You Should've Seen it "In Color"
It's funny how I'll take my perfectly fine photos and convert them into black-and-white images. My nice digital camera that takes clear, color and crisp photos will never be fully utilized. It's equipped with all the "must-have" irrelevant features like taking videos that will never be taken and underwater capabilities that will never leave land. All the money I've spent on "special" features to then turn around and transform my flawless color photos into early 19th century masterpieces, my special moments diluted to colorless illustrations.
Black-and-white photos encircle my apartment. My father's hands with dirt between his nails as he plants flowers, my kitten playing "Tiger in the Jungle" as she hides in the tall grass of my backyard, my family's ugly (but oh so beautiful) shed with surrounding shrubs and vines - all images I adore and admire nearly everyday. That shed is home to mice, squirrels and a push lawnmower, but you can't tell it from the picture.
Such a well written lyricist, that Jamey Johnson. Every time I hear this song, I stop dead in my tracks, filled with questions and thoughts that haunt me long after the song is finished. Were my grandparents' times in life easier? Did they think their moments in time as black-and-white like I do? When my grandfather was riding his cow to school because it was too far to walk, was he thinking, "Boy, this is such a Norman Rockwell moment?" Will the moment I'm living in right now someday be black-and-white to my great-grandchildren? Really, is any time in life ever really simple and completely pure? Black and white? I don't think so.
"A picture's worth a thousand words but you can't see what those shades of gray keep covered ...You should've seen it in color."
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
HOWARD says:
I REALLY LIKE THE SONG. IT HAS THE STORY IN IT AND HERE LATELY THE NEW COUNTRY SONGS DON’T HAVE ANY MEANING. IT HAS THE SOUND OF THE WAY DAVID ALLEN COE WOULD SING IT. THANKS FOR BRINGING THE GOOD SOUND BACK.
jeannie gabbard says:
the song and viedio was great i just wiah cmt would have more music viedios on insteas of all the stupid show they have on. you use to be able to turn on the t.v. at any time and catch your favorites now your lucky to watch any , just wondering why cmt changed?
Emma says:
Whitney, this was just a beatuiful wriiten blog. I too admire the black and white photos more than the full-effect color. It has so much more admiration and now days it seems to catch the eyes of people who normally have colored photos.
When you write a descripton, ypu paint wonderful pictures in my head. They aren’t color either, they’re black and white. I can just imagine yor dad planting his plants with dirt encrusted fingernails and your shed with vines growing up the side. With black and white, they is so much more expression in the picture.
This was truely one of your best blogs that I have ever read. You have so of the greatest potential I have seen in a writer. There was a saying that your dad wrote in my yearbook,”Keep your feet on the ground but keep reaching for the stars.” I probably sound like your dad, but you should do exacly that.
Alana says:
When I first heard this song, it touched me in so many ways — I have several photos of my dad when he served in Vietnam, and they are all in b&w and they seem to be of a totally different man than the man that I know — and when you ask him about them - it is almost as if he is saying you should have seen the events in color — it is the same with photos of my great grandparents when they were young — what would they have been like in color –
Liz says:
Jamey rocks my world. Love his bad boy look and his singing is right on!!!
Orly says:
I really like this song it is a true country song. It’s the kind of song that makes you think about life
Deeny says:
You know I only knew Jamey as a songwriter not a singer, Oh! my I can’t say enough about the man. Love the music and the In color video.
sunkie says:
Once again, Whitney, you have brought a great artist to the forefront. You allow us to feel what is being conveyed in the song. You take the lyrics, apply them to your life and in turn, all of us who read your blogs feel a part of this whole process. Each week you make my experience with CMT one that I look forward to as much as my first cup of morning coffee. I think I shall go out and smell the roses in living color now, but in my mind I shall try to look at them in black and white.
Kate says:
Very thought provoking blog here, Whitney! I think black and white just makes things seem all the more timeless. You can’t see that red or blue were the ‘in’ colors that year and I think it brings a sense of classic and heartfelt timelessness to a moment or photo. Thanks for making us think!
