Love is blue?

My dearest friend was here this past weekend, and we had an excellent visit that included lengthy walks with the dog, a Pride parade, Japanese bento boxes, icecream for supper, a sunny graveyard Pentecost liturgy for two, a bit of necessary shopping, and word games. Plus, we played through two old Reader's Digest Song Book Treasuries, she on piano and me on guitar. My voice is still recovering.

The treasuries mostly held music older than both of us. But the song we played through the most often, because it has a great feel and an interesting arrangement, Love is Blue, came out when we were three years old. My parents had a copy of a Paul Mauriat instrumental album, and I remember dancing to Love is Blue (L'Amour est bleu) I think because it followed Puppet on a String, which was my favourite. But Love is Blue topped the charts in North America, and it's always been a melody I've loved. I didn't even know it had words until Cathy and I played it on Saturday and Sunday.

And really, Love is Blue shouldn't have words, or at least, not the ones that were written for it after it placed fourth in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest (Puppet on a String took first). As Cathy and I sang them, we started to giggle. A little cheesy, for sure, all the colours mentioned, and the final line of the bridge, "now the  rainbow is gone."

Here's a version by Andy Williams, so you can see what I mean about the lyrics, followed by a video of Paul Mauriat's orchestral version. I still love the instrumental version of Love is Blue because it brings me back to my five year old self pirouetting around the living room. And, just for the record, in my books, love is more like a warm yellow, or maybe a coral pink, if I was to choose a colour. Enjoy!