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"Blue Velvet" is a 1950 popular song, written by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris. It has been recorded by several artists, most notably Tony Bennett and Bobby Vinton, and has inspired a film of the same name.

History of recordings

• The first public performance of the song was by singer Ray Mason in 1950 at a fashion show in Boston.^[1]
• The first artist for whom "Blue Velvet" was a hit was Tony Bennett, whose 1951 recording peaked at #16 on the Billboard Best Selling Pop Singles Chart (the predecessor of the Billboard Hot 100).
• A 1955 version of the song by The Clovers reached #14 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues Chart.
• The most popular recording of the song is that of Bobby Vinton, which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 21, 1963, and held the top spot for three weeks and also spent eight weeks atop the U.S. Middle-Road charts^[2]. Vinton's recording failed to make the British charts when originally released, but a re-release in 1990 went to #2 in the United Kingdom. It was #7 in Australia and #9 in Korea.^{[clarification needed]}
• "Blue Velvet" was included on the Trini Lopez LP The Love Album (1963), issued by Reprise Records.
• Jimmy Velvit released a 45rpm single of "Blue Velvet" in the mid-1960s.
• 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

"Blue Velvet" is one of thirteen songs featured in Kenneth Anger's groundbreaking experimental film Scorpio Rising (1964).Tony Bennett's version of the song is featured in The Last Picture Show and Raging Bull, while Bobby Vinton's version features several times in David Lynch's film, Blue Velvet (1986), which is partly inspired by the song's lyrics.

References

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