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Dessert loving in your eyes all the way.
If I listen to your lies,
would you say I'm a man without conviction,
I'm a man who doesn't know
how to sale a contradiction?
You come and go, you come and go.
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams:
red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green.
Didn't you hear your wicked words ever'y day.
And you used to be so sweet.
I heard you say that my love was an addiction.
When we cling, our love is strong.
When you go, you're gone forever.
You string along, you string along.
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams:
red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green.
Ev'ry day is like survival.
You're my lover, not my rival.
Ev'ry day is like survival.
You're my lover, not my rival.
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams:
red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green.
If I listen to your lies,
would you say I'm a man without conviction,
I'm a man who doesn't know
how to sale a contradiction?
You come and go, you come and go.
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams:
red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green.
Didn't you hear your wicked words ever'y day.
And you used to be so sweet.
I heard you say that my love was an addiction.
When we cling, our love is strong.
When you go, you're gone forever.
You string along, you string along.
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams:
red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green.
Ev'ry day is like survival.
You're my lover, not my rival.
Ev'ry day is like survival.
You're my lover, not my rival.
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams:
red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green.
Lyrics submitted by magicnudiesuit
Track duration: 04:02
"Karma Chameleon" as written by Michael Craig, Roy Hay, Jon Moss, George O'dowd, Phil Pickett
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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" , I think that explains the title because karma chameleon makes no sense.
Is the loving in your eyes all the way?
If I listened to your lies would you say
I'm a man without conviction, I'm a man who doesn't know
How to sell a contradiction?
You come and go, You come and go
I always believed "come and go" is a play on words here - meaning that his partner is different in bed than when they're not sleeping together. Like as soon as they cum, he's out the door. The narrator's in a double bind because if he stands up for himself he can lose his lover, but if he doesn't, he feels like his lover doesn't respect him for going along with the lies and he might lose him anyway. He just can't win. What he's really wondering throughout this song is does his partner even want the relationship to work, and is it possible to fix things?
Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go you come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dreams:
Red Gold and Green, Red Gold and Green
I like the explanation someone else gave about Red Gold and Green being a symbol of political opinions (Rastafarian, etc) being a source of conflict. In many ways, the couple here just isn't right together. They have different values. As for karma chameleon, for some reason I think he used karma because it sounded good, but he probably meant "aura." Back in the 80s, a lot of the target audience wouldn't have known the difference anyway.
Didn't hear your wicked words every day
And you used to be so sweet
I heard you say that my love was an addiction
When we cling our love is strong
When you go you're gone forever
You string along
George is coming to terms with his own denial of the change in the relationship. Again, the lover is sweet as anything until he's gotten what he wants, then he's consumed with bitterness, leaving and coming back over and over again. It's possible the lover is even having difficulty coming to terms with his homosexuality and taking it out on the narrator. So sweet as the lover used to be, George is starting to hear the wicked words and take them seriously as a problem.
Every Day is like survival
You're my lover not my rival
This seems to indicate jealousy (possibly over George's greater fame?) but not just that, the feeling that the relationship is a struggle, the only thing that's working is the sex and the dawning realization that as much as he wants this to work, his lover just isn't open or honest enough for that to be possible. But he never quite makes up his mind in this song.
Jon is a "chameleon" because when he's with women he acts straight, and when he's with gay men, he acts gay. He's basically a sociopath who does what he needs to in order to be the center of attention and get what he wants from people. Obviously, if you want to be featured in more videos, you'd want to be George's boyfriend and you'll probably end up with more camera time that way. You also get more attention in public if you show up next to George.
If you've watched any of the programs ("Behind the Music" or whatever) about this band, the song is fairly easy to understand. I was shocked by all the people who didn't seem to understand that Boy George was gay. I mean, he's dressed as a drag queen in all of his videos. People in the 80's also didn't seem to notice that Freddie Mercury was gay, but when I saw the old concert footage of him running around the stage in those tiny white shorts and no shirt on, I really hadn't ever seen anything gayer (not even Boy George was as gay as THAT). It's amazing what people can believe if they bury their head in the sand deep enough.
It's about his relationship with the drummer. The fact he was a bisexual and wouldn't commit signals a lot of the metaphors in the song:
'Desert Loving': In a desert you see an oasis which isn't really there.
'If I listened to your lies..I don't know how to sell a cotradiction': Lies reinforce the oasis in first line and not being able to sell or carry off the drummers bisexuality(contradiction) was the reason the drummer broke it off.
'Come and go': bisexuality and commitment to the relationship
'Chameleon': bisexual
'Red, Gold and Green': I think it signifies blacks(the african flag). The comparison is blacks to gays. Blacks are black they can't change it and it's obvious to everyone. In his dreams ('loving would be easy if the colors were like my dreams'), he wishes his partner was gay like blacks are black. Not able to change sides or hide.
the red on the flag means the the blood of the african people who were taking to slavery
the yellow means all the possesions of the african people
and green means the land of africa