Green auras are "most often seen in domestic, family-oriented people and artistic individuals. Can indicate happiness and contentment and love of nature. Deeper greens appear in people who are plotting against others, and light greens appear in people with big egos."

Gray auras are "often seen in negative or sick people. Indicates a negative personality overall, a person who is very dangerous and best to avoid out of fear of violence."

from swankivy's "Aura Colors" writeup


This is the seventh track on Nickel Creek's 2002 album, This Side (hint: Alison Krauss produced it--listen. Enjoy. Buy.) The lyrics remind me of Vertical Horizon, or maybe Guster, and the music definitely has a little of Guster in it. The verses are light, with Chris' mandolin, Sean's guitar, and Sara's violin picking around inside the melody. The couplets all have the same structure--one couplet to built the chord, another to resolve the phrase. Traditional, but don't even try to pin the label "traditional bluegrass" on this song. The chorus is a thunderstorm: double bass gets tossed into the mix. The vocal harmony is tight, on unexpected notes in untraditional chord changes. The double bass sprints down a scale twice in each chorus. Go ahead, turn it up, listen: this part will run chills down your spine. The instrumentation matches the mood of the lyrics--sentimental and wistful in the verses, desperate and terrified of loneliness in the chorus.



In a roomful of people, hanging on one person's breath,
we would all vote him "most likely to be loved to death."
Hope he still wants that, but it might remind him of when
he aimed for the bull's-eye and hit it nine times out of ten.

That one time his hand slipped and I saw the dart sail away,
I don't know where it landed, but I'm guessing between green and gray.
I thought nothing of that but it still haunts him like a ghost,
with all eyes upon him except two that matter the most,
he says:

"Green is
the color that everyone sees all around me.
Gray is
the color I see around her--she's just a blur.

The more the crowd cheers,
the less I can hear;
they don't really care what I play.
It might be for her
but for now it's between
Green and Gray."




{interlude}




We paid, and we cheered, now we're gone, and to us that feels right,
but for him every one of those evenings turns into a night
with another hotel room where he lays awake to pretend
that he's doing fine with his notebook and Discman for friends.
He says:

"Green is
the color that everyone sees all around me.
Gray is
the color I see around her--she's just a b l u r.

Night after night,
while I hear what I write
fill the room while my head starts to sway,
It might be for her,
but for now it's
between Green and Gray.

"I want you to love me," he whispers, unable to speak,
...and he
wonders aloud why feelings this strong make the body so weak,
then he woke, now he's scared to death somebody heard...
If it was you and you know her please don't say a word.