diff --git a/bar.c b/bar.c
index a9304e7..e620c40 100644
--- a/bar.c
+++ b/bar.c
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ static const int pal[] = {COLOR0,COLOR1,COLOR2,COLOR3,COLOR4,COLOR5,COLOR6,COLOR
 #define MIN(a,b) ((a > b ? b : a))
 
 int
-draw (int x, int align, char *text)
+draw (int x, int align, int fgcol, int bgcol, char *text)
 {
     int done = 0;
     int pos_x = x;
@@ -38,7 +38,12 @@ draw (int x, int align, char *text)
             pos_x = bw - strw; 
             break;
     }
-
+    /* Setup the colors */
+    xcb_change_gc (c, gc, XCB_GC_FOREGROUND, (const uint32_t []){ pal[fgcol] });
+    xcb_change_gc (c, gc, XCB_GC_BACKGROUND, (const uint32_t []){ pal[bgcol] });
+    xcb_change_window_attributes (c, win, XCB_CW_BACK_PIXEL, (const uint32_t []){ pal[bgcol] });
+    /* Draw the background first */
+    xcb_clear_area (c, 0, win, pos_x, 0, strw, BAR_HEIGHT);
     do {
         xcb_image_text_8 (c, MIN(len - done, 255), win, gc, pos_x, bh - ft_height / 2, text + done); /* Bottom-left coords */
         done += MIN(len - done, 255);
@@ -59,17 +64,18 @@ parse (char *text)
     int pos_x = 0;
     int align = 0;
 
+    int fgcol = 1;
+    int bgcol = 0;
+
     xcb_clear_area (c, 0, win, 0, 0, bw, BAR_HEIGHT);
     for (;;) {
         if (*p == 0x0 || *p == 0xA || (*p == '\\' && p++ && *p != '\\' && strchr ("fblcr", *p))) {
-            pos_x += draw (pos_x, align, parsed_text);
+            pos_x += draw (pos_x, align, fgcol, bgcol, parsed_text);
             switch (*p++) {
                 case 0x0: return; /* EOL */
                 case 0xA: return; /* NL */
-                case 'f': if (*p == 'r') *p = '1'; if (isdigit (*p)) 
-                              xcb_change_gc (c, gc, XCB_GC_FOREGROUND, (const uint32_t []){ pal[*p-'0'] }); p++; break;
-                case 'b': if (*p == 'r') *p = '0'; if (isdigit (*p)) 
-                              xcb_change_gc (c, gc, XCB_GC_BACKGROUND, (const uint32_t []){ pal[*p-'0'] }); p++; break;
+                case 'f': if (*p == 'r') *p = '1'; if (isdigit (*p)) { fgcol = *p-'0'; } p++; break;
+                case 'b': if (*p == 'r') *p = '0'; if (isdigit (*p)) { bgcol = *p-'0'; } p++; break;
                 case 'l': align = 0; pos_x = 0; break;
                 case 'c': align = 1; pos_x = 0; break;
                 case 'r': align = 2; pos_x = 0; break;
@@ -166,7 +172,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
             xcb_flush (c);
     }
     /* There's no more data, but the user still wants to see it */
-    while (permanent);
+    while (permanent) sleep(1);
 
     return 0;
 }