Start Wearing Purple Explained

Start Wearing Purple
Cover:Startwp.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Gogol Bordello
Released:February 2006
Recorded:2004–2005
Genre:Gypsy punk
Length:3:42
Label:SideOneDummy Records
Producer:Steve Albini
Prev Title:When the Trickster Starts a-Poking
Prev Year:2002
Title2:Sally
Next Title:Not a Crime
Next Year:2006

"Start Wearing Purple" is a song by gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello, written by frontman Eugene Hütz. The song was packaged as a double single along with "Sally", and released as the band's second single in February 2006. It appears on their third album . This version is a re-recording of the initial one which was featured in the band's first album, 1999's Voi-La Intruder. It also appears in the soundtrack for the 2005 film Everything Is Illuminated, in which Hütz stars as Alex.

Music video

The video starts with Hütz wearing ladies shoes, and singing and dancing in the streets. This is followed by images of the band and many people dancing around while consuming copious amounts of alcohol.

Composition

Hütz said in an interview, "It's one of the very few songs I wrote for a girl. I just moved in with my girlfriend in New York. We had a neighbour: an old woman who was always dressed in purple head to toe. She was clearly bonkers. So whenever my girlfriend and I had an argument and she would start screaming at me, I would say: you might as well start wearing purple now".[1]

Cover versions

Notes and References

  1. News: Ukraine gypsy punk on world stage . BBC News . 2005-12-03 . 2010-05-24 . Kateryna . Khinkulova.
  2. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Start Wearing Purple - The JMU Pep Band . YouTube.
  3. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: JMU Marching Royal Dukes - Start Wearing Purple- 9/14/13 . YouTube.