Zoom Gear & Home Recording Forum

Just post whatever you want, ideas, lyrics, song structure etc.

Dressed in Black is the title.

Just a fragment of a lyric idea

And she's dressed in black;
midnight's back.
Top to bottom and front to back.
A single glance is a heart attack.

Well, my first thought (like the former poster) is a beautiful/mysterious lady dressed in black, or an "angel dressed in black".

Then I think of Johnny Cash, He was sometimes called "the man in black"

In many of the old westerns (it is said) the bad guys always wore black (the good guys wore white)...I think in the 80's Chuck Norris starred in a movie that did a turn-around on the old western color-scheme called "Good Guys Wear Black" or some name close to that.

I just though of people (especially the widow) being dressed in black at a funeral.

I live in coal-mining country (extreme southwest Virginia, United States)...so I just thought of a coal miner going into the mine at the begining of the day wearing colorful cloths (maybe bright blue), but it doesn't matter what color his cloths are, because at the end of the day he's going to come out of the mine "dressed in black".

I like the idea of taking it away from the obvious. Clearly a woman dressed in black is the obvious idea but a cowboy bad guy or something like that would be a great road to follow.

Okay I'm just throwing this out there because I later though of it after my first post...the phrase could somehow refer to "Men in Black" (as in the movie) that are supposedly behind government/extraterrestial coverups. (the group Split Enz have a good song called "Poor Boy" about a regular citizen having a long-distance love affair with an alien via short-wave radio...the concept is "out there" but it made a good song).

Probably my favorite use of "dressed in black" would be as a "metaphor" (hope that is the correct term)...I could imagine a Jacob Dylan/Wallflowers/90's-alternative song saying something like: What did you expect of me, in the second act, to make my exit/entrance dressed in black. It could be about a broken love affair between a man and a woman, or disloyaly in a friendship. The "dressed in black" could represent mourning or sadness.

OK, I am separating some lines you hid there.

What did you expect of me,
in the second act,
to make my exit/entrance d
ressed in black

Good first verse.
Not much help here....just encouragement.

Ok here is my freeform 4 minute contribution (on the subject of death of a relationship as posed earlier!)

From naked leafless trees I hear the stark call of crows - Dressed in black
Carrying something that lives no more I see snow falling on the shoulders of the men - Dressed in black
Bearing what remains to the edge of a deep a bare earth hole - dressed in black
They lower it down, with a sheet thrown over it so it looks like its dressed in black
But I still remember the heart tearing love you gave. so wild, both burning and soothing- dressed in black

Hi Tony

Here's a few lines to think about:

You said you were not coming back
From that place so far away
You sent me a photograph
Of you dressed in black

The sight of you took me aback
You took my breath away
What the hell was going on
For you to be dressed in black


Cheers Dave

Hi Tony

Think you'll have few comments blackbirds and crows all dressed in black. My thoughts are animalistic, but are more to do with superstition and cats and witches, or the night of fear all dressed in black. Or even the demonic bride all dressed in - well you've guessed the rest.

Am typing this while listening to the show, so it probably wont make much sense.

Haven't' listened to last weeks yet. Lack of time and too much questing - I've got it under control now.

Best regards and keep up the good work

So when I talk about stream of consciousness writing that is not developing lines to a song, here's what I came up with by just writing stuff down for a few minutes. Some of the images are tenuous but all can be explained.

Dressed in black, not coming back there’s a woman in the graveyard, dark hood over eyes. Man with a gun, dusty streets, clint eastwood, Stetson, revolver, cigars, unforgiven, revenge, OK corrall. Little girl at a gravesite, a sad white face dressed in black, don’t do it, it’s not the way it seems, underneath is different because it’s only dressed in black. My heart is still beating but it’s dressed in black. Amy Winehouse, Johnny Cash, the man in black, the stranglers dessed in black heart attack, sheer heart attack, Queen, Freddie, old Italian ladies, wailing, death. Guitars, the black album, metallica, death metal

when I see you dressed in black
I wonder if you're coming back
from the destiny you call your own
from the streets you travel all alone
will I be seeing you Again
or will I be rememberin'
the time I saw you cold as stone
black pants
black shirt
black hat
black gun
all dressed in black
and death had come

That song will be released on the Black Album for sure.

Right and wrong have colors too
My place is not that far from you
Close your eyes and the truth comes back
My heart’s dressed in black

I'm thinking my entry is from a father's perspective watching his son prepare for battle,
knowing he can't stop him.
The back story being that the son's grandfather was a gunfighter and now the father regrets telling the son the story of his grandfather.
even though he told it as a cautionary tale, he fears it has influenced the son in the wrong way.
The lines I wrote are something the father says to both the grandfather and the son.

I never realized what Poor Boy was about... Alien Love? It is obvious when you read the lyrics. Now, that is an original idea.

I really liked what Kerry was saying about going with something less obvious, or maybe a combination. Maybe you think we are going obvious and then switch directions. I liked Kerry's idea of the coal miner who ends up dressed in black.


I'm dressed in black
but it didn't start that way
when I was younger than today

(Johnny Cash is in my head now... "I used to wear a rainbow every day...but now I'm dressed in black")

I was destined for the Apple by the sea
But my roots got hold of me
I couldn't pry loose of my history holding me
Now I'm dressed in black like my dad before me.

No ladies would want me
I'm too far gone down the shaft
It's been a year since I think that I've laughed.

It's a serious time and a serious place
when the soot's in your soul, heart and face
It's there to the bone and I'm not coming back
Now I'm Dressed in Black

this comes in mind:

I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight
I've never seen you shine so bright
I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
Looking for a little romance, given half a chance
I have never seen that dress you're wearing
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes I have been blind

Lady in red black is dancing with me cheek to cheek...