"the diamond blue"

[Gus]

I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on the
internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps someone
here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC fans that know
the meaning "diamond blue"?

"Did you make disease and the diamond blue?"
http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/103714/

"Dear God" XTC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHmTqoLjlXo

[Dr Nick]

No idea. I know the song but had never noticed that. I just went an
re-listened to it and it certainly sounds like "diamond blue" (you can't
trust web lyrics not to include mondegreens).

[Harrison Hill]

On Thursday, 8 August 2013 03:42:14 UTC+1, Gus wrote:
> I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on the
>
> internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps someone
>
> here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC fans that know
>
> the meaning "diamond blue"?

"Dying man blue" would make sense.

[Harrison Hill]

On Thursday, 8 August 2013 08:08:37 UTC+1, Harrison Hill wrote:
> On Thursday, 8 August 2013 03:42:14 UTC+1, Gus wrote:
>
> "Dying man blue" would make sense.

You can practice BrE lyrics in this subtitled tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJWxPE8G2c

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Thu, 8 Aug 2013 09:01:44 +0000 (UTC), Lewis
<g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:

>In message <ktv0ih$hcc$1...@news.albasani.net>

> Gus <gus.o...@geemail.com> wrote:
>> I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on the
>> internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps someone
>> here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC fans that know
>> the meaning "diamond blue"?
>

>The inversion of the usual adjective noun order is quite common in
>poetry. It simply means "blue diamond."

Agreed. And in the context,

Did you make disease and the diamond blue?

Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the Devil too!

I'd understand "disease" to represent bad things and "the diamond blue"
(the blue diamond) to represent good things.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Gus]

"Harrison Hill" <harrison...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:45d24515-86f5-44e6...@googlegroups.com...

Odd there is now "xtc" website. But there is chalkhills which refers to
Andy Partridge/XTC at: http://www.ape.uk.net/links/links.php Which
then refers back to Chalkhills in Links. "Chalkhills Hats off to John
Relph for his interesting and vast site dedicated to XTC. Chatty and
informative." So it sounds very legit.

According to Chalkhills, it is "diamond blue". (There are some notes.
Maybe there is something in those...)

Dear God,
hope you got the letter, and...
I pray you can make it better down here.
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
but all the people that you made in your image, see
them starving on their feet 'cause they don't get
enough to eat from God, I can't believe in you

Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but... I feel that I should be heard
loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
and all the people that you made in your image, see them fighting
in the street 'cause they can't make opinions meet about God,
I can't believe in you

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue? Did you make
mankind after we made you? And the devil too!

Dear God, don't know if you noticed, but... your name is on
a lot of quotes in this book, and us crazy humans wrote it, you
should take a look, and all the people that you made in your
image still believing that junk is true. Well I know it ain't, and
so do you, dear God, I can't believe in I don't believe in

I won't believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, no
devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You're always
letting us humans down. The wars you bring, the babes you
drown. Those lost at sea and never found, and it's the same the
whole world 'round. The hurt I see helps to compound that
Father, Son and Holy Ghost is just somebody's unholy hoax,
and if you're up there you'd perceive that my heart's here upon
my sleeve. If there's one thing I don't believe in

it's you... Dear God.
Š 1987 Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.

http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_DearGod.html#lyrics

[Gus]

"Lewis" <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote in message
news:slrnl06njp...@mbp55.local...

> In message <ktv0ih$hcc$1...@news.albasani.net>
> Gus <gus.o...@geemail.com> wrote:

>> I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on
>> the
>> internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps
>> someone
>> here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC fans that
>> know
>> the meaning "diamond blue"?
>

> The inversion of the usual adjective noun order is quite common in
> poetry. It simply means "blue diamond."
>

> --

What meaning or symbol does the author intend by choosing: "blue
diamond" or "diamond blue"? Or did he just not want to get stuck with
"orange" ending the sentence creating possible problems later? (He
rhymes blue with "you" and "too" in the next sentences. "Diamond" would
definitely have been a tougher word to rhyme... And anyway, "diamond
blue" sounds more poetic and mellifluous to my ears.

© 1987 Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.

[Gus]

"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote in message
news:a2t609lshs7123cjd...@4ax.com...

That is plausible. Thx. I do wonder if there's more to it though.

[Mike L]

On Wed, 7 Aug 2013 22:42:14 -0400, "Gus" <gus.o...@geemail.com>
wrote:

Yeah, great stuff. But why in the name of all that's unholy do these
people make the instruments louder than the words? I had to switch off
halfway through.

--
Mike.

[Robert Bannister]

On 8/08/13 5:01 PM, Lewis wrote:
> In message <ktv0ih$hcc$1...@news.albasani.net>
> Gus <gus.o...@geemail.com> wrote:

>> I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on the
>> internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps someone
>> here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC fans that know
>> the meaning "diamond blue"?
>

> The inversion of the usual adjective noun order is quite common in
> poetry. It simply means "blue diamond."
>

But it still makes no sense.
--
Robert Bannister

[CDB]

On 08/08/2013 11:30 AM, Gus wrote:
> "Peter Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:

>> Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>>> Gus <gus.o...@geemail.com> wrote:

>>>> I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on the
>>>> internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps someone
>>>> here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC fans that know
>>>> the meaning "diamond blue"?

>>> The inversion of the usual adjective noun order is quite common in
>>> poetry. It simply means "blue diamond."

>> Agreed. And in the context,

>> Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
>> Did you make mankind after we made you?
>> And the Devil too!

>> I'd understand "disease" to represent bad things and "the diamond blue"
>> (the blue diamond) to represent good things.

> That is plausible. Thx. I do wonder if there's more to it though.

One other possibility is that "make" is used in slightly different
meanings: "Did you introduce disease, and cause the diamond to be
blue?". And in the next lines, who knows? Identify us, see our true
colours? Screw?

[Snidely]

On Thursday or thereabouts, Peter Duncanson [BrE] declared ...

"Did he who made the lamb make thee?"

/dps

--
"This is all very fine, but let us not be carried away be excitement,
but ask calmly, how does this person feel about in in his cooler
moments next day, with six or seven thousand feet of snow and stuff on
top of him?"
_Roughing It_, Mark Twain.

[Curmudgeon]

"Snidely" <snide...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:mn.a0127dd862a9ad49.127094@snitoo...

> On Thursday or thereabouts, Peter Duncanson [BrE] declared ...
>
>> On Thu, 8 Aug 2013 09:01:44 +0000 (UTC), Lewis
>> <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>>
>>> In message <ktv0ih$hcc$1...@news.albasani.net> Gus
>>> <gus.o...@geemail.com> wrote:
>>>> I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on
>>>> the internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps
>>>> someone here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC
>>>> fans that know the meaning "diamond blue"?
>>>
>>> The inversion of the usual adjective noun order is quite common in
>>> poetry. It simply means "blue diamond."
>>
>> Agreed. And in the context,
>> Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
>> Did you make mankind after we made you?
>> And the Devil too!
>>
>> I'd understand "disease" to represent bad things and "the diamond
>> blue"
>> (the blue diamond) to represent good things.
>
> "Did he who made the lamb make thee?"

Did he who made the veal cutlet, also make the stall the lamb grew up
in?

[jdg...@slingshot.co.nz]

The "diamond blue" is the sea

[jdg...@slingshot.co.nz]

"The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to the open sea.

[CDB]

On 8/28/2017 2:56 AM, jdg...@slingshot.co.nz wrote:

> "The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to the
> open sea.

I think that is close to the truth. The lyrics are

Did you make disease and the diamond blue?

Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the Devil too!

and I think "disease" is a mondegreen for "the seas".

The thread is from 2013. How did we miss it then?

<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/alt.usage.english/diamond$20blue/alt.usage.english/OHNjtdPaEHE/_j--Cvm1w2wJ>

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Monday, August 28, 2017 at 10:52:53 AM UTC-4, CDB wrote:
> On 8/28/2017 2:56 AM, jdg...@slingshot.co.nz wrote:
>
> > "The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to the
> > open sea.
>
> I think that is close to the truth. The lyrics are
>
> Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
> Did you make mankind after we made you?
> And the Devil too!
>
> and I think "disease" is a mondegreen for "the seas".
>
> The thread is from 2013. How did we miss it then?

You made one contribution, on August 9, 2013.

> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/alt.usage.english/diamond$20blue/alt.usage.english/OHNjtdPaEHE/_j--Cvm1w2wJ>

[CDB]

On 8/28/2017 11:13 AM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

> CDB wrote:
>> jdg...@slingshot.co.nz wrote:

>>> "The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to
>>> the open sea.

>> I think that is close to the truth. The lyrics are

>> Did you make disease and the diamond blue? Did you make mankind
>> after we made you? And the Devil too!

>> and I think "disease" is a mondegreen for "the seas".

>> The thread is from 2013. How did we miss it then?

> You made one contribution, on August 9, 2013.

>> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/alt.usage.english/diamond$20blue/alt.usage.english/OHNjtdPaEHE/_j--Cvm1w2wJ>

And toadally flubbed it.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

On 2017-08-28 08:54:17 +0200, jdg...@slingshot.co.nz said:

> The "diamond blue" is the sea

Complaints-To: groups...@google.com
Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com;
posting-host=101.98.29.73;
posting-account=LoxKbAkAAADWDHdQc9oIvXWHNX2sdrIV
NNTP-Posting-Host: 101.98.29.73
References: <ktv0ih$hcc$1...@news.albasani.net>
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <ef7f6d62-f5cb-4de5...@googlegroups.com>

Is anyone surprised?

--
athel

[Peter T. Daniels]

What on earth???

[Don Phillipson]

<jdg...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote in message
news:c596f5a9-66e6-43da...@googlegroups.com...

> "The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to the open
> sea.

We may find "blue" just as often means the sky, as in Tennyson's "central
blue," "into the blue" and other phrases.

Europeans have never named the colour of the sea uniformly. Ancient
Greeks called it "wine-dark." Ocean-going ships are a blue-water navy
but big waves in mid-ocean are green seas. But everyone seems to
have recognized sky-blue.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[snide...@gmail.com]

Your reflexes seem to be working.

/dps

[snide...@gmail.com]

The color of the sea is highly dependent on the color of the sky above.
The ocean is blue when the sun shines and the clouds are scattered.
During a storm, not so much.

/dps

[Tony Cooper]

On Tue, 29 Aug 2017 12:31:53 -0700 (PDT), snide...@gmail.com wrote:

>On Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 7:17:43 AM UTC-7, Don Phillipson wrote:
>> <jdg...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote in message
>> news:c596f5a9-66e6-43da...@googlegroups.com...
>>
>> > "The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to the open
>> > sea.
>>
>> We may find "blue" just as often means the sky, as in Tennyson's "central
>> blue," "into the blue" and other phrases.
>>
>> Europeans have never named the colour of the sea uniformly. Ancient
>> Greeks called it "wine-dark." Ocean-going ships are a blue-water navy
>> but big waves in mid-ocean are green seas. But everyone seems to
>> have recognized sky-blue.
>
>The color of the sea is highly dependent on the color of the sky above.

And the seabed below. My son-in-photographs surfers off Jacksonville
Beach FL. Several of the surfer magazines have used his photos, but
most of his shots are rejected because the ocean is dark in color and
not the better blue of California waters.

We have "pretty" water down in the Keys where the seabed makes the
water look better, but it's not a good area for surfing.

>The ocean is blue when the sun shines and the clouds are scattered.
>During a storm, not so much.
>
>/dps

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[Peter Moylan]

No point in saying it, though. The people who revive ancient threads
never seem to come back to read the responses.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Peter T. Daniels]

They are not "reviving ancient threads." They are responding to something that a
search turned up with no awareness that threads, or newsgroups, exist.

How often do you have to be told this?

[Anders D. Nygaard]

Den 30-08-2017 kl. 03:15 skrev Tony Cooper:
> On Tue, 29 Aug 2017 12:31:53 -0700 (PDT), snide...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> On Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 7:17:43 AM UTC-7, Don Phillipson wrote:
>>> <jdg...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote in message
>>> news:c596f5a9-66e6-43da...@googlegroups.com...
>>>
>>>> "The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to the open
>>>> sea.
>>>
>>> We may find "blue" just as often means the sky, as in Tennyson's "central
>>> blue," "into the blue" and other phrases.
>>>
>>> Europeans have never named the colour of the sea uniformly. Ancient
>>> Greeks called it "wine-dark." Ocean-going ships are a blue-water navy
>>> but big waves in mid-ocean are green seas. But everyone seems to
>>> have recognized sky-blue.
>>
>> The color of the sea is highly dependent on the color of the sky above.
>
> And the seabed below. My son-in-photographs surfers off Jacksonville
> Beach FL.

Your natural successor in the picture business?

> Several of the surfer magazines have used his photos, but
> most of his shots are rejected because the ocean is dark in color and
> not the better blue of California waters.
>
> We have "pretty" water down in the Keys where the seabed makes the
> water look better, but it's not a good area for surfing.
>
>
>> The ocean is blue when the sun shines and the clouds are scattered.
>> During a storm, not so much.

/Anders, Denmark

[Tony Cooper]

On Thu, 31 Aug 2017 19:46:48 +0200, "Anders D. Nygaard"
<news2...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Den 30-08-2017 kl. 03:15 skrev Tony Cooper:
>> On Tue, 29 Aug 2017 12:31:53 -0700 (PDT), snide...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>> On Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 7:17:43 AM UTC-7, Don Phillipson wrote:
>>>> <jdg...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote in message
>>>> news:c596f5a9-66e6-43da...@googlegroups.com...
>>>>
>>>>> "The diamond blue" is a term often used in poetry to refer to the open
>>>>> sea.
>>>>
>>>> We may find "blue" just as often means the sky, as in Tennyson's "central
>>>> blue," "into the blue" and other phrases.
>>>>
>>>> Europeans have never named the colour of the sea uniformly. Ancient
>>>> Greeks called it "wine-dark." Ocean-going ships are a blue-water navy
>>>> but big waves in mid-ocean are green seas. But everyone seems to
>>>> have recognized sky-blue.
>>>
>>> The color of the sea is highly dependent on the color of the sky above.
>>
>> And the seabed below. My son-in-photographs surfers off Jacksonville
>> Beach FL.
>
>Your natural successor in the picture business?

Both he (my son-in-law, despite the typo above) and my daughter are
very talented photographers. I can claim credit only because I was
the one who got her interested in photography, and she got him
interested. Both sell their work at art fairs. I've never tried
selling mine.

>
> > Several of the surfer magazines have used his photos, but
>> most of his shots are rejected because the ocean is dark in color and
>> not the better blue of California waters.
>>
>> We have "pretty" water down in the Keys where the seabed makes the
>> water look better, but it's not a good area for surfing.
>>
>>
>>> The ocean is blue when the sun shines and the clouds are scattered.
>>> During a storm, not so much.
>
>/Anders, Denmark

[carl...@gmail.com]

El miércoles, 7 de agosto de 2013, 21:42:14 (UTC-5), Gus escribió:
> I've never quite understood the lyric and never found much help on the
> internet, other than there are diamonds that are blue. Perhaps someone
> here has an insight? Are there any BrE speakers, or XTC fans that know
> the meaning "diamond blue"?
>

> "Did you make disease and the diamond blue?"

> http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/103714/
>
> "Dear God" XTC
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHmTqoLjlXo

_____________________________________________________

I had the same question based on the same song,
After a few minutes googling, I found there's also a kind of marijuana that is street-called "Diamond blue".
So probably he is wondering whether has God created negative things for the humans.
Even though, I also believe that they chose it to rhyme with the next sentence.

[CDB]

On 4/30/2019 2:50 PM, carl...@gmail.com wrote:

All I know about the song is what I get from Google. One possibility I
didn't see there is that the line is a mondegreen for "did you make the
seas and the diamond blue?", which may make a tiny bit more sense.