[Verse 1]
Just because my skin is brown
It don't define who I am
I could be a porcupine
Or I could be a little lamb
[Pre-Chorus]
Please don't try and judge me
Only by the colors you have seen
To love me is to know me
Whether red, yellow, black or green
[Chorus]
'Cause color is skin deep
But true beauty lives on and on
Color is skin deep
But true beauty lives on and on
[Verse 2]
Her skin might be ivory
And he might be from Japan
But that don't make a better woman
That don't make a lesser man
[Pre-Chorus]
Please don't try to judge 'em
Only by the colors you have seen
To love 'em is to know 'em
Whether red, yellow, white, or green
[Chorus]
'Cause color is skin deep
But true beauty lives on and on
Color is skin deep
But true beauty lives on and on
[Bridge]
Here I go
Here I go
Here I go
Color is the shape of the rainbow
Color is the tint of the sky
It's not a person, place or thing
It's only a description of you and I
Like the colors on the frame of a house
Will not tell you of the colors within
So why would I try to judge
A man by the shade of his skin? When
[Chorus]
Color is skin deep
But true beauty lives on and on
I know color is skin deep
But true beauty lives on and on
[Outro]
Color
Color, skin
But true beauty
Lives on and on and on and on
Hey, hey
Hey, hey
Lives on and on
On
And on
On
Lives on
On
And on
On
And on
On
And on
Color
Song Meaning
Nicole C. Mullen opens "Color" ruling out one explanation before offering another — "just because my skin is brown, it don't define who I am, I could be a porcupine, or I could be a little lamb" — refusing to let a single visible trait predict character in either direction.
"Please don't try and judge me only by the colors you have seen, to love me is to know me" names the actual alternative to judgment directly, and the chorus states its thesis as plainly as possible: "'cause color is skin deep, but true beauty lives on and on." The second verse repeats the same structure for someone else entirely — "her skin might be ivory, and he might be from Japan, but that don't make a better woman, that don't make a lesser man" — extending the same rule in both directions at once.
"Color is the shape of the rainbow, color is the tint of the sky, it's not a person, place or thing, it's only a description of you and I" redefines the word itself before the closing comparison lands the point — "like the colors on the frame of a house will not tell you of the colors within." The song's fading final repetitions, "lives on and on and on," trail off rather than conclude, letting the chorus's own claim about permanence outlast the song's own ending.