When we first met, me and you, you thought I was common. How right you was, baby. I was common as dirt. You showed me the snapshot of the place with the columns. I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it, having them colored lights going! And wasn’t we happy together, wasn’t it all okay till she showed here? And wasn’t we happy together? Wasn’t it all okay till she showed here, hoity-toity, describing me like a ape?
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 8. Stanley reminds Stella of the happy life they had before Blanche came and disrupted it with her "hoity-toity" ways. When he and Stella first met, she was just like Blanche till he pulled her down from her high-class notions. "Columns" is a reference to the Belle Reve plantation and Stella’s upper class background. Stanley uses the metaphor of "them colored lights" for the passionate love life he and Stella enjoyed before Blanche came. He is using his sexuality to seduce Stella to his side in the power struggle between him and Blanche.