Craig says:
CMT sucks now because it is run by the same company as VH1 and MTV or something like that. I do love this song though.
Adam Anderson says:
This sound is amazing. One of my favorite sounds that I’ve heard in a long time. It has alot of meaning, because we all have grandparents that prob. could tell the same story.
DAVE says:
That song and lyrics is flat out terrific. I am speachless. keep up the great work!
Bwater VA says:
This song ROCKS!!
CF says:
Wow! Awesome!
fredrick says:
BAD ASS
Mike says:
Yes please
Mikey likeey
Donald says:
this song is the greatest,,,,,brings back memories of the old pictures ,,,,,and it hit home
Tina says:
It’s not very often that a song can bring me to tears, but this one sure did. It’s awesome!
We buried my mother 18 months ago and those old pictures were / are most precious.
matt says:
Loved it new country music artist could learn alot about what country music is really about if they would just slow down and listen!!!!!!!
vanessa says:
this is my first time hearing this song and i love it.
“ccbig” says:
This song truly is sad in the fact that if you do stop and look around you can still see that our lifes arnt ran by corporate rules and regulations. It is sad to think that everybody just wants to do what they want but this song explains that life is not like that you have to be brought up a good person you have to stand up for what you beleive in and you have to work for what you want in life nothing is handed down so dont let what people say about you or you’re family let you down because you are who you are and that is great because as long as you have God and your family you are all set. Live and love.
Karl says:
When I first heard this song it hit right at home. I have several relatives that fought in WW2 and in the current war. It truely is an awesome song. Its one of my all time favs.I jus wanna say its wat I have heard stories about all my life. Live, laugh, love, and have some fun.
MITCH says:
IVE BEEN A FAN OF DAVID ALLAN COES SONGS SENCE THE LATE 70′S.WHEN I HEARD THIS SONG BY JAMEY JOHNSON (IN COLOR)BLOWED ME AWAY,NOW THATS COUNTRY MUSIC.KEEP SINGING THOSE SONGS LIKE THAT AND YOU WILL HAVE A FAN FOR LIFE(ME)!IM GOING TO THE MUSIC STORE TO BUY THIS CD SOON!BEST OF LUCK ALWAYS! YOU’RE FAN
MITCH
MITCH says:
IVE BEEN A FAN OF DAVID ALLAN COES SONGS SENCE THE LATE 70′S.WHEN I HEARD THIS SONG BY JAMEY JOHNSON (IN COLOR)BLOWED ME AWAY,NOW THATS COUNTRY MUSIC.KEEP SINGING THOSE SONGS LIKE THAT AND YOU WILL HAVE A FAN FOR LIFE(ME)!IM GOING TO THE MUSIC STORE TO BUY THIS CD SOON!BEST OF LUCK ALWAYS! YOUR FAN
MITCH
Dan says:
Couldn’t wait to have my wife listen to this song. I wanted to share it with her and I was wishing I could sing it to her. A song with a beautiful meaning.
Danielle says:
This song makes me think of my Favorite pictures of my Grandma who just passed away and I wish i could of seen some color to! Esspecilly the old classic movies. Those would be great to see in color!
Wendee says:
I love this song!!!! It really hits home for me. I believe it is a number one hit!!It reminds me of my grandparents and how I wish I could have seen there lives in the colors that they did. Marriage, the war, their friends. I am a really big fan of this song and I hope Jamey Johnson makes more like them. Keep it coming I love to cry with these songs.My grandparents are gone now and all I have are those black and white pictures. But the stories they tell I wish they were in color.
Tana says:
Absolutely awesome song, the entire album is great. It’s life and real living. The words make you stop and reflect. Thanks for the good music.
Lisa says:
I have loved this song since the first time I heard it..Brings back such wonderful memories of my childhood…Thanks!!!
