Strong in sound and pleasing to say, this week’s word is a dark brown with a hue of yellow or red, depending on type, but does it ever show its true colours in song?
Umber pigment
A brown palette spectrum, ending in chocolatey umber at the end
Umber is darker than the browns, ochre, gingerbread, caramel, tawny or cinnamon, but has an earthy, chocolatey tone that’s pleasing on the eye. In this video using the paint if fine art, it’s describe as ideal for sunset, or the shadows of bananas, oranges or other fruit. Burnt umber is one tone, while raw umber is better for the shadow of an olive.
But let’s get to a shade of it in music. The Kingston Trio’s Verandah Of Millium August from the album, Somethin' Else, released in 1965, brings of some burnt umber crayola in a vivid image:
I love to watch the spider in the horn of the Victrola
And the window I have colored with a burnt umber crayola
The chairs are musty horses with someone else's odour
And somewhere in the cushion is a secret ring decoder
Standing on the verandah of Millium August
Umber also turns up as symbolic of the passing of time. American songwriter Jimmy Webb, who penned classics MacArthur Park and Wichita Lineman, used the colour in this way in his song, covered by many other artists, Time Flies:
Night turns to dawn and then to bright skies
And bright skies to picnics on warm Julys
To deep umber autumns and winter goodbyes
And while we are dreaming time flies
Devendra Banhart’s rather eccentric Cosmos and Demos - from 2002’s lengthily titled album Oh Me Oh My...The Way the Day Goes By the Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit, uses the word in strange ways, sounding as if they should be other words - “umber armed albino” might be under-armed albino, for example, or “umbers ceased to glow” could be a fire’s embers, but it may be a deliberated misuse to help create a visual image:
I've never told this story to another living soul
For fear it might awaken and the story would unfold
Candles in a courtyard and a paper colored cat
While demos danced on feathers and cosmos held the hat
Next came their profession and a paper colored purr
An umber armed albino and the crowd began to stir
I slid behind a linden to swallow what I'd seen
I slid behind a linden and to swallow what I'd seen
Threads of grass and thumbles, needles made of hair
Leaves a dance that stumbles, limbs laughed in the air
Threads of grass and thumbles, needles made of hair
Leaves a dance that stumbles, limbs laughed in the air
And on the day you fall, whose name would you call
The only thing you taught me is the only thing you know
How to start a fire once the umbers cease to glow
The only thing you taught me is the only thing you know
How to start a fire once the umbers cease to glow
Finally, a colour could never be complete without the dolcet and mesmerising tones of Ken Nordine, the American voiceover artist who in 1966 did a wonderful whole album devoted to different hues, titled Colors. There’s not a specific one for umber, but Muddy and Russet get an airing, as well as basic Brown and they all come to life with a vibrant delivery.
So then, care to colour, or even color this week’s word with more tones from your music collection? Please feel free to share any further examples in songs, instrumentals, on albums, film, art or other contexts in comments below.
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