"L'amour est bleu" is a song whose music was composed by André Popp, and whose lyrics were written by Pierre Cour, in 1967. Bryan Blackburn later wrote English-language lyrics for it. First performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros as the Luxembourgish 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 lead artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in America. The song describes the pleasure and pain of love in terms of colours and elements. The English lyrics focus on colours only, using them to describe components of lost love. The English version by Vicky Leandros also appeared as "Colours of Love" in some locations including the UK.
The song was the second one performed during the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. At the close of voting, it had received 17 points, placing fourth in a field of 17, behind "Il doit faire beau là-bas", "If I Could Choose" and the winning song, "Puppet on a String". Some forty years after its original release, "L'amour est bleu", along with Domenico Modugno's "Nel blu dipinto di blu" 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, Italian and Dutch . 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 three non-winning songs to be involved. 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
In late 1967, Paul Mauriat conducted/recorded an orchestral "easy listening" version that was a number-one hit in the USA for five weeks in February and March 1968, and was the only performance by a French artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 until 2017, when Daft Punk was a featured artist on Canadian artist The Weeknd's number-one hit "Starboy". Mauriat's version became a gold record, and its five-week run at the top is the second longest of any instrumental of the Hot 100 era, after "Theme from A Summer Place". The song also spent 11 weeks atop Billboard's Easy Listening survey, and held the longest-lasting title honours on this chart for 25 years. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 2 song for 1968. 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. The Mauriat album containing "Love is Blue", Blooming Hits, also reached #1 on the Billboard Top LP's and Tapes chart for five weeks. 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 24 April 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." It was played over the closing credits of Mad Men's sixth-season episode "The Flood", which takes place during April 1968.
Charts
All-time charts
Other covers
Al Martino's "Love is Blue" peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts in 1968, and was the title song of one of his 1968 albums.
Jeff Beck recorded a "rock" interpretation of Mauriat's version in 1968. It reached No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart.
Claudine Longet's "Love Is Blue " peaked at No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.
