"I've seen the bright get duller" (BoW) - Reference to tanning?

[Rawr]

As we know, Michael has mentioned various times that the tanning industry is a multi-billion/million dollar industry and that white people tan all the time...

Is this line in BoW a reference to that? :unsure: Or am I missing something?

[DANGEROUS-x]

Um, Never thought of it that way. :mellow::eek:

[EsaAngel]

either way winter still comes.

[Neda]

I never thought of it that way - I always thought it meant that people who are clever will be duller if they have a problem with people's skin colour/race/whatever? :unsure:

[Miss_Muffett_379]

Hmm, ive never taken that view myself, but who knows? The song is about colour (or not being a colour lol) :hmm:

[Dangerous2000watts]

....................What?

[sammichael]

I never thought of it that way - I always thought it meant that people who are clever will be duller if they have a problem with people's skin colour/race/whatever? :unsure:

:yes::yes: thats what I thought it was about:unsure::unsure:

[Mr. Been Told]

Black or white - one of the lyrically most underrated songs of Michael's.
To me, that songs works on quite a few levels...
And as for that specific line:
To me there are probably several meanings that can be applied to it.
The "problem" I have with this theory about tanning etc. is, that Michael is someone who never reduces people to the color of their skin.
The only times he mentioned people getting a darker tan were when he was asked about lightening his skin and vitiligo and so on.
He has never once brought up the subject and to me Michael is not a finger pointer in that way. Especially not with such trivial things as the color of your skin.

To me that line was always either about the smart going dumb (to put it bluntly) or about the good going bad. Bright = Light, Dull = Oposite = Absense of Light = Darkness. I could spin this further... For example, this could speak of people Michael has met along the way who have let themselves be corrupted by power or money or both.

I guess to a certain extent everything is open to interpretation. So I wouldn't dream of saying a theory like the one expressed here is wrong - but it just doesn't quite fit my image of Michael as an artist and the song itself.
Which in the end is only relevant to me and could mean jack-all to everybody else... :lol2:

So yeah, my 2 cents.

[Llama]

I've never thought of it like that either. :hmm: Good way to view it.

[tinker*bell]

:hmm:

very interesting theories, you guys! ;)