“Blue On Black” Lyrics & Meaning (Kenny Wayne Shepherd)

Blue on Black is a gorgeous song.

It made Kenny Wayne Shephard a household name back in the 1990s.

It was my first introduction to his music and I bought the Trouble Is… album because of it.

But I have to admit, I never really understood the Blue on Black lyrics meaning.

It seemed like everyone had their own interpretation.

It turns out there is a good reason for that.

Keep reading to learn what this wonderful song is about. You’ll be surprised to learn just how simple the inspiration for the song actually was.

 

Blue On Black Lyrics And Meaning

Kenny Wayne Shepherd released Blue on Black in 1998 as part of his album Trouble Is…. With its bluesy southern rock sound, the song quickly gained popularity and introduced Shephard’s music to many new fans.

The song climbed as high as number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and topped their Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Billboard also gave it the “Rock Track of the Year” award and the album won “Blues Album of the Year” thanks mainly to this song.

In 2019, heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch released a new version of Blue on Black with Shephard, country music artist Brantley Gilbert and Queen guitarist Brian May.

This version’s fusion of blues rock, country, classic rock and mainstream rock was also a hit. It peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made it up to number two on the US Digital Song Sales chart. It even managed to claim the number one spot on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs, spending five weeks on the top in total.

Despite all the attention, few know what the song is actually about. But there is a good reason for that. Let’s take a quick look at the lyrics in full, before we get into their meaning.

 

Blue On Black Lyrics

Verse 1

Night falls and I’m alone
Skin, yeah, chilled me to the bone
You turned and you ran, oh yeah
Oh, slipped right from my hand

Chorus

Hey, blue on black, tears on a river
Push on a shove, it don’t mean much
Joker on jack, match on a fire
Cold on ice, it’s a dead man’s touch
Whisper on a scream
Doesn’t change a thing
Don’t bring you back
Blue on black, oh yeah, blue on black

Verse 2

Blind, oh, now I see
Truth, lies, and in between
Wrong can’t be undone
Oh, slipped from the tip of your tongue

Chorus (3x)

Hey, blue on black, tears on a river
Push on a shove, it don’t mean much
Joker on jack, match on a fire
Cold on ice, it’s a dead man’s touch
Whisper on a scream
Doesn’t change a thing
Doesn’t bring you back, yeah
Blue on black, oh blue on black, oh yeah

 

Blue On Black Meaning

If you search for the Blue on Black lyrics meaning, you will find all kinds of different interpretations. The reason for that is simple. The songwriters did not have a specific meaning in mind when they wrote it.

It all started with a t-shirt. Shephard was down in New Orleans, working on the song with future husband and wife duo Mark Selby and Tia Sillers. They had the music and were trying to come up with some lyrics.

Sillers noticed the t-shirt Shephard was wearing. It was mainly blue and black. She realized that when you mix the two colors together, the black consumes the blue.

You do not get anything out of mixing those two colors together. you do not end up with a new color as you usually would when mixing colors. You just get black. It is, basically, an exercise in futility.

The songwriters took that idea and ran with it. Basically, Blue on Black sprung out of the idea that mixing blue and black is pointless. It does not result in anything new, and instead just results in the loss of the blue. The other idea is that one is far more powerful and consumes the other

Similarly, tears in a river are pointless. The river just consumes the tears. A match does nothing to change a fire. The fire just consumes the match.

The same goes for a push compared to a shove, a whisper compared to a scream, and cold compared to ice. I’m assuming it also holds true for a joker on a jack, but I know nothing about poker (if that is even referencing poker, and not some other game).

The two verses describe a relationship that has ended. The second verse seems to suggest that there may have been some infidelity.

When combined with the chorus, you could interpret it to mean that there is nothing the singer can do anymore. The relationship is over and any attempt to change that is pointless, just like blue on black, tears on a river, etc.

But you could also interpret it to mean that the relationship was doomed from the start, because one part of it was always all-consuming and the other had no chance.

In the, it is up to us how we wish to interpret the chorus and apply it to our lives. And people have adapted the meaning to all sorts of things. Common interpretations involve the death of someone close, abusive relationships, doomed relationships, and so much more.

The only real consistent point is that all interpretations are negative. I have never seen a positive one. That is not to say that people view the song as a negative. Just that they see it dealing with a negative situation and helping them through it.

 

Blue On Black Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

The Blue on Black lyrics meaning can have many different interpretations. To some, such vagueness is frustrating. But others love being able to fit the meaning of a song into something that is going on in their own lives.

That’s the beautiful thing about music, and art in general. A good artist can create something that the viewer or listener can apply to their own life and their own experiences in a way that helps them make sense of something difficult or get through a rough part in their life.

Blue on Black by Kenny Wayne Shephard is one of those works of art. It means something different to different people, but what is important is that it means something to many different people.

For another song about a relationship that just doesn’t work, check out our analysis of the Happier lyrics meaning. Marshmello and Babtiste’s song tells the story of someone who knows they need to let their significant other go in order for them to be happy.