5 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Flowers Are Red Lyrics
The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin' young man
I'm paintin' flowers he said
She said... It's not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You've got to show concern for everyone else
For you're not the only one
And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen
But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
Well the teacher said.. You're sassy
There's ways that things should be
And you'll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me.....
And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen
But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
The teacher put him in a corner
She said.. It's for your own good..
And you won't come out 'til you get it right
And are responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said
Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen
Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin'
She said...Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let's use every one
But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said
Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin' young man
I'm paintin' flowers he said
She said... It's not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You've got to show concern for everyone else
For you're not the only one
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
There's ways that things should be
And you'll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me.....
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
She said.. It's for your own good..
And you won't come out 'til you get it right
And are responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin'
She said...Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let's use every one
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.
Song Info
Submitted by
kevin On May 07, 2001
More Harry Chapin
Cat's in the Cradle
Taxi
30,000 Pounds of Bananas
A Better Place To Be
Shooting Star
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I also love this song... but this is a classic Chapin protest song. It is about how our society expects everybody to conform to a "normal" image, thus squashing any creativity we may have later on in life.
First off, this song is blatantly reminiscent of the Soviet/NKorean brainwashing techniques: isolate the subject for extended periods and humiliate them during their only human contact, then finally offer the hand of friendship while still enforcing the philosophy/dogma, such that the dogma being imposed is associated with salvation from the torture, and surprisingly many POW's would return from Korea/Nam to the West as die-hard Communists.
Secondly, this song could also be used as a metaphor for the gay rights movement (not just the obvious reference to rainbows):
There's a time for everything young man And a way it should be done You've got to show concern for everyone else For you're not the only one
You have to do something this way because everybody else does (having been coerced by the same argument), and if you tried to do something different then allegedly everybody else would have to, so you must do as they do so that they are still allowed to, even though if brainwashed such you will be part of the "everybody" used to brainwash the next people.
You won't actually be able to brainwash a homosexual into being attracted to the other gender any more than you can brainwash a straight into being gay, but you can convince a gay that they are evil and disgusting, they until they possibly commit suicide
Here's a paraphrase which won't catch on: "Boys marry girls, and girls marry boys/There's no need to see marriage any other way/Then the way it always has been seen"
Thirdly, I would like to note the result of raising children to only obey orders given to them without thinking about it: pedophiles, slavery, Nazism/Communism, Kool-Aid parties, etc...
I think a) your over analyising and b) hijacking for a personal agenda, you can't invent non existent lyrics to wedge in what you think is a valid point. without the actual lyrics being there, its only a point in your own head.....
I think a) your over analyising and b) hijacking for a personal agenda, you can't invent non existent lyrics to wedge in what you think is a valid point. without the actual lyrics being there, its only a point in your own head.....
as regards your last paragraph, I can only assume your a yank (the kool-aid ref was a give away), and the "brainwashing" of your listed protaganists is no worse than the American Way, Catholic, pick your preferd club, its all the same each society preaches its message and ostricises those who disagree and unf. the good old us of A is loosing the battle in free though, as your school boards are taken over by fundamentalist / anti science anti knowledge groups... and this permietates through your society and government...
as regards your last paragraph, I can only assume your a yank (the kool-aid ref was a give away), and the "brainwashing" of your listed protaganists is no worse than the American Way, Catholic, pick your preferd club, its all the same each society preaches its message and ostricises those who disagree and unf. the good old us of A is loosing the battle in free though, as your school boards are taken over by fundamentalist / anti science anti knowledge groups... and this permietates through your society and government...
I agree with Sysiphuscorinth in the over-analysis point and going too deep in to the details. But I do think that high jacking for a personal agenda is not occurring and that the main point here - that it is a protest song about the common perceptions of people. Not just about gay rights but also about race, religion and even image. Although only written in the late 70s, this song was written at a time when homosexuality was only just being accepted by society as a whole, when there was still a great racial divide and when any change...
I agree with Sysiphuscorinth in the over-analysis point and going too deep in to the details. But I do think that high jacking for a personal agenda is not occurring and that the main point here - that it is a protest song about the common perceptions of people. Not just about gay rights but also about race, religion and even image. Although only written in the late 70s, this song was written at a time when homosexuality was only just being accepted by society as a whole, when there was still a great racial divide and when any change from the social norm was shunned because "There's no way to see [things] any other way than the way they always have been seen" (That is not inventing none existent lyrics to wedge in a point but instead paraphrasing the point to explain why it appears to fit with the meaning of the song). This song was inspired by the story of a friends child who got the report from his teacher
"Your son is marching to the beat of a different drummer, but don't worry we will soon have him joining the parade by the end of the term."
And this essentially sums up the point of the song. The story of any one that is different to the norm being forced in to a mould and to conform with the public opinions because people feel uncomfortable by change; and how these people are moulded to a point where they are too ashamed to show their true selves even in places where it is accepted as a norm.
As well as these "against the norm" opinions of things such as homosexuality, it also reminds me of how in the English education system in the 60s and 70s, they would tape up the fingers of anyone left handed to discourage this behaviour and to train right handedness. (Although I get the feeling Chapin wasn't singing about left handedness).
i love this poem, and i love the song.....it's so true about what happens in school and stuff....this poor kid lost all his creativity just cuz his teacher didn't understand what he was doing....that sucks.....
I love this song... it really tells about how the world wants everyone to be the same, to be normal, and not have any creativity or be set apart from others. It really is a sad song, because that really is how most people think.
Chapin often said in interviews that the basis was the comments from a teacher on the report card for his secretary's son...."your son marches to the beat of a different drummer but no worries, we'll have him marching in the parade in no time"....an attitude that HC wasn't pleased with. This in effect is his version of that boy and the teacher and what he feels would happen to an otherwise thoughtful and expressive young student if stifled in this way by the teacher. Note in the end of the song the new teacher is clearly more willingly to engage the kids and encourage their creativity.