Blue Bayou#Linda Ronstadt version
{{Short description|1961 song by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson}}
{{about|the Roy Orbison song|other uses|Blue Bayou (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Blue Bayou
| cover = Roy Orbison Blue Bayou single cover.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Roy Orbison
| album = In Dreams
| B-side = Mean Woman Blues
| released = {{Start date|1963|8|1}}
| recorded = {{Start date|1961|11|15}}{{Cite AV media notes |title = Orbison 1955-1965 (7-CD Deluxe Box Set) |last = Weize |first = Richard |url = https://www.bear-family.com/orbison-roy-orbison-1955-1965-7-cd-deluxe-box-set.html |date = 2001 |access-date = 2021-10-11 |type = booklet |publisher = Bear Family Records|id = BCD16423}}
| studio = RCA Victor Studio B, Nashville
| venue =
| length = 2:29
| label = Monument
| writer = {{hlist|Roy Orbison|Joe Melson}}
| producer = Fred Foster
| prev_title = Falling
| prev_year = 1963
| next_title = Pretty Paper
| next_year = 1963
}}
"Blue Bayou" is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. It was originally sung and recorded by Orbison, who had an international hit with his version in 1963. It later became Linda Ronstadt's signature song, with which she scored a top 5 hit with her cover in 1977. Many others have since recorded the song.
Roy Orbison version
=Background=
"Blue Bayou" was originally recorded by Roy Orbison at the end of 1961. In the UK, it was released by London Monument as the double A-side track with "Mean Woman Blues" on a Monument Records single (HLU 9777), where both sides peaked at number 3. It was issued as a B-side single in the US, peaking at number 29; the A-side, "Mean Woman Blues", peaked at number 5. The song also appeared on Orbison's 1963 full-length album In Dreams. According to the authorised biography of Roy Orbison,{{Cite book|title=The authorized Roy Orbison|last=Orbison|first=Roy Jr.|publisher=Center Street|others=Orbison, Wesley, Orbison, Alex, Slate, Jeff|year=2017|isbn=9781478976547|edition= Second |location=New York|pages=249|oclc=1017566749}} a rare different version of "Blue Bayou" was released only in Italy (London 45-HL 1499).
"Blue Bayou" reappeared on his 1989 posthumous album A Black & White Night Live, from the 1988 television special on Cinemax.
=Track listings=
==7" vinyl==
US: Monument Records 824
Side one
- "Blue Bayou" (Roy Orbison, Joe Melson) – 2:29 – Recorded in late 1961.
Side two
- "Mean Woman Blues" (Claude Demetrius) – 2:23
Chart performance
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=Weekly charts=
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=Year-end charts=
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1963)
!Rank |
|---|
| Australia[The 100 Best-Selling Singles of 1963 https://archive.today/20160305064644/http://www.austchartbook.com.au/ Top 25 Australian singles for 1963]
| style="text-align:center;"|21 |
| UK[The 100 Best-Selling Singles of 1963 www.sixtiescity.net/charts/63chart.htm#top100]
| style="text-align:center;"|19 |
{{col-end}}
Use in other media
This song has been used in several motion pictures including:
- The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring David Bowie
- Last Orders (2001), directed by Fred Schepisi
- Dreamcatcher (2003), directed by Lawrence Kasdan
- Man on Fire (2004), directed by Tony Scott
- American Made (2017), directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise
- The Best of Enemies (2019), directed by Robin Bissell, and starring Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell
- Blue Bayou (film) (2021), directed by Justin Chon. In the film, the song is sung by actress Alicia Vikander
Jacques Cousteau included an abridged version of the song during a "River Explorations" episode, which details environmental changes on the Mississippi River.
This song has also been used in the Netflix digital series, Stranger Things (Season 2, Episode 6). A French language version of the song entitled "Tu n'es plus là" was released in 1963 by French rock and roll singer Dick Rivers.
Linda Ronstadt version
{{Infobox song
| name = Blue Bayou
| cover = Linda Ronstadt Blue Bayou single cover.jpg
| alt =
| caption = German 7" single
| type = single
| artist = Linda Ronstadt
| album = Simple Dreams
| B-side = "Old Paint", "Love Me Tender, "Maybe I'm Right, or "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", depending on the country of release{{cite web |url=http://wax.fm/search?q=Blue+Bayou+Linda+Ronstadt |title=Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt |publisher=Wax.fm |access-date=2014-05-24 |archive-date=2017-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827001713/http://wax.fm/search?q=Blue+Bayou+Linda+Ronstadt |url-status=dead }}
| released = {{Start date|1977|08|23}} (US)
| recorded =
| studio = Sound Factory, Hollywood
| venue =
| genre = Country pop, soft rock, yacht rock
| length = 3:57
| label = Asylum
| writer = Roy Orbison, Joe Melson
| producer = Peter Asher
| prev_title = Lose Again
| prev_year = 1976
| next_title = It's So Easy
| next_year = 1977
| misc = {{External music video|header=Official video|{{YouTube|Kp9G0zkorio|"Blue Bayou"}}}}
}}
=Background=
Linda Ronstadt took the song to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1977, where it held for four weeks, as well as #2 Country and #3 Easy Listening. It also reached #2, holding there for four weeks, on the Cash Box Top 100 chart.
The single was RIAA certified Gold (for sales of over 1 million US copies) in January 1978. It was the first of Ronstadt's three Gold singles. Don Henley of the Eagles sang backup on the recording.{{cite web
| url = http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=17998
| title = Blue Bayou
| work = Songfacts.com
| access-date = 2009-12-26
}} "Blue Bayou" was later certified Platinum (for over 2 million copies sold in the United States). It was a worldwide smash, charting in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Mexico, where it topped the singles charts.
Ronstadt's version was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Ronstadt also recorded a Spanish-language version of the song (translated by her father, Gilbert Ronstadt), titled "Lago Azul (Blue Bayou)", which was released in 1978 on the single Asylum E-45464, backed by "Lo Siento Mi Vida", a previously released Spanish song that Ronstadt herself co-wrote.{{citation needed|date= September 2023}} This version has never been included on any reissues of Simple Dreams.
Ronstadt later performed the song on episode 523 of The Muppet Show, first aired on October 26, 1980, in the UK, and May 16, 1981, in the United States.
Because of this song, Dickson's Baseball Dictionary records that a "Linda Ronstadt" is a synonym for a fastball, a pitch that "blew by you". That phrase was coined by New York Mets broadcaster Tim McCarver during a Mets telecast in the 1980s.{{Cite web |title='Dickson's Baseball Dictionary' A Labor Of Love |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101356924 |access-date=2022-05-08 |website=NPR.org |language=en}}
Ronstadt's version appears, in edited form, in the 2017 film American Made and in Tony Scott's 2004 film Man on Fire.
=Track listings=
==7" vinyl==
US: Asylum Records E-45431
Side one
- "Blue Bayou" (Roy Orbison, Joe Melson) – 3:57
Side two
- "Old Paint (traditional, arranged by Linda Ronstadt) – 3:05
=Chart performance=
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==Weekly charts==
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==Year-end charts==
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=Certifications=
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|title=Blue Bayou|artist=Linda Ronstadt|type=single|relyear=1977|certyear=1990|region=United States|award=Platinum}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{YouTube|kri4VH_Mdd4|Roy Orbison - Blue Bayou}}
- {{YouTube|Q98s8GyPw64|Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou}}
{{Roy Orbison}}
{{Linda Ronstadt}}
{{American Music Award for Favorite Country Song}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Monument Records singles
Category:Asylum Records singles
Category:Number-one singles in Australia
Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Category:Songs written by Roy Orbison
Category:Songs written by Joe Melson