Pretty In Pink

Album: Talk Talk Talk (1981)
Charted: 18 41
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  • Caroline laughs, and it's raining all day
    Loves to be one of the girls
    She lives in the place in the side of our lives
    Where nothing is ever put straight

    She turns herself 'round
    And she smiles and she says
    "This is it, that's the end of the joke"
    And loses herself in her
    Dreaming and sleep, and her
    Lovers walk through in their coats

    Pretty in pink, isn't she?
    Pretty in pink, isn't she?

    All of her lovers all
    Talk of her notes and the
    Flowers that they never sent
    And wasn't she easy, and
    Isn't she pretty in pink?

    The one who insists he was the
    First in the line is the
    Last to remember her name
    She's walking around in this
    Dress that she wore
    She is gone, but the
    Joke's the same

    Pretty in pink, isn't she?
    Pretty in pink, isn't she?

    Caroline talks to you
    Softly sometimes, she says,
    "I love you" and "Too much"
    She doesn't have anything
    You want to steal
    Well, nothing you can touch

    She waves
    She buttons your shirt
    The traffic is waiting outside
    She hands you this coat
    She give you her clothes
    These cars collide

    Pretty in pink, isn't she?
    Pretty in pink, isn't she?


    The album version includes these lines:
    Caroline's on the table screaming
    Confidence is intimacy
    And all their favorite rags are worn
    Another kind of uniform
    They kid you you're really free
    And you know what you want to be
    Chasing individuality
    Until tomorrow

    And everything you are you'll see
    In pure shiny buttons
    They put you in this gear
    And driveways broken
    Doorbell sings in chimes
    It plays "Anything Goes"
    They all talk in rhymes


    The single version includes:
    All their favorite rags are worn
    And other kinds of uniforms
    That kid you are really free
    Like individuality
    You are what you want to be
    Until tomorrow Writer/s: DUNCAN KILBURN, JOHN ASHTON, RICHARD BUTLER, ROGER NICHOLAS MORRIS, TIMOTHY BUTLER, VINCENT DAVEY
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 22

  • Starry Wizdom from CaliforniaOh My Fuzzy Goodness, thank you so much for including the outro lyrics, which are really hard to hear but I still want to sing along with them!
  • Souxsie from Hong KongAstonished that Bananarama are included in British new wave!
  • Cathy from Fla.It could be about Andrea Lankford she was very much like that from 11 to about 22 she posed nude for several guys too
  • Weasel from Tenn.was the song pretty in pink really written about author andrea lankford?
  • Zebrawolf79 from Georgia, UsaTerrific song and a great job on the closing lyrics. I listened several times and to me they are spot on.
  • Jerry Mac from San Pedro, CaNo idea why the original is not on here. In my opinion one of the best produced tunes of the decade, and that video, because it wasn’t played every hour on MTV, was actually a breath of fresh air compared to the redundant overplayed “British invasion” videos of the time.
    The rawness of the guitar and the way the sax is interjected throughout the song brilliant. Tunes are just not produced in that manner anymore, the unpolished essence of it echoes the era.
  • Jose Arce from P.r.Pretty in pink,top 10 in the u.s.
  • Jonny B from Sunny LondonSo he says it's about a woman who sleeps around but is getting used. What he fails to mention is 'she' was called Leslie; he was in a relationship with her; she got pregnant; she aborted his child; she dumped him...he wrote the song. She later had children but sadly died in her early 40's due to pancreatic cancer brought on by too much alcohol for too long.
  • Paul S. from Pittsburgh, Pa.I wonder if maybe they just borrowed the name Caroline from Lou Reeds anti-heroine from his Berlin album, of course maybe not and they just came up with it. Anyway yeah, the original blows the remake away though I was glad somebody besides me and the friends I played the albums for got to know who The Psychedelic Furs were.
  • Jon from Enumclaw , WaWhere the HELL is Love My Way!!! Thats there best song! This is an awesome tune as well.
  • Elizabeth Schafer from West Long Branch, Njwho was caroline? I"m pretty sure she was beloved by the band or the writer of the song. She was a friend and her death was a painfull loss. Was caroline transgender? pretty in pink.
  • Mike from Matawan, NjUgh. Put the FIRST version of this song on the site please. This version is AWFUL. It has none of the great, raw feel that the original has. The sax adds NOTHING to the song. It sounds too polished. I have to go strangle a budgie now because of hearing this. I agree with Scott, where the hell is LOVE MY WAY on this site????
  • Ross from Leicester, United KingdomI've read that the song is about one night stands (see also "I Just Wanna Sleep With you" and "Into You Like A Train" also on the "Talk Talk Talk" album)which seems to make sense - she's "pretty in pink" because she's naked, "these cars collide" a metaphor for a passing sexual encounter. Whatever, I think we all agree the film was wide of the mark!!!
  • Billy from Albany, Gathe lyrics are incomplete. Does anyone know the lyrics over the ending?
  • Scott from Baton Rouge, LaLove the Furs.Quintessential 80's song from a quintessential 80's band.By the way,where the heck is "Love My Way" on here ?
  • Michael from Wallington, NjI understood that this song was written about a popular transexual prostitute living in London during the late seventies.
  • Maria from Philadelphia, PaMolly Ringwald was a huge Furs fan, and she listened to them a lot on the set while filming Sixteen Candles. She played the song for her director, John Hughes, and it inspired him to write the movie.
  • Stacey from St.petersburg, FlI think its about this girl who dies in a car crash and the guys who she slept with wear hear clothes that are pink.
  • Stacey from St.petersburg, FlI love the song and I think its about this girl that dies and the boys sleep with and I think she dies in a car crash cause the last line in the 6th verse is "These cars collide".
  • Michael from Memphis, TnThe song may have a darker side as Jade suggests. Richard Butler said that "pink" meant, "naked," and the song was about being, "naked." He may have meant that Carline was au naturel. The scene sounds like a brothel or bordello, and she sounds like a prostitute, but the lyrics are more likely to be influenced by William Burroughs' cut-up style of writing. Richard Butler always mentions Burroughs as his greatest influence. His other lyrics certainly deserve to be covered by Song Facts, as he is one of the most original songwriters of the New Wave era.

  • Rob from Santa Monica, CaThe remade version that accompanied the film had additional horns in the mix. The original is more guitar driven (and far superior, I'd say). Some of these lyrics are unforgettable: "The one who insists he was first in the line is the last to remember her name"
  • Jade from Sterling Heights, MiThis song is about a girl that this group of boys all used to have sex with. One day, she commites suicide wearing a white dress (that turns pink from the blood), and they all take turns wearing the dress.
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