A song about Roethke's monochrome paintings.

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This is a song about Roethke's paintings. In particular, it's a song about some monochrome grey paintings he did ~1970 shortly before his suicide. I heard from someone the idea that those canvasses are a kind of eerie echo of the images of the moonlanding that were on TV throughout 1969, hence the first line -- "1969, your color TV turned black-and-white." So I just thought about those colors (or the lack of color) and ran with it.

1969,
your color TV's turned black and white,
all you seem to see is the moon

There's so much grey, there's so much white,
the feeling's bled out in the night,
and all you know is you hope it comes back soon

The moon's just a stage for a landing
For all those people needing to believe
And you can feel more shades of grey than you can see
Yeah, you can feel more shades of grey than you can see

There's no real color, no real canvas,
there's just this hope and heart and sadness,
And you can't ever know what it's for

And maybe all this is romantic
But you'll take romance over stamps and Cambells
And all those boys who are so clever...

And the people who look at your painting
The people strong enough not to turn away
They're breaking down in tears in galleries
They're breaking down in tears in galleries

1969 your color TV turned black and white
All you seem to see is the moon
Well distance is easy, close is hard, TV's too small for a human heart
Can't you feel the monsters on the loose

Well when people step inside what they perceive
They end up breaking down in galleries
'Cause you can feel more shades of grey than you can see