reflected a pretty wide and accurate view of idealists who had lost their way.