L'amour est bleu

"Love is Blue" redirects here. For other uses, see Love is Blue (disambiguation).

"L'amour est bleu"
Eurovision Song Contest 1967 entry
Country	Luxembourg
Artist(s)	Vicky Leandros
As	Vicky
Language	French
Composer(s)	André Popp
Lyricist(s)	Pierre Cour
Conductor	Claude Denjean
Finals performance
Final result	4th
Final points	17
Appearance chronology
◄ Ce soir je t'attendais (1966)
Nous vivrons d'amour (1968) ►

"L'amour est bleu" (English title: "Love Is Blue") is a song whose music was composed by André Popp, and whose lyrics were written by Pierre Cour, in 1967. Brian Blackburn later wrote English-language lyrics for it. First performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros (appearing as Vicky) as the Luxembourgian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967, it has since been recorded by many other musicians, most notably French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat, whose familiar instrumental version became the only number-one hit by a French artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in America.

The song describes the pleasure and pain of love in terms of colours (blue and grey) and elements (water and wind). The English lyrics ("Blue, blue, my world is blue …") focus on colours only (blue, grey, red, green, and black), using them to describe elements of lost love. The English version by Vicky Leandros also appeared as "Colours of Love" in some locations including the UK.

Eurovision

The song was performed second during the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. At the close of voting, it had received 17 points, placing 4th in a field of 17, behind "Il doit faire beau là-bas" (France), "If I Could Choose" (Ireland) and the winning song, "Puppet on a String" (United Kingdom). Some forty years after its original release, "L'amour est bleu", along with Domenico Modugno's "Nel blu dipinto di blu" (better known as "Volare") and Mocedades' "Eres tú", still counts as one of very few non-winning Eurovision entries ever to become a worldwide hit.

Greek-born Leandros recorded the song both in French and English, and had a modest hit in Europe with it, but in Japan and Canada she had a big hit with this song. She also recorded it in German (as "Blau wie das Meer"), Italian ("L'amore è blu") and Dutch ("Liefde is zacht") . The song has since become a favourite of Contest fans, most notably appearing as part of a medley introducing the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, one of only two non-winning songs to be involved (the other being "Dschinghis Khan").

It was succeeded as Luxembourgian representative at the 1968 Contest by Chris Baldo & Sophie Garel with "Nous vivrons d'amour". Vicky Leandros went on to win the Contest five years later with the song "Après toi", again representing Luxembourg.

Mauriat version

"Love Is Blue (L'Amour Est Bleu)"
Single by Paul Mauriat
from the album Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat - Volume 5
B-side	"Alone in the World (Seuls Au Monde)"
Released	1968
Format	7"
Genre	Easy listening
Label	Philips
Writer(s)	André Popp, Pierre Cour
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Paul Mauriat singles chronology
"Puppet on a String" (1967) "Love Is Blue (L'Amour Est Bleu)" (1968) "Love in Every Room" (1968)

In late 1967, Paul Mauriat conducted an orchestral "easy listening" version that was a number-one hit in the USA for five weeks in February and March 1968, becoming the only performance by a French artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100. Its five-week run at the top was second longest of any instrumental of the Hot 100 era next to 1960's Theme From A Summer Place. Not surprisingly, the song spent 11 weeks atop Billboard's Easy Listening survey, and held the longest-lasting title honours on this chart for 25 years. It is the best-known version of the song in the United States. The Mauriat recording also reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.

Mauriat's version was featured repeatedly in an episode of Chris Carter's television series Millennium titled "A Room With No View," which originally aired on April 24, 1998 on the Fox Network. During the episode, the omnipresent melody is used by a kidnapper to brainwash a group of youths. His version is also briefly heard in The Simpsons episodes "There's No Disgrace Like Home" and "The Blue and the Gray."

Legacy

"L'amour est bleu"/"Love Is Blue" is noted as one of the most-covered and biggest-selling Eurovision Songs ever, and remains a widely familiar melody due in part to its continued recurrence in pop-culture mediums. Orietta Berti, Jeff Beck, Claudine Longet, The Dells, Ed Ames, Johnny Mathis, Marty Robbins, Al Martino, Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Welk, Chara, Michèle Torr, and Future Bible Heroes are among the artists who have covered it.

• At the end of The Simpsons episode, "The Blue and The Gray" (aired 13 February 2011) the song appears while Marge and Homer share a kiss.

• Martino's English-language version also was the title song of one of his albums in 1968. It peaked at #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.

• Jeff Beck recorded a "rock" interpretation of Mauriat's version in 1968. It reached number 23 on the UK Singles Chart. He also recorded a unrelated but similarly titled song called "Love Is Green" in 1976 for the Wired album.

• Mitzi Gaynor sang it on her television special in 1968.

• This song was performed in Spanish by two great singers of the sixties: the well-known Spanish singer Raphael – who performed it in one of his films in 1968 – and the Spanish female singer Karina, who recorded her version in the 1970s. Also, the version by Paul Mauriat's orchestra stayed in the Mexican hit parade from 1968 to 1971.

• In 1968, Gábor Szabó covered the song for his album Bacchanal

• In 1969 The Dells had a top-thirty hit with their soul medley, "I Can Sing a Rainbow/Love Is Blue."

• In 1970, composer Saluri Rajeshwara Rao used the music for the Telugu language song "Ee reyi teeyanidi" picturized on actors Haranadh and Vanisri in the Indian film Chitti Chellulu. This song was remade for the Indian Telugu Johnny by composer Ramana Gogula and picturized on actor Pawan Kalyan.

• In 1990, composer Bappi Lahiri used the music for the Hindi language song "Hum Dono Akele Hon" in the Indian film Aaj Ke Shahenshah (1990). Lahiri sang the song himself as a duet with another playback singer Anuradha Paudwal and picturized on actors Chunkey Pandey and Kimi Katkar.

• Jackie Mittoo, one of the most prolific keyboardist, also covered this song with Coxsone's Jamaican studio band The Soul Vendors on Evening Time album (1968). Jackie was recorded some of the most popular reggae riddims of all time like Rockfort Rock, Real Rock and so many.

• Sonny Bradshaw, Jamaica's "dean of Jamaican music" covered Paul Mauriat's version in 1968 with his "Sonny Bradshaw Seven". Available on the "Sixties" Trojan Box Set series.

• The Mandarin Chinese language version of this song appears with 2 names. One is "憂鬱的愛情", lyrics by Deng Deng, covered by female singer Sun Yi Hua on her 1969/70 LP 忘不了的你. The other is "失去的愛情", lyrics by Xin Fan, covered by Betty Chung on her 1968 LP Wild Flame. Also, the English lyrics version was covered by The Chopsticks (a female duo made up of Sandra Lang (仙杜拉) & Amina (亞美娜)) in their 1970 LP 《Some Day》issue, and by another female singer, Felicia Wong (王愛明), in her 1974 LP 《Felicia's Folk Album II》issue.

Sources and external links

• Official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year, 1967.
• Detailed info and lyrics, The Diggiloo Thrush, "L'amour est bleu".

References

Preceded by "Green Tambourine" by The Lemon Pipers	Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Paul Mauriat version) February 10, 1968 (five weeks)	Succeeded by "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding
Preceded by "The Lesson" by Vikki Carr	Billboard Easy Listening Singles number-one single (Paul Mauriat version) February 17, 1968 (11 weeks)	Succeeded by "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro