"Wrapped in Grey" is a song by Andy Partridge. It appeared on and was initially released as a single for the 1992 album Nonsuch. Virgin Records' unexplained withdrawl and destruction of the single led XTC to go on "strike" for almost seven years until their contracts with Virgin where terminated.
Single tracklisting[]
7" single[]
- A-side: "Wrapped in Grey"
- B-side: "Bungalow" (Moulding)
CD-5 single[]
- "Wrapped in Grey"
- "Bungalow (demo)"
- "Bungalow"
- "Rip Van Ruben (demo)"
Quotes[]
Andy: “Life doesn't have to be grey and soulless. If you tap into your own emotions, you can experience all the colours.”
Andy: “This was the final straw. I was really proud of this track — we put a lot of time and thought into the whole thing, including the video, and Virgin just pulled it.”
Lyrics[]
Some folks see the world as a stone
Concrete daubed in dull monotone
Your heart is the big box of paints
And others, the canvas we're dealt
Your heart is the big box of paints
How coloured the flowers all smelled
As they huddled there, in petalled prayer
They told me this, as I knelt there
Awaken you dreamers
Adrift in your beds
Balloons and streamers
Decorate the inside of your heads
Please let some out
Do it today
But don't let the loveless ones sell you
A world wrapped in grey
Some folks pull this life like a weight
Drab and dragging dreams made of slate
Your heart is the big box of paints
And others, the canvas we're dealt
Your heart is the big box of paints
Just think how the old masters felt, they call...
Awaken you dreamers
Asleep at your desks
Parrots and lemurs
Populate your unconscious grotesques
Please let some out
Do it today
Don't let the loveless ones sell you
A world wrapped in grey
And in the very least you can
Stand up naked and
Grin