L'amour est bleu
 "L'amour est bleu" | |
|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1967 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) | |
| As | Vicky |
| Language | |
| Composer(s) | |
| Lyricist(s) | |
| Conductor | Claude Denjean |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result | 4th |
| Final points | 17 |
| Entry chronology | |
| ◄ "Ce soir je t'attendais" (1966) | |
| "Nous vivrons d'amour" (1968) ► | |
"L'amour est bleu" ("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.[1] First performed in French by 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 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 gray) and elements (water and wind). The English lyrics ("Blue, blue, my world is blue...") focus on colors only (blue, gray, red, green, and black), using them to describe elements of lost love. An odd twist in the lyric uses the word "gone" in the same pattern used to introduce each color.
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). "L'amour est bleu" was one of very few non-winning entries to become a 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 subsequently recorded it in Greek, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch as well. 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."
Mauriat version
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 of 1968, becoming the only performance by a French artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100. Not surprisingly, the song spent 11 weeks atop Billboard's Easy Listening survey, and held the longest-lasting title honors on this chart for 25 years. It is the best-known version of the song in the United States.
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.[2] His version is also briefly heard in The Simpsons episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home."
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. Jeff Beck, Claudine Longet, The Dells, Ed Ames, Johnny Mathis, Marty Robbins, Al Martino, Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Welk, Chara, Michèle Torr, and Stephin Merritt (of Future Bible Heroes) are among the artists who have covered it.
- The song has become familiar to millions of Soviet TV viewers as a tune that accompanied weather forecasts in the daily news program Vremya. [citation needed]
- In 2006 an instrumental version of the song's chorus was used in a television advertisement for Lynx Dry anti-perspirant in the UK and Australia. The ad also aired in the United States under the brand name Axe. Lynx and Axe are the same product. [3]
- Leandros' version was played in Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, in the scene where a French doctor makes house calls at night, driving a SOS Médecins car.
- Theatre Organist John Seng recorded a version in the style of a Baroque Fugue in 1969 on his self-titled album
- Longet's version, the title song of one of her albums, is heard in the background of a scene in the 2008 film Pineapple Express.
- 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. [citation needed]
- 101 Strings Orchestra's version was used in the film "Born on the Fourth of July (film)" (1989).
- Mitzi Gaynor sang it on her television special in 1968.[4]
- 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 (2003 film) 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.