Tag: Erykah Badu

#3: Erykah Badu, Orange Moon

I’m an orange moon/
I’m an orange moon/
reflecting the light/
of the sun

This will probably be my favorite segment on my blog in a very long time! Welcome to Opening Lyrics to Songs That I Love!

Lyrics by Badu. Music by Badu, Bray Lon Lacy and Shaun Martin. Production by Badu and James Poyser.

Track 10 on Mama’s Gun, “Orange Moon” is a jazz-influenced love ballad. As on previous songs, Badu’s lyrics employ the imagery and symbolism of teachings of the Five-Percent Nation, the Supreme Alphabet and Supreme Mathematics.

In Five-Percent symbolism, the sun and moon represent the Black man/masculinity and Black woman/femininity, respectively, while the star represents the Black child.

By the time of the recording of Mama’s Gun Erykah was in a relationship with rapper Common, also a follower of Five-Percent teachings. Erykah and Common were both associated with the Soulquarians collective, who collaborated on the recording and production of both Mama’s Gun and Common’s 2000 album Like Water for Chocolate. Several lyrics in Common’s 2000 single “The Light” from Like Water for Chocolate employ mutual sun/moon imagery in a similar romantic context.

Erykah Badu is one of my favorite Neosoul/R&B artists. I can float to another galaxy while listening to her music. What is it about the opening lyrics of this song that moves me? To recognize one’s moon status versus the sun’s is a gift. We as women do not often shine in the face of the sun (often depicted as male and ruling the day and the moon (female), ruling the night.), so Erykah with her raspy, jazzy, and comehither voice announces her orange mooness and its capability to reflect the light of her sun, and that sends me to places I have only dreamed of existing in. It’s also such an incredibly beautiful song.

For the next seven Sundays, I’ll share with you my favorite opening lyrics to songs I truly love. Maybe you’ll enjoy it. Maybe you won’t. Perhaps you’ll share favorite opening lyrics to songs you love as well. Perhaps you won’t. Either way, we’re going to have a good damn time.

See you next week!