![]() along with the answers to my musical key queries from Finneas, Herbie Hancock said, “Not colors as much as textures.” And Rickie Lee Jones answered with wonderfully detailed little character sketches of certain keys. Some experienced various variations of synesthesia a few saw shapes, not colors. Sure.” But he volunteered no examples and I didn’t ask for any. I asked Dylan if he had colors he associated with certain keys, and he said, softly, “Sure, sure. D minor is silvery-grey, as is its relative major, F. G major seemed earthy and organic, and to me is a dark, brownish green.ĭ major to me is bright, whitish-yellow. The key of A major, for example, always has seemed to be a bright, exultant key there is, and I perceived it as a vivid red, a few shades darker than cherry red. ![]() It wasn’t overt, but more like a subtle but constant recognition of a color I’d sense within in a key, and attached to the character of each key. It started after playing piano and guitar for awhile as a kid, and writing songs. Though I didn’t know the word or the concept, synesthesia is something I’ve experienced most of my life. If Johnny Hodges is playing, G becomes light blue satin.” If Harry Carney is playing, D is dark blue burlap. When I hear sustained musical tones, I see colors in textures. I hear the same note played by someone else and it’s a different color. “I hear a note by one of the fellows in the band,” he said, “and it’s one color. In a 1958 interview he explained how for him the colors he sees are shaped by the players: Like Finneas, Duke Ellington recognized that this ability can be both a benefit and a hindrance. Rickie Lee Jones offered wonderful little character sketches of each key. Some songwriters said they never experienced it, whereas others recognized distinctions between keys but in other ways, such as shapes or textures. His answers to my musical key query – in which keys are named to discover what colors are attached – follows, as do answers from a few other songwriters. And the song has a totally different color.” Then to sing it, I realize it’s the wrong key for my voice, and I have to change it. “Sometimes I write a song in a key,” he said, “and it’s really that color to me. It doesn’t necessarily make anything easier. It can be a blessing and a curse, not unlike having perfect pitch, which can make hearing any out-of-tune music quite irksome. “You know what I mean? It’s like it’s already there.” “It’s in my brain for no reason,” he said. Though there’s no consensus about what color each key is, the experience has extended through the centuries, literally, linking great composers of the past with a multitude of songwriters and composers of modern times: Liszt, Sibelius, Wagner, Olivier Messiaen, Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder and Prince all experienced it.Īs do both Finneas and his sister Billie Eilish, each of whom I interviewed for our new print edition of American Songwriter.įinneas explained that it’s not something which is calculated or intended, as much as it is a gradual recognition of something intrinsic. Especially for composers and songwriters who might work on one song for a long time, thus living inside of that key for weeks or more, the character of each key becomes intimately known. In fact, it’s not an affliction, but a natural ability for many musicians, and one which becomes more fine-tuned after years spent inside of music.
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