Blue Velvet (song)

For the Shizuka Kudō song, see Blue Velvet (Shizuka Kudō song).

"Blue Velvet"
Single by The Clovers
from the album Blue Velvet
Released	1955
Format	12" vinyl record
Genre	Rhythm and blues
Length	2:33
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Bernie Wayne Lee Morris

"Blue Velvet" is a popular song written in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris. The song was originally recorded and performed by Tony Bennett, who charted with it in 1951. It was remade four years later by the traditional R&B group the Clovers. Many other artists have recorded the song, most notably Bobby Vinton. The original recording by Bennett was a top twenty hit, while Vinton's version soared to the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background

While visiting friends in Richmond VA songwriter Bernie Wayne stayed at the Jefferson Hotel, and it was the sight of a woman at a party held at the Jefferson which inspired Wayne to write the lyric for "Blue Velvet". When Wayne pitched "Blue Velvet" to Columbia Records head a&r man Mitch Miller he'd only played the opening line: "She wore blue velvet...", when Miller interrupted saying: "How about [my giving the song to] Tony Bennett?" Wayne's response: "Don't you want to hear the rest of the song", drew this advice from Miller: "Quit while you're ahead!"

Tony Bennett version

The first artist for whom "Blue Velvet" was a hit was Tony Bennett. Bennett's 1951 recording peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard chart of "Records Most Played by Disc Jockeys", while reaching No. 18 on Billboard's chart of "Best Selling Pop Singles", and No. 18 on Billboard's chart of "Most Played Juke Box Records".

The Clovers version

The song was recorded by the Clovers for their album of the same name. Released in 1955 through Atlantic Records, the song was released as a single on 10" shellac. The song was initially recorded, produced, and released when the R&B group was still composed of John "Buddy" Bailey (lead singer), Billy Mitchell, Matthew McQuater, Harold Lucas, Harold Winley, Bill Harris. Various members of the group left, died, or were replaced, although the group as a whole still performed the song regardless of whom its members were. The song reached No. 14 on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues Records chart of "Best Sellers in Stores".

Bobby Vinton version

"Blue Velvet"
Single by Bobby Vinton
from the album Blue on Blue
B-side	"Is There a Place (Where I Can Go)"
Released	1963
Format	Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM
Genre	Traditional pop
Length	2:47
Label	Epic
Writer(s)	Bernie Wayne Lee Morris
Producer(s)	Bob Morgan
Bobby Vinton singles chronology
"Blue on Blue" (1963) "Blue Velvet" (1963) "There! I've Said It Again" (1963)

The most successful recording of "Blue Velvet" was released by Bobby Vinton in 1963. Vinton's version reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 21, 1963, and held the top spot for three weeks. It also spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Middle-Road Singles chart.

Vinton's No. 3 hit in the summer of 1963 "Blue on Blue" prompted him to record a Blue on Blue album comprising songs featuring the word "blue" in the title. Vinton's friend music publisher Al Gallico suggested "Blue Velvet" as a Blue on Blue album track. Gallico sent his secretary with a dollar to a music store to purchase the song's sheet music, and an hour later Vinton recorded "Blue Velvet" in two takes. Vinton did not expect the song to be a hit, and believed his remake of "Am I Blue?" had more sales potential.

In August 1963 Bobby Vinton released the song for his sixth studio album, Blue on Blue, which was alternately titled Blue Velvet. The song served as the album's lead single and is, arguably, the most popular recording of the song to exist.

Vinton's recording failed to make the British charts when originally released, but a re-release in 1990 reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.

Chart performance

Chart (1963)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100	1
US Billboard Middle-Road Singles	1
Canada – CHUM Hit Parade	1
New Zealand – "Lever Hit Parade"	1
Philippines	5
South Africa	6
Peru – La Prensa	8
Australia – Music Maker	9
Chart (1990)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	2
Flemish Belgium	38

Lana Del Rey version

"Blue Velvet"
File:Lana Del Rey Blue Velvet Cover.jpeg
Single by Lana Del Rey
from the album Paradise
Released	September 20, 2012 (2012-09-20)
Format	Digital download
Length	2:36
Label	Interscope
Writer(s)	Bernie Wayne Lee Morris
Producer(s)	Emile Haynie
Lana Del Rey singles chronology
"National Anthem" (2012) "Blue Velvet" (2012) "Ride" (2012) Audio sample file info · help

American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey released a cover of the song "Blue Velvet" in 2012. It was taken from reissue of her second studio album Born to Die – The Paradise Edition and her third EP, Paradise. It was released as a single on September 20, 2012, through Interscope Records, and used in an advertising campaign for the clothing retailer H&M.

Background

Del Rey had recorded a cover of "Blue Velvet" for her 2012 H&M Autumn campaign. On September 20, the song was released as a single. Del Rey was selected for the H&M ad campaign after an impressionable performance at a Mulberry dinner party. Industry moguls Michelle Williams, Alexa Chung, Elizabeth Olsen, and Anna Wintour attended the party and were impressed by the performance. A public relations manager for H&M said Del Rey was chosen because they "were looking for a style icon and singer to model our fall collection and so Lana Del Rey was the perfect choice".

Music video

On September 19, the music video, which serves as a commercial for the H&M 2012 Autumn Collection as well, for "Blue Velvet" was released through H&M. In the video, Del Rey is singing the song in a low-lit room before an audience of pallid people, playing an Americana lounge singer dressed in a pink mohair sweater, She is then hypnotized. Three women dressed identically to Del Rey sit on a couch and watch her coldly. At the end, a little man walks into the room, pulls out the plug for Del Rey's microphone, silencing her. Compared to the David Lynch film of the same name, it was directed by Johan Renck. and composed in post-World War II Americana fashion and the notion of external beauty cloaking inner vulnerability. A behind the scenes video was filmed and posted to H&M's official YouTube station.

Critical reception

Rolling Stone called Del Rey's cover "doleful". Carl Williot of Idolator dubbed Del Rey's cover, "beautifully languorous and dreary (though [it] is replete with her go-to swell of strings and grainy programmed beats). Jenna Hally Rubenstein, writing for MTV, called the commercial and vocals, "moody, totally broody", playfully adding, "what would a Lana Del Rey campaign be if it didn't make you feel a tad depressed?" In the video, Rubenstein said Del Rey was a "ridiculous beauty" sporting a Brigitte Bardot–inspired look, which she added, not every singer can pull off. People said the video was dramatic, intriguing, unique, and played off the moody, vintage Hollywood image of the retro-inspired starlet. Appropriately, they wrote, the video had film noir elements. Specifically, it was compared to the neo-noir film, Mulholland Drive as well as the film Blue Velvet itself. In an interview with Artinfo, David Lynch spoke out about Del Rey's cover:

Lana Del Rey, she's got some fantastic charisma and – this is a very interesting thing – it's like she's born out of another time. She's got something that's very appealing to people. And I didn't know she was influenced by me!

Track listing

"Digital download"

1. "Blue Velvet" – 2:36

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Paradise.

Performance

• Lana Del Rey – vocals

Instruments

• The Larry Gold Orchestra – strings

Technical and production

• Ben Baptie – mixing assistant
• Spencer Burgess Jr. – assistant recording engineer
• John Davis – mastering
• Tom Elmhirst – mixing
• Larry Gold – string arrangements
• Emile Haynie – production

Chart performance

Chart (2012)	Peak position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)	40
France (SNEP)	40
Germany (Official German Charts)	49
Spain (PROMUSICAE)	44
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)	42
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	60

Release history

Country	Date	Format	Label
France	September 20, 2012	Digital download	Universal
Germany			Vertigo Capitol
United Kingdom			Polydor
United States	September 25, 2012		Interscope
Canada

Other recordings

• The first public performance of the song was by singer Ray Mason in 1950 at a fashion show in Boston.
• Arthur Prysock recorded "Blue Velvet" for his May 1963 album release Coast to Coast.
• "Blue Velvet" was included on the Trini Lopez LP The Love Album (1963), issued by Reprise Records.
• The song was also included on the Brenda Lee album By Request (1964).
• Jimmy Velvet had a single release of the song in 1969.
• Leon Ware covered the song on his 1987 album Undercover.
• Jazz saxophonist and producer Houston Person recorded it twice, once as an organ quintet version with Joey DeFrancesco, guitarist Randy Johnston, drummer Bertell Knox and percussionist Sammy Figueroa for an 1991 Muse album titled The Party, and then a decade later for the HighNote label. The song became the title track, and was performed with pianist Richard Wyands, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Grady Tate.
• Barry Manilow included "Blue Velvet" on his 2006 album, The Greatest Songs of the Sixties.
• Australian singer Jason Donovan recorded the song for his album Let It Be Me (2008).
• Singer Thomas Truax included a version of "Blue Velvet" on his 2009 album Songs From The Films Of David Lynch.

Use in film soundtracks

Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" is one of the thirteen songs featured in Kenneth Anger's groundbreaking experimental film Scorpio Rising (1963). Tony Bennett's version of the song is featured in The Last Picture Show and Raging Bull.

Bobby Vinton's version is featured several times in David Lynch's film, Blue Velvet (1986). The film is partly inspired by the song's lyrics, where Isabella Rossellini, who plays a singer in the film, also sings the song in-character. Lynch selected the song because it conceptually matched the mood of the film. Specifically, Lynch said of the song: "the mood that came with that song a mood, a time, and things that were of that time". The film itself heavily incorporates portions of the song. During filming, Lynch placed speakers on set and in streets and played Shostakovich to set the correct mood he wanted to convey for the song. The score makes direct quotations from Shostakovich's 15th Symphony, which Lynch had been listening to regularly while writing the screenplay.

Boddy Vinton's version is featured once, in the fourteenth episode of Kamen Rider Kuuga, as the Gurongi Me-Gyarido-Gi backs up a truck.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Preceded by "My Boyfriend's Back" by The Angels	Billboard Hot 100 number one single September 21, 1963 (three weeks)	Succeeded by "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs
Preceded by "Blowin' in the Wind" by Peter, Paul and Mary	"Billboard" Easy Listening number-one single by Bobby Vinton September 7, 1963 (eight weeks)	Succeeded by "Washington Square" by The Village Stompers