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Moon7296 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

"What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong

There is a part that I don't understand in that song.

"The colours of rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by.
I see friends shaking hands, saying: "How do you do".
They're really saying: "I love you".

I don't understand the underlined part. How should I interpret it? (I don't know if they are connected or separated.)
  

Top answer

The two lines are a single sentence. The songwriter speaks to racial harmony. It is not meant literally, but certain colors are associated with certain races in English.

— Enoon

  • The two lines are a single sentence.
  • The songwriter speaks to racial harmony.
  • It is not meant literally, but certain colors are associated with certain races in English.
  • The red man is an American Indian, yellow for Orientals, black for Negroes, white for Caucasians.
  • Irrelevantly, a little green man is from Mars.
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6 Answers
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The two lines are a single sentence. The songwriter speaks to racial harmony. It is not meant literally, but certain colors are associated with certain races in English. The red man is an American Indian, yellow for Orientals, black for Negroes, white for Caucasians. Irrelevantly, a little green man is from Mars.
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enoonThe two lines are a single sentence
Wow... really? I thought about it.. and even so.. i don't know how to interpret the two lines.. it seems ungrammatical although native speakers totally understand..
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The colors of the rainbow (which are) so pretty (when they are up) in the sky are also on the faces of people (who are) going by (on the street). It's a poetical notion.
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1. "The colors of the rainbow (which are) so pretty (when they are up) in the sky"

2. "are also on the faces of people (who are) going by (on the street). It's a poetical notion."

Thank you for the interpretation. But still it looks like #1 is one part, and #2 is the other part because I don't understand "are" (als on te faces of ....) which destroy my grammar understanding.
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Hi

I think it is just an adjectival phrase ...

- The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of the people going by

Dave
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moon7296I don't understand "are"
It's one long sentence. The subject is "colors", and the verb is "are".
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