[Silence]
[Instrumental: Hohner Clavinet, synths, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, sub-bass, organ, percussion, drums]
[Intro]
Look up… look out…
(Can you see what it’s about?)
A thousand shades
(In light parades)
Where the spectrum plays…
[Verse 1]
Red to orange
(Yellow, green)
All the colors
(In between)
Violet calling
(Blue in flight)
Droplets falling
(Bend the light)
A new angle
(A new hue)
Something different
(Coming through)
[Pre-Chorus]
Refraction
(Reflection)
A little light
(Changing direction)
Wavelengths flowing
(Colors showing)
Where one ends
(Another’s flowing)
[Chorus]
Look deep into the rainbow
(You know…)
Betwixt where the colors mix
(My brain filling in the blanks…)
Vision starts to flow… so, thanks!
Mixing the hues
(Changing the views)
We just might
(Mix up white light)
[Verse 2]
Mix the paint
(Colors grow dim)
Take away light
(Absorbing it in)
Mix the light
(Additive play)
Different wavelengths
(Find their way)
Red and green
(Blue in the scene)
In the right proportion
(White can be seen)
[Pre-Chorus]
Cone cells
(Respond in kind)
Signals combine
(Inside the mind)
The brain interprets
(What the eyes receive)
A world of colors
(We believe!)
[Chorus]
Look deep into the rainbow
(You know…)
Betwixt where the colors mix
(My brain filling in the blanks…)
Vision starts to flow… so, thanks!
Mixing the hues
(Changing the views)
We just might
(Mix up white light)
Is it red?
(Is it gold?)
Is it new?
(Is it old?)
Where’s the border?
(Where’s the line?)
Your perception
(Works just fine!)
The eyes receive
(The brain decides)
A million shades
(Where the color rides)
Fill it in!
(Fill it in!)
Let the colors
(Flow again!)
Blend the view
(Change the hue)
What you see
(Is partly you!)
[Final Chorus]
Look deep into the rainbow
(You know…)
Betwixt where the colors mix
(My brain filling in the blanks…)
Vision starts to flow… so, thanks!
Mixing the hues
(Changing the views)
We just might
(Mix up white light)
Look deep into the rainbow
(Let your vision grow)
No seven separate stripes
(Just a spectrum’s flow)
Mixing the hues
(Changing the views)
Light and mind
(One of a kind!)
[Outro]
Filling in the blanks…
(I owe my thanks)
Red… orange… yellow…
Green… blue… violet…
A million shades
(The mind’s eye fades)
Look deep…
(Deep, deep, deep)
Seep… (let it go…)
Into the rainbow…
About the Song
When the colors of a rainbow meet, they do not mix like paint to create muddy browns or new solid colors. Instead, the colors blend perceptually because a rainbow is a continuous spectrum of visible light, not a collection of separate bands of pigment. The way these colors appear where they meet is governed by optics, the distribution of wavelengths, and how our eyes and brains perceive light.
Here is what actually happens where the vibrant colors of a rainbow meet.
1. A Rainbow Is a Continuous Spectrum, Not Seven Separate Stripes
A rainbow contains a continuous range of visible wavelengths, from violet at the shorter-wavelength end to red at the longer-wavelength end. The familiar colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—are convenient labels for portions of that spectrum, not distinct bands separated by sharp boundaries.
Water droplets refract and internally reflect sunlight, directing different wavelengths toward an observer at different angles. The result is a gradual transition between colors rather than a series of perfectly isolated stripes. Where neighboring wavelength ranges meet, the eye perceives transitional hues, such as orange between red and yellow.
2. Overlapping Light Can Produce Brighter, Less Saturated Colors
Unlike paint, which mixes through subtractive color mixing, light combines through additive color mixing. When different wavelengths of light reach the eye together, their contributions combine to produce a perceived color.
When red, green, and blue light are combined in suitable proportions, they can produce white light. However, simply overlapping neighboring rainbow colors does not automatically produce white. White requires an appropriate combination of wavelengths and intensities.
A rainbow’s colors do not physically blend back into their original white sunlight at its edges. Instead, the spectrum remains distributed by wavelength. The sky’s brightness inside and outside the primary rainbow also depends on how sunlight is scattered and redirected by water droplets. The region inside the primary bow often appears brighter than the region immediately outside it.
3. Your Eyes and Brain Interpret the Spectrum as Distinct Colors
The human visual system does not perceive every visible wavelength as a uniquely distinguishable color. Our cone cells respond to overlapping ranges of wavelengths, and the brain interprets their combined signals as color.
Because a rainbow’s spectrum is continuous, our perception organizes it into familiar categories. The boundaries between these categories are subjective rather than fixed physical divisions. Different observers may distinguish slightly different shades or identify the same transitional color differently.
The bottom line: A rainbow’s colors form a continuous spectrum. Neighboring colors transition gradually because their wavelengths are distributed across a range of viewing angles. Additive color mixing explains how different light wavelengths combine in our perception, but it does not mean the rainbow’s bands physically merge into white light.
From the album “Vista“