It's a still life want of color

The story:

This song has long been a favorite of mine--it was on the first
album I bought with my own money (at the age of 11). I heard
the opening line as being something even more poetic than
what Simon actually wrote: the scene of two people not
communicating should have color but doesn't. It was only
recently that I heard the line as Simon intended--still a good
line, but not as good as the version I had been hearing for
decades.