Ergo, the Ogre

This week at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday, he has asked us to find a song that is also the title of a movie. I’ve decided on Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton.

The Story

• After the success of his song “Blue on Blue” (#3 in mid-1963), Vinton decided to record an album of “Blue” songs (“Blue Moon,” “Blue Hawaii,” “Am I Blue,” etc). As he was picking up sheet music in Nashville, Vinton received a gift from publisher Al Gallico: a copy of “Blue Velvet,” which in 1951 was the last major hit for Tony Bennett. The song fit very well with Vinton’s project, as every song on the album had “Blue” in the title.
• This was considered a throwaway, recorded in only two takes. Vinton was not impressed with the recording, but Epic Records released it as a single in response to popular demand. His recording caught on and is considered the definitive version.
• Written by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris, the song had also been recorded by The Clovers in 1955. Other artists to record the song include Sammy Davis, Jr., The Countdown Singers, Jackie Gleason, Brenda Lee, The Lettermen, Barry Manilow, The Moonglows, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
• n 1986, a movie called Blue Velvet, directed by David Lynch, was released. This song had a prominent role: It was used in a gruesome scene where we discover a human ear that had been cut off someone’s head. The song completely contradicted the mood of the scene, which apparently was the point. The movie brought the song to a new audience, although it was now associated with a severed ear.
• Vinton’s version stalled at #33 in the UK in 1963 – however, on reissue in 1990 it peaked at #2, and, by some amazing coincidence, at one point it occupied at chart slot adjacent to a near-namesake: Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet.”

More of the story

• Vinton was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, (as was Perry Como) the only child of locally popular bandleader Stan Vinton and Dorothy Studzinski Vinton. He is of Polish and Lithuanian descent. The family surname was originally Vintula, and was changed by Vinton’s father. Vinton’s parents encouraged their son’s interest in music by giving him his daily 25-cent allowance after he had practiced the clarinet.
• Arguably, Vinton’s most famous song is 1963’s “Blue Velvet“, originally a minor hit for Tony Bennett in 1951, that also spent three weeks at the number one positions in Billboard, Cash Box, and Record World magazines. In 1986, 23 years later, David Lynch named his movie Blue Velvet after the song. In 1990, “Blue Velvet” reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, after being featured in a Nivea commercial. The 1990 reissue also hit number 3 in the Irish Singles Chart and number 7 in Australia.
• During the 1970s, Vinton spent $50,000 of his own money on “My Melody of Love“, partially self-written and partially sung in Polish. The suggestion for the song came from Vinton’s mother. After six major labels turned Vinton down, Lindy Blaskey, Managing Director of A&R at ABC/Dunhill Records, bought Vinton’s idea, and the result was a multi-million-selling single of simple lyrics that hit number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 2 on the Cashbox Top 100 chart, and number 1 on the AC chart in 1974. A gold album, Melodies of Love, followed as well as one final Top 40 pop hit (the traditional “Beer Barrel Polka“, also sung partially in Polish, b/w “Dick And Jane” in 1975). 

The Lyrics

Blue velvet
Woah, woah

She wore blue velvet
Bluer than velvet was the night
Softer than satin was the light
From the stars

She wore blue velvet
Bluer than velvet were her eyes
Warmer than May, her tender sighs
Love was ours

Ours a love I held tightly
Feeling the rapture grow
Like a flame burning brightly
But when she left, gone was the glow

Of blue velvet
But in my heart there'll always be
Precious and warm a memory
Through the years

And I still can see blue velvet
Through my tears
She wore blue velvet
But in my heart, there'll always be
Precious and warm a memory
Through the years

And I still can see blue velvet
Through my tears
(Blue velvet)

The Video