Outlaw says:
Wow
N.H. says:
A true country song by a true country artist. Life, living, and reflective are all words that have been used. The song speaks for itself.
ssg schmidt says:
i was over in the sand box when i lost my grandppa and this song tuched my heart and when i made it back home i played it at his grave i spent 23 mo in hell to come back to a empty world so if u got family take every chance u get to spend time with them cuz u never know when they well go and u well miss them but never live life like it wll be alright in the morning live like u were dieing
Danielcp says:
Are we too busy to stop and spend time with the ones that we love? Better to spend time with them now and reflect back with joy later, then to neglect them and spend time regretting.
Awesome song!
Sher says:
My dear uncle has been sending me pictures of my mom, my great grandmother, pictures of he and my beautiful aunt on their wedding day, and most recently one of my mom in her cap and gown. Of course these pictures are all in black and white. I can’t possibly begin to express what it means to be able to hold these pictures in my hand and imagine what life was like before I was brought into this world. Unfortunately we lost mom in 96. This song truly makes me stop and reflect on the special moments I have been privileged to share with her and my family. Thank you!
danielle says:
My best friend is dead. We are not young. He os 40 and I am 31. But he was one of the people who “shaped me”. I promise you… when our pictures were taken. Neither one of us ever wondered if someone would wory about the story. They are colored photographs. But even so……… no one will ever understand the fun we had when they were taken..
jade says:
i lvoe this song and im using it for a project for school but i can not find the lyrics any where lol it is getting really aggrvating but jamey jahnson is great ! i really like all of his songs and every one thinks that there big fans and all i know that but i thinki may just have to be the biggest fan of this song! - ljw:) from s.c
Connie says:
After I had married and left home, I had four younger siblings who went through some really rough times, the younger three really being raised a great deal of the time by the oldest of the four, my sister Jamie. I didn’t know until years after, that they were left alone with no food in the house and no heat many times. She told me years after that she sat by the river thinking of taking her own life.School pictures didn’t really show what they were going through—-that’s those “shades of gray.” This song touches my heart.
Nancy says:
It is beautiful and so true
David says:
Our family recently visited the WWII museum in New Orleans with my wife’s grandfather who served in the South Pacific. He had never opened up about his experiences but to watch his face study the photographs quietly was one of the greatest experiences I have had in my lifetime. This song does such a great job of summarizing his life of childhood, the war, and his marriage. I am currently putting together lifetime photos and putting them to Jamey’s incredible song. Like other posts in this blog, it is so wonderful to hear a now rare song that has a story. Congrats Jamey and best wishes with your career as a songwriter as well as a singer. May we all take the time to thank the men and women who have served in both peace and wartime to protect this great country.
paul scott says:
this song really touched my heart, it reminds me of my grandparents and the stories and picture that i was told as a kid. this is the song of the year in my book!!
Kent Brown says:
i just got home from Iraq for the third time as a Transportation Officer in the U.S. Air Force on convoys and heard “In Color” on AFN radio… nothing makes a patriot more proud than songs such as this. Jamey Johnson is an immediate favorite up there with Gary Allen and Dierks. please bring more and ill keep listening!!!!
kaylee says:
hey jamey,
i love this song and i am going to play it on my guitar in my brothers weddin’ in september
Jim says:
Paint a picture of the people that trailblazed this country for the rest of us. Brings back memories! Thank you
Ed says:
My dad is 83 and in the hospital and they are giving him less than a 10% chance on making it. Him and my mom (still alive) have been married for more than 60 years and have 6 kids, a bunch of grand kids and great grand kids.
This song made me cry before this and now I want to use it for a backround song during my dad’s funeral.
To all in country music keep up the great work.
tiffany says:
everytime i hear this song i get goosebumps all over my entire body….this song reminds me of my dad n my grandpa…everytime he talks about him n those blcak n white photos…..
angela says:
awww this song touched me so deep my grandparents were married during wwII their wedding pic is in black and white. my grandfather in his uniform . the whole album is great
Roy J. Gustafson says:
Thought provoking……you feel the emotions well up inside you as you experience the words of the song…..While there is no sense of regret….There’s the sadness of someone looking back as he shares the memories with his grandson. Great Song!
daniel says:
song about life are the best this guy naild it