Love Is Blue

[Dave Bryce]

I don't know what it is exactly about this tune that knocks me out, but it's been a fave since I first heard it when I was a kid when it first came out in the late 60s. The string arrangement alone kills me every time I hear it.

 

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/8XKpw4hotRY

 

dB

[drawback]

I still get the odd request for it.

 

[Joe P]

I don't know what it is exactly about this tune that knocks me out....

 

dB

 

It's a great melody, man.

[Bobby Simons]

I also loved that tune. The year that song was released I was 16 and working at a small local ski area, either running one of the tow lifts or making snow - and skiing for free the rest of the time. That song was piped through the sound system three or four times a day at least. The tune and that place are forever connected in my very fond memories.

[Doerfler]

Earlier this year, this song came on while I was listening to music in the kitchen via a FIOS music channel on the TV. Of course I was very familiar with it. My wife heard it and said "Oh, I love this song, it reminds me of my childhood". My wife was born in 1974 in Kiev, Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union at that time. Just goes to show you the power of music.

[AnotherScott]

Great song. I regularly play this when I do cocktail hours.

[TommyS]

My high school stage band did a version of Love is Blue,, I did the harpsichord part on a Farfisa Mini Compact..

[Shamanczarek]

This song inspired Liberace to play Harpsichord here. He played Piano on other renditions.

 

[video:youtube]

[Dave Bryce]

The dancers definitely knock that rendition waaaaay over the top - especially the guys playing air strings..

 

dB

[Mark Schmieder]

That one was a guilty pleasure for me too as a youth; it always sent chills down my spine for some reason. In many ways, this version is a cheesy overdone arrangement, but its honesty and emotion shine through regardless.

 

I haven't hunted down the original vocal version recently, but I think it sounded pretty similar. The only thing that annoys me here are the strings at times, and the horn stabs. The harpsichord works really well though.

[Mark Schmieder]

Interesting that Liberace has a dual manual harpsichord in his live video, set up in linked mode (which is why you see the upper manual "playing").

 

That shows he knew a fair amount about the instrument vs. casually coming upon it and adopting it as a gimmick or a "trend". At that time, the norm would have been for simple Kirkpatrick kits that are single manual.

[Mark Schmieder]

It's funny, my first reaction at this point in my life, having not heard the song in decades, was that it sounded a bit like it has a strong Greek influence, and sure enough, a quick search for a wiki article bears this out:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27amour_est_bleu

 

I don't think I've yet found the original vocal recording I heard as a youth, as I doubt this one by Andy Williams is the one, given that I remember a very different vocal style (more yearning and romantic than Andy's lackluster rendition):

 

 

But it seems it was an instrumental originally, with lyrics added later:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PGhnBeqthY

 

Maybe that's what I heard, and my mind filled in the rhythmically-implied lyrics? It's funny how that happens a lot with jazz originals as well.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_ZtwNZh5Wc

 

Nevertheless, the one above, which I had never previously heard, by a French singer, may have been the first vocal treatment, before men started singing it (and in English). It certainly speaks of a period (and a place).

[Mark Schmieder]

Hah, I see in the listener comments that Claudine Longet was married to Andy Williams, so it's only natural that they both did versions of it.

 

The instrumental version I linked (the original) seems different than the one from Paul Mauriat that Dave linked originally; that one is probably a later live rendition.

 

Here's an early (late 1960's or early 1970's) English language version by another female singer. I like this one the best so far of the vocal versions I've found tonight.

 

 

Oh dear, I think I'm going to have to cover this song soon, but I'll need to hire a female singer for it as I think it works better with the female voice.

[Mark Schmieder]

How did I forget that Jeff Beck did a super-cheesy version, backed with "I've Been Drinking"? :-)

 

 

Another early vocal version was Al Martino's, but it doesn't sound familiar and is not appealing due to lack of passion, and vocal scooping into notes, plus annoying vibrato (common in the late 60's and early n70's):

 

 

Here's an unusual soul cover by The Dells, as part of a medley:

 

 

Like a lot of Motown at the time, the melody kind of gets lost at times due to so many generic arrangement details shared by almost everything on that label (I've always loved R&B, but not the Motown label in particular).

 

Still on a hunt for whatever version it was i heard when my family would visit friends (pop/rock was forbidden in our house as it was "the devil's music").

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

I think this might be the one:

 

 

It doesn't sound exactly as I remembered, but is way closer than anything else I've found so far, and Marty Robbins was always quite a talent, even after he departed from his country roots and sort of went "Vegas".

 

It seems this song was such an instant hit that at least a few dozen people covered it in the year it was released! This is also making it hard to track down the song's full trajectory. It was the Eurovision winner in 1967(?).

