[TOMT] [Music] Obscure late-80s KPFT song: “Printer’s Blues”? Lyrics about Pantone colors + print-shop life

Hi all — I’m trying to track down a song I heard several times on KPFT (Pacifica Radio, Houston) sometime between 1987 and 1990. It was a novelty blues song about working in the printing industry. It was definitely aimed at print-shop folks, super inside-baseball jokes, and I’ve never been able to find any trace of it since.

I remember several lines almost verbatim:

• “When I see red, I see 185.”
• “If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have ordered it then.”
• “I’ve got the low-down Pantone reflex blues.”

I think the album might have been titled “Hot Off the Press”, but that could be slightly off — it’s been 35 years. It wasn’t a mainstream artist. My guess is it was a local musician or a tiny independent release that KPFT happened to have a copy of.

Has anyone else in Houston radio / print shops from that era ever heard this?

Does anyone remember KPFT playing novelty or union/labor songs like this?

Or does anyone recognize those Pantone lyric references?

This has been stuck in my head for decades, and I’d love to finally track it down.

Any leads — artists, albums, tape recordings, old playlists — would be amazing.

Thanks, Houston!