Long before the painters named the autumn on the trees

Long before the sunrise had a word for what it breathed

There was a fruit on a branch in a faraway land

Round and bright and glowing and it didn't understand

Was I the name or was I the thing?

Did I teach the light what color to bring?

Nobody knew what to call what they saw

Till they bit into me and then they knew

I am the orange that named the color orange

I was here before the word, I was here before the thought

The color had no title, had no claim, had no crown

Till a fruit rolled off a branch and the whole world wrote it down

I came first

I came first

Carried along the spice road on a slow and ancient cart

Peel like a lantern, flesh like a tart

They held me up to the sun and they searched for a name

And the only word that fit me was already mine to claim

Was I the name or was I the thing?

Did I teach the light what color to bring?

Nobody knew what to call what they saw

Till they bit into me and then they knew

I am the orange that named the color orange

I was here before the word, I was here before the thought

The color had no title, had no claim, had no crown

Till a fruit rolled off a branch and the whole world wrote it down

I came first

I came first

Sunsets borrowed my glow

Marigolds owe me their name

Tigers wear my coat now

But I was the one who came

I was the one who came

I am the orange that named the color orange

I was here before the word, I was here before the thought

The color had no title, had no claim, had no crown

Till a fruit rolled off a branch and the whole world wrote it down

I came first

I came first

Peel me slow, taste the answer

The fruit always knew

The color just caught up

Yeah, the fruit always knew...