Blue Eyes Blue
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"Blue Eyes Blue" is a pop song written by American songwriter
Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Wa ...
. The tune was written for the 1999 soundtrack of '' Runaway Bride''. The British rock musician
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
recorded the song for the soundtrack and released his performance of the song as a single on July 20, 1999, for
Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
.


Background

The pop track was written by Diane Warren, especially for the 1999 romantic comedy film ''Runaway Bride'', starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The song was published under Realsongs, a division of
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
organization. Clapton recorded the song in Los Angeles, at Ocean