Peak
6
Weeks
20
Score
3,204
Chart Year
2000
The accompanying music video for the song was released in 1999 by BlissCoMedia, a computer graphics division of Bliss Corporation, known at the time the video was produced and released as BlissMultiMedia.[23] Like much of the Bliss Corporation's music videos, this one was done in a green screen garage studio at BlissCoMedia,[24][25] and it featured computer-generated graphics that were done in 3ds Max.[26] With very few resources, tutorials and books, and only one editing machine, the video was made between 1998 and 1999 in a garage in about two to three months. Former BlissCo employee Davide La Sala has talked about coming up with the story for the video: "We had brainstorming sessions and we were a very imaginative team, huge fans of sci-fi movies and video games: Blade Runner, Star Wars, etc… we were master in doing our best and working with the few tools we had to create complete short stories in a very short period of time."[24] Similar to other music videos by BlissCo, a total of five people worked on this video. The green-screen footage was done in a short amount of time, and some of it was put into a computer-generated 3D environment, while components of the band were also shot. La Sala said, "We were very flexible but every person in the team had his own special skill who was more towards motion graphics, design and editing, others more skilled in architectural design and me and the CEO experts in animation."[24] The video was listed in NME's "50 Worst Music Videos Ever".[2
Many people thought the chorus was "I'm blue and I'm in need of a guy," and that the song was about homosexuality. The correct translation is "I'm blue da ba dee di," and in no way relates to homosexuality. The group is Italian and their name came from a computer called "Eiffel." The 65 came after a note was sent with 65 accidentally written in and the members believed it was fate and should stay. >> How the vocals were distorted on this song is up for debate. A year earlier, Cher had a hit with "Believe" that used Auto-Tune, a piece of software designed for pitch correction, to give her voice a robotic sound. Many assumed "Blue" also used Auto-Tune, but anyone who tried to replicate it quickly learned that it couldn't be done that way. The logical answer was a vocoder, which is a device used since the '70s to synthesize sounds, resulting in a computerized-sounding output. Songs like "Let's Groove" by Earth, Wind & Fire and "Mr. Blue Sky" by the Electric Light Orchestra used it. Based on attempts to re-create the "Blue" vocals, it seems the effect was created using a vocal harmonizer, likely a Digitech MV5. This device is used to create harmony vocals out of one voice, and can adjust pitch to create the distortion. This originally charted at #39 in the UK purely on import sales, thus becoming only the third record (after Jam's "That's Entertainment" and Lou Bega's "Mambo No 5 (A Little Bit Of)") to make the UK Top 40 just on import sales. The Eiffel 65 members are Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina and DJ Gary Ponte. The song came about when Lobina started playing a piano riff while Jey was writing lyrics. Jey recalls in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh: "I started thinking about this character I invented called Zoroti and the lifestyle he led, from the way he would buy his house, pick his girlfriend, his job or the neighborhood he would live in. Then I came up with a color, a color I thought described the way he saw things." The French DJ David Guetta sampled this into a hit in 2022 with "I'm Good (Blue)." Like "Blue (Da Ba Dee)," his version, featuring vocals by Bebe Rexha, topped the UK singles chart.
Yo listen up, here's the story About a little guy that lives in a blue world And all day and all night and everything he sees is just blue Like him, inside and outside Blue his house with a blue little window And a blue Corvette And everything is blue for him And himself and everybody around 'Cause he ain't got nobody to listen I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa I have a blue house with a blue window Blue is the color of all that I wear Blue are the streets and all the trees are too I have a girlfriend and she is so blue Blue are the people here that walk around Blue like my Corvette, it's in and outside Blue are the words I say and what I think Blue are the feelings that live inside me I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa I have a blue house with a blue window Blue is the color of all that I wear Blue are the streets and all the trees are too I have a girlfriend and she is so blue Blue are the people here that walk around Blue like my Corvette, it's in and outside Blue are the words I say and what I think Blue are the feelings that live inside me I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec 11, 1999 | 67 | 59 |
| 2 | Dec 18, 1999 | 29 | 97 |
| 3 | Dec 25, 1999 | 16 | 110 |
| 4 | Jan 1, 2000 | 13 | 113 |
| 5 | Jan 8, 2000 | 13 | 113 |
| 6 | Jan 15, 2000 | 11 | 115 |
| 7 | Jan 22, 2000 | 9 | 117 |
| 8 | Jan 29, 2000 | 6 | 120 |
| 9 | Feb 5, 2000 | 7 | 119 |
| 10 | Feb 12, 2000 | 9 | 117 |
| 11 | Feb 19, 2000 | 13 | 113 |
| 12 | Feb 26, 2000 | 19 | 107 |
| 13 | Mar 4, 2000 | 21 | 105 |
| 14 | Mar 11, 2000 | 24 | 102 |
| 15 | Mar 18, 2000 | 32 | 94 |
| 16 | Mar 25, 2000 | 42 | 84 |
| 17 | Apr 1, 2000 | 56 | 70 |
| 18 | Apr 8, 2000 | 60 | 66 |
| 19 | Apr 15, 2000 | 76 | 50 |
| 20 | Apr 22, 2000 | 88 | 38 |