19 September 1999
As I write this in September 2022, a new lyric version of ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’, by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha, has gone straight in at number two in the Irish charts, thereby becoming the 77th Irish top 30 hit with ‘blue’ in the title. The original ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ by Eiffel 65 which we see here in September 1999 serves as an interesting dividing line: 65 of those blue titles came during the 37 years before it—almost two a year—but only 11 in the 23 years after: barely one every two years. If Guetta and Rexha’s ‘I’m Good (Blue)’ makes it to the top spot, it’ll be our first blue number one since the original ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’. So, in songwriting terms, has blue gone out of fashion? Probably. The ’60s and ’70s pop-rock was closer in spirit and influence to the blues anyway, but it has also become a hackneyed and weakened metaphor for sad feelings.
Conveniently, Eiffel 65’s ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ itself demonstrates blue’s weakened currency as a lyric image. Our hero may certainly have blue feelings and, in ‘Paint It, Black’ fashion, live in a blue world, but he also has a blue Corvette and in the video his audience is little blue aliens. Allow me to strike up a few notes on the world’s smallest violin, which can also be blue if you want.
Of course, nobody remembers ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ for its lyrics. Unfortunately, nobody forgets ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ either. Its nagging, moronic scat chorus is almost the dictionary definition of an earworm, but it’s not a pleasant listening experience. That said, it’s not as awful as I had feared: our subsequent encounter with Crazy Frog will do wonders in adjusting our standards of how horribly irritating a record can be. As for the verses, I don’t like dumping on non-native speakers for their efforts at English, but almost as annoying as the chorus is the sing-song recitation of lyrics that simply don’t scan. The warped voice effects don’t help either. Paint It Blue, indeed.
