My baby lives in shades of blue
Blue eyes and jazz and attitude
He lives in California too
He drives a Chevy Malibu

And when he calls
He calls for me, not for you
He lives for love, he loves his drugs
He loves his baby too

But I can't fix him, can't make him better
And I can't do nothing about his strange weather

But you are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable

My baby lives in shades of cool
Blue heart and hands and aptitude
He lives for love, for women, too
I'm one of many, one is blue

And when he calls
He calls for me, not for you
He prays for love, he prays for peace
And maybe someone new

But I can't help him, can't make him better
And I can't do nothing about his strange weather

'Cause you are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable

You are unfixable
I can't break through your world
'Cause you live in shades of cool
Your heart is unbreakable


Lyrics submitted by almacasea, edited by toadling17, behata

Shades of Cool Lyrics as written by Rick Nowels Elizabeth Grant

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Shades of Cool song meanings
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  • +4
    My Interpretation

    Lana wrote this song from the perspective of human who is infatuated with a Smurf. The opening lines "My baby lives in shades of blue, blue eyes and jazz and attitude" make this theme evident immediately, because Smurfs are known for their blue coloring.

    The narrator clearly met their Smurf crush in California, probably while he was filming a Smurf movie in Hollywood. The pressures of being an actor led the Smurf to a life of drug abuse ("he loves his drugs") and promiscuity; as a consequence of this reckless behavior, the Smurf has an illegitimate child- we know this from the line "he loves his baby too."

    Regardless of these potential deal breakers, the narrator continues to obsess over the Smurf throughout the song, but she gets progressively more and more frustrated with the social constructs and barriers preventing her from pursuing the Smurf more seriously. For example, "I can't do nothing about his strange weather" is a clear allusion to the famously dismal weather in Smurf Village, which is notorious for giving Smurfs Seasonal Affective Disorder in the winter months. Unfortunately, since humans can't even find Smurf Village, she couldn't help with this at all.

    Overall, the theme of the song is forbidden love, because humans and Smurfs are not the same species. The reason why she says "I can't break through your world" is because the Smurf population won't accept a human into their society, even in this day and age. Lana clearly wrote this song to spread awareness of human-Smurf romance in the hopes that someday, this sort of relationship will be seen as socially acceptable.

    geniusbetchon June 25, 2014   Link

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