[Mark Schmieder]

And just in case you were wondering, Lawrence Welk did cover it too:

 

 

Makes the other orchestral versions seem restrained in comparison. :-)

[re Pete]

Puffy shirts too!

I wonder if those rings chipped the keys?

[Threadslayer]

I remember that the sheet music for this that I learned it from in the 1960s had the lyrics in French.

Bleu, Bleu, L'amour est bleu. Bleu est ma vie quand je suis sans toi... is how I remember it, but when I Svengle it now, I get multiple French versions - all different - and none as remembered above.

[Dave Bryce]

I remember that the sheet music for this that I learned it from in the 1960s had the lyrics in French.

Moi aussi.

 

dB

[ksoper]

Moi aussi.

 

dB

 

Tish. You spoke French.

[Dave Bryce]

Tish. You spoke French.

Obscure 60's sitcom references for $200, Alex.

 

dB

 

 

[TommyRude]

I remember this song when it was out, it was definitely part of the soundtrack of the late 60s. I think similar sounding harpsichord riffs were on a few other big hits back then, maybe the Beatles or Paul Revere & the Raiders? Maybe Austin Powers?

[Mark Schmieder]

The Beatles, "In My Life" (1965), might have been the first, but Terry Riley was also using it in his compositions and as Lennon & McCartney were big fans of Riley (or at least McCartney was), that might have influenced them (or it might have been George Martin's suggestion).

[Tusker]

Great melody! That song is a soundtrack to my childhood.

 

I like to think that Paul Mauriat did a lot to upgrade the song from the version which placed 4th for Vicky Leandros at the Eurovision: the 16th note harpsichord gives the pulse a clarity, the strings are clever and the horn syncopations set up the B section with a counterpoint, so it doesn't get too "poundy". I am reminded of "The Sound of Silence" which had an electric guitar and drums remixed in around the time of it's breakthrough to the charts.

 

Of course this is monday morning qb-ing. Perhaps both songs were going to be hits anyway.

[Synthoid]

I've always been a fan of "Love is Blue." It has a unique, whimsical feel to it and as some have stated, takes you back to a special time or place.

 

Another song from long ago that takes me back is the theme from "Summer Place." A bit cheesy perhaps by today's standards but it brings back many special memories of Cape May, New Jersey.

 

 

[AnotherScott]

I think similar sounding harpsichord riffs were on a few other big hits back then, maybe the Beatles or Paul Revere & the Raiders?

60s harpsichord hits that come to mind are "Different Drum" (Stone Poneys), "Scarbourough Fair" (Simon & Gafunkel), "Monday Monday" (Mamas & Papas), "Both Sides Now" (Judy Collins), "Society's Child" (Janis Ian), "I Got You Babe" (Sonny and Cher), "Windy" (The Association) and "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" (Spanky and Our Gang). Some with the harpsi more central and/or more "Love Is Blue" like than others. ;-)

 

I've always been a fan of "Love is Blue." It has a unique, whimsical feel to it and as some have stated, takes you back to a special time or place.

 

Another song from long ago that takes me back is the theme from "Summer Place."

For me, both of those also pair with other instrumental hits of around the same time. Along with "Love Is Blue" was "A Time For Us" (theme from Romeo and Juliet); and with "Summer Place," I also think of "Stranger on the Shore." All great.

[Markay]

Interesting album cover.

 

 

Segue to Serg Gainsbourg's "Je t'aime moi non plus"?

 

"The lyrical subtleties were lost on late-1960s Brits. What they heard was an expertly stroked organ, orgasmic groans and a soft-focus melody" - Sylvie Simmons, Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes.

[Desert Rat]

Tish. You spoke French.

Obscure 60's sitcom references for $200, Alex.

 

dB

 

 

Not that obscure, Bubeleh.

[Desert Rat]

Interesting album cover.

 

 

Yes, it is. But what is more interesting is what is inside. When I saw this thread, I went and pulled the LP. It is heavier than most of the pressings of the time (it is original, not a re-issue) which could account for how well it has weathered the years.

 

I, too, was taken by the song, but Mr. Mauriat's was the only version I played, over and over again. While my piano teacher at the time wasn't too keen on me learning it, I got a copy of the sheet music and did so on the side. It is, without a doubt, a song that shaped my life.

[Shamanczarek]

On Blooming Hits Paul Mauriat also covers the winning song from Eurovision 1967. "Puppet on a String" was the winner by a wide margin and was a huge European hit especially in Germany. I had the Blooming Hits album but didn't take notice of the song at the time. I first became acquainted with it several years ago when I got a Sandie Shaw hits collection. I didn't care for it at first but my SO liked it and it grew on me. Here is Shaw's performance:

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmyh9mUga-w