To Build a Harmony Lyrics: Henry Biggs Music: Henry Biggs and Mylene Farmer Red orange white black yellow we gotta rock 'n' roll under the same umbrella think for a second what the world would be like if you painted everybody black and white I tell you straight up it'd be a disaster if we was all black as tar or as white as Alaska ain't but shame in that game takes a damn fool to bring that noise we gotta get with the schedule cuz yo bro you know ain't nothin' duller than every other brother steppin in the same color variety is the sweet spice of life I need every color to kick up a sweet vibe REFRAIN Gonna take some of you 'n' me (x4) if we gonna build a harmony How you make a harmony Mr. Johnny one-note your groove don't move jus' sounds like the record's broke we need every style yo every shade of soul take away your colors 'n' who's Michelangelo a one-brush maestro with one-tone grease how you gonna paint you a one-colored masterpiece look at nature make her make the rain go dancing to the jazz of a one-colored rainbow the leaves on the trees they change with the seasons it's done for a reason, every color is pleasin' get righteous try this flow don't lose it gotta come strong and make that colorful music REFRAIN x 2 if you racist face this your noise is played out don't dig it you a bigot and you can just f-f-fade out I know it used to be way back in the days some colors was free while others had to be slaves but that don't play today and I'm tellin you Jack you don't think that way cuz you smarter than that this beat's for sweet harmony 'n' you just plain ignorant if you think it's all about another brother's pigment so come strong get it on 'n' get it together spread your wings and fly like birds of a feather let's take the sweet in you and the charm in me and let's put 'em together make us a little harmony REFRAIN x 2

The Idea . . . Don't hate the black Don't hate the white if you get bit just hate the bite Sly and the Family Stone, "Are You Ready?" (1968) Whence all this passion toward conformity anyway?--diversity is the word.  Let man keep his many parts and you'll have no tyrant states.  Why, if they follow this conformity business they'll end up by forcing me, an invisible man, to become white, which is not a color but a lack of one.  Must I strive toward colorlessness?  But seriously, and without snobbery, think of what the world would lose if that should happen.  America is woven of many strands; I would recognize them and let it so remain... our fate is to become one, and yet many--this is not prophecy, but description. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, p. 577 (Vintage Books, NY (c) 1980 Ralph Ellison) Explanation: Building a harmony requires different pitches -- if you use the same pitches by definition you won't have a harmony. Thus, harmony requires diversity. Within the lyrics Headmess not only gives examples of how important diversity is in life, but he also uses slant rhyme to reinforce this idea. Notice that the two lines in each couplet don't have perfect rhyme, but they still sound good together. Headmess uses slant rhyme to demonstrate that diversity works in many forms, and his lyrics give examples of aspects of everyday life that require diversity. Headmess's message is to embrace this diversity, for if we were all the same life would be very boring. Confused? Click here to send in your questions.