"Black and Blue" is a 1971 song by Chain which is said to be "genuine Australian blues". It is a song about a chain gang from Australia's convict past, and it struck a raw chord with young suburban audiences, to the extent that it reached #1 on the Australian charts. The song was written by the four members of Chain at the time (the classic Chain line up); Matt Taylor, Phil Manning, Barry Sullivan & Barry Harvey.
"Black and Blue" features on the double gold certified album Toward The Blues which was released in September 1971 and went to #6 nationally in Australia. The album reached ARIA gold status for the 2nd time in 1998. Also available in CD format and the 30th anniversary "remixed" version of the album was released as a CD in September 2001. The 30th anniversary CD included 3 bonus songs; Chain's number 2 hit single "Judgement", "Blow in D", and the single version of "Black and Blue". Chain appeared at a special night to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of "Toward the Blues" held in Melbourne at the Mercury Lounge during September 2001.
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or blue:
“To me, the black black woman is our essential mother—the blacker she is the more us she is—and to see the hatred that is turned on her is enough to make me despair, almost entirely, of our future as a people.”
—Alice Walker (b. 1944)
“So here they are, the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents-a-day professionals riding the outposts of the nation, from Fort Reno to Fort Apache, from Sheridan to Stark. They were all the same. Men in dirty-shirt blue and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)