Okay, first off, as many have mentioned (didn't go through all the comments), the song is about Adam, the lead singer, and the bassist from his old band (Mr. Jones) wanting to be famous. Adam has said in interviews that he and his friend went to see his friend's dad's band who was fairly famous the night he wrote the song. At the show they saw an even more famous drummer who had like three girls all over him and that is the basis for the beginning of the song that many people have been trying to figure out. Furthermore, as others have noted, after the CC got famous from this song Adam changed the lyrics around during live performances to reflect how his views on fame had changed.
The most interesting stanza from the song, in my opinion, which no one seems to be focusing on is the one about painting pictures with different colors and how his favorite color is gray and if he knew Picasso he would buy himself a gray guitar and play. This is hugely intelligent because Picasso had a lot of different periods some of them like the Blue Period and the Rose (French for Pink) Period that were defined by his use of certain colors (which in tern reflected different moods.) Both the blue and the rose period reflected the moods that characterized Picasso's life at the time ((Hence, the line all of the colors are very very meaningful). Although Adam says gray, he seems to be referring to Picasso's Blue Period, which was when Picasso was depressed and his paintings very somber as expressed in color (Blue and Blue-Green but sort of Greyish) and subject matter (beggars and prostitutes and eldery people). One of his best known paintings from this time period is the old guitarist which is probably what Adam is referring to when he writes "If I knew Picasso I would buy myself a gray guitar and play," especially because the old guitarist is barely able to play in the painting. It's also notable that Picasso was Spanish and there are references to Spainish dancing in the beginning of the song, and barrio (Spanish for neighborhood) later in the song.
On the other hand, during the blue period Picasso painted society's outcasts and downtrodden folk, the exact opposite of the fame that Adam is seeking in Mr. Jones. In addition, before Picasso became depressed in 1901 he was an upcoming artist starting to gain fame. After he became depressed he began his blue period and people at the time hated this and as a result stopped buying his work and liking him and thus he became less famous in the art world and poor.
Okay, first off, as many have mentioned (didn't go through all the comments), the song is about Adam, the lead singer, and the bassist from his old band (Mr. Jones) wanting to be famous. Adam has said in interviews that he and his friend went to see his friend's dad's band who was fairly famous the night he wrote the song. At the show they saw an even more famous drummer who had like three girls all over him and that is the basis for the beginning of the song that many people have been trying to figure out. Furthermore, as others have noted, after the CC got famous from this song Adam changed the lyrics around during live performances to reflect how his views on fame had changed.
The most interesting stanza from the song, in my opinion, which no one seems to be focusing on is the one about painting pictures with different colors and how his favorite color is gray and if he knew Picasso he would buy himself a gray guitar and play. This is hugely intelligent because Picasso had a lot of different periods some of them like the Blue Period and the Rose (French for Pink) Period that were defined by his use of certain colors (which in tern reflected different moods.) Both the blue and the rose period reflected the moods that characterized Picasso's life at the time ((Hence, the line all of the colors are very very meaningful). Although Adam says gray, he seems to be referring to Picasso's Blue Period, which was when Picasso was depressed and his paintings very somber as expressed in color (Blue and Blue-Green but sort of Greyish) and subject matter (beggars and prostitutes and eldery people). One of his best known paintings from this time period is the old guitarist which is probably what Adam is referring to when he writes "If I knew Picasso I would buy myself a gray guitar and play," especially because the old guitarist is barely able to play in the painting. It's also notable that Picasso was Spanish and there are references to Spainish dancing in the beginning of the song, and barrio (Spanish for neighborhood) later in the song.
On the other hand, during the blue period Picasso painted society's outcasts and downtrodden folk, the exact opposite of the fame that Adam is seeking in Mr. Jones. In addition, before Picasso became depressed in 1901 he was an upcoming artist starting to gain fame. After he became depressed he began his blue period and people at the time hated this and as a result stopped buying his work and liking him and thus he became less famous in the art world and poor.
Finally, I'd note that the famous American artists Jasper Jones is known for his work in Gray. artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/jasperjohns/overview.html