Pink Lipstick
Post date:
Demo:
Collaborators:
Liner Notes:
music and lyrics bill white
piano and vocals kate stanton
guitar harmonica, vocals bill white
i wrote this song in 2003 and always felt weird about performing it because the chorus is the voice of a woman being remembered by the male singer. although i did perform it solo without anyone giving me a hard time about it, i was always looking for a woman singer record it with. i performed it with three different singers on several different occasions, but none of them had the qualities neccessary for the song. so i put it away, then i worked on a collab with Kate Stanton and my daughter and heard the perfect voice for Pink Lipstick. I was thrilled when she agreed to do it, and even more thrilled with the result
Lyrics:
i feel strange in this world
of colorless light
drab people walking
through the unyielding night
i want to be free of the darkness
set me free of this gloom
restore my senses
with your perfume
once you said
"i will wear pink lipstick for you
every time we kiss
i will leave my heartprints on you
and one day i will be gone
you will remember me still
the taste of pink lipstick
my heart on your lips.
you were right i am cold
and the world bores me stiff
with its non-descript people
kissing with colorless lips
and on sad nights like this
i remember your kiss
the taste of pink lipstick
on my cold, lonely lips
once you said
"i will wear pink lipstick for you
every time we kiss
i will leave my heartprints on you
and one day i will be gone
you will remember me still
the taste of pink lipstick
my heart on your lips.
credits
Please keep your comments respectful, honest, and constructive. Please focus on the song and not the demo.
Comments
A hauntingly beautiful song, Bill!! Thanks for sharing your song and vision with me
this is special! the contrast is seriously good! this is off the top shelf! absolutely blown away with this! fantastic
this is really beautiful and more then the sum of its parts! nice work, both of you, and yes, a perfect duet vehicle! One of those 'singing at a cafe-at-the-end-of the world' songs! really cinematic and impressive!
Very beautiful song, gorgeous duet. I like the story, the instrumentation, the music and a very special feel here. Very visual song. It has a nostalgic and romantic feel, Love it.
This is really special. The melody and instrumentation is perfectly haunting and wistful. Great vocal deliveries as well from both of you that really did this wonderful write some justice.
This song shimmers with such vivid sensory and sensual imagery - lovely and evocative and bittersweet. The pacing and phrasing are perfectly delivered by the gorgeous vocals Kate brings to the song and the wonderfully nuanced emotive vocals by Bill. The haunting sound of the harmonica adds to the poignant sense of melancholy and longing for a past no longer there but that lingers so vividly. Wonderful collaboration!
This is absolutely awesome. Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.
Lovely romantic duet. Nice vocal collab! Wow! Quite touching! To be honest, though, I could do without the harmonica - lol!
You two both know that I'm a big fan of both of you.
Now even more so. Great, great collaboration, you guys!
Omigosh! This is something else again...the beautiful contrast between the two vocals...so different but both so enigmatic that it sends shivers down my spine...what a wonderful song and collaboration...
Wow. What a magic collab. It's a really timeless Tom Waits-y melody and lyric, brought to life by two beautiful performances. Like others, I love the contrast between your voices, it works so well. That harp solo in the middle is the perfect third element. Utterly stunning!
Wonderfully written and performed. The duet format drives this one home. The contrast of the voices is impactful but the lyric follows through with the knockout punch. The pink lipstick heart prints contrasted with all the non-descript people kissing with colorless lips. Seriously good…
What a lovely one this is - although the contrast between the two voices is obvious, there's also something about the performances that is very in-step - reflective, melancholy, just really wonderfully in sync. Love the imagery.
This is great. Well done both of you! Enjoyed my listen very much.
i just commented on a song saying it was first duet i had heard this 5090 - then two come at once! this works so nicely as a duet. beautiful and haunting song and your two voices work together so well. top collab!
This is so fantastic! The harmonica gave me the chills, then the vocals all come flooding in and it really sweeps you away from there. Great collab ya'll!
It sounds like you two are in the same room together. I don’t know how you did that! Awesome… Kate’s beautiful voice sprinkles sparkly glitter over the duet. The first prize tho imo goes to the lyrics - ‘ I will leave my heartprints on you’ … ‘the taste of pink lipstick on my cold lonely lips’ … just wow.
My goodness, I wasn't expecting this to be it so moving. Warnings and alerts next time please! So, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this (note: I'd love to have heard Bill as loud as Kate). The harmonica is a great add by the way.
Absolutely beautiful lyrics and delivery. This is so heartfelt and melancholy. The harmonica adds a nice country feel. Kate's vocals are just angelic and soar above the music. Really nice collab.
This is a gorgeous collaboration. Love the duet you have here. Well done, both of you.
Be still my heart. This is so so beautiful. A perfect pairing of voices. One portraying the aching of one's heart and memory so deep the pain of longing unrelenting. Kate with her stunning vocals portraying the lover and soothsayer in a brilliantly penned chorus.
"you will remember me still
the taste of pink lipstick
my heart on your lips."
This is a breathtaking piece I shall listen to many times over. Bravo to both of you.
Very sweet. The longing is well accented by the harmonica. Your vocals are delightful. Really solid song.
Some fine storytelling in this....really grabs the heart. Love how you use color and colorless....in this. These lines go beyond the love story: "and the world bores me stiff, with its non-descript people, kissing with colorless lips". Says sooo much. The vocals contrast so beautifully. Kate's angelic singing and both vocals have so much longing in them. Enjoyed that harmonica....everything is just right. A haunting song.