Shades of Gray - Monkees 1967

　モンキーズとしては異色の曲でホルンやチェロが使われている隠れた名曲。Davy Jones のソロで始まり、途中からは珍しく Peter Torkのソロという構成。モンキーズは今となっては生き残りはMickyだけとなっています。ドラミングからも戦火の行進にも聴こえる当時のヴェトナム戦争の混迷を歌った曲だろうか。これにはフォークロック調の原曲がありますが、モンキーズの曲の方が断然イイと思います。曲想に合わせてPVもblack & whiteになったのでしょう。青春の思い出の一曲。

When the world and I were young
Just yesterday
Life was such a simple game
A child could play
It was easy then to tell right from wrong
Easy then to tell weak from strong
When a man should stand and fight
Or just go along

But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray

I remember when the answers seemed so clear
We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear
It was easy then to tell truth from lies
Selling out from compromise
Who to love and who to hate
The foolish from the wise

But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray

shades of gray = 日本語だと白黒はっきりしない玉虫色というところか