"Devil with a Blue Dress On" (also known as "Devil with the Blue Dress") is a song written by

Shorty Long Shorty is a nickname, usually for a short person. See Shorty (nickname). Shorty may also refer to: Music Artists * Ras Shorty I, Trinidadian artist and founder of soca music. * Shorty (band), an American rock band formed in 1991 * Shorty (Ameri ...

and William "Mickey" Stevenson, first performed by Long and released as a single in 1964. A later version recorded by

Mitch Ryder Mitch Ryder (born William Sherille Levise, Jr.; February 26, 1945) is an American musician who has recorded more than 25 albums over more than four decades. Career Ryder formed his first band, Tempest, when he was at Warren High School, and th ...

and

The Detroit Wheels The Detroit Wheels were an American rock band, formed in Detroit in 1964. They served as Mitch Ryder's backup band from 1964 to 1967. The band had a number of top twenty hits in the mid-1960s before lead singer Ryder was enticed away by Bob C ...

in 1966 peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Song information

"Devil with the Blue Dress" was originally released as Shorty Long's debut single on

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

in 1964, but the single failed to chart. The song describes a

femme fatale A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...

in a blue dress and not an actual devil. Two years later, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels recorded the song at Bell Sound Studios in New York City as a medley with an original arrangement of

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

's "

Good Golly, Miss Molly "Good Golly, Miss Molly" is a hit rock 'n' roll song first recorded in 1956 by the American musician Little Richard and released in January 1958 as Specialty single 624 and next in July 1958 on ''Little Richard''. The song, a jump blues, was wri ...

". Their version was notably more up-tempo than Long's more

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

-influenced rendition. Reaching No. 4 on the Hot 100, their version of the track would end up becoming their most well-known and highest charting hit in the United States. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it No. 428 on their list of Top 500 Songs of All Time.

Later versions

"Devil with a Blue Dress On" was also recorded by

Pratt & McClain Pratt & McClain was an American musical duo known originally called Brother Love consisting of Jerry McClain and Truett Pratt, along with various sidemen. They scored a ''Billboard'' No. 5 hit in 1976 with "Happy Days", the theme to the sitcom ...

, who are best known for the

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

from the television series '' Happy Days''.

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

's version of the song was part of the No Nukes concert album in 1980, and he has performed it regularly in concert from the 1970s to the present as part of his '' Detroit Medley''. A Spanish language version of the song was recorded by

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...

and released on the '' Eating Raoul'' film soundtrack in 1982. The

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

basketball pep band plays this song during Blue Devil home games and after Blue Devil victories at Cameron Indoor Stadium in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. A version of the song was recorded by Nicholas O'Har for the 1990 spoof of ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...

'', '' Repossessed''.

References

1964 singles 1966 singles Songs written by William "Mickey" Stevenson Motown singles Shorty Long songs Mitch Ryder songs 1964 songs Song recordings produced by Bob Crewe Songs written by Shorty Long {{1960s-single-stub