160/917 Vicky: L'amour est bleu (Luxembourg 1967)

In Eurovision there have been plenty of classic entries, that the Eurovision fans still remember fondly. There has, however, been much less so called evergreens, songs that have expanded their success also outside the Eurovision circles. The Eurovision entry 160 is one of them.

Vicky Leandros is a Greek-born singer who moved to Germany when she was 9 years old. Her career as a singer began in mid 1960's and she still is major star in his adopted home country. However, so far she has taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest only twice representing Luxembourg. Both times with remarkable results.

In 1967 17 years old Vicky (as she was called) got to sing a song by veteran French composer André Popp, who had won the contest already in 1960 with Tom Pillibi. Popp is one of my favourite Eurovision composers creating also excellent entries for France in 1964 (Chant de Mallory by Rachel) and Monaco 1975 (Une chanson c'est une lettre by Sophie).

Vicky did her best for L'amour est bleu, but her recording never got the commercial success than it would have deserved. The song that reached 4th position in the 1967 results became huge world wide hit, when conductor Paul Mauriat released an instrumental version of the song ith the english title Love is blue. Since then the song has become one of the most covered, if not the most covered, Eurosong ever.

To me the best version is still the original one, even though I find the recorded version better than Vickys slightly shaky live performance. She got her act together five years later, when again representing Luxembourg she won the Eurovision Song Contest with Après toi.

The song itself is a love song with enduring quality. Very simple, even naively simplistic lyrics manage to convey all the colours of love, from the fresh start to the bitter end. André Popps eternal melody, good arrangement and Vicky Leandros's passionate delivery makes the whole work better than any cover version I have heard.

My points 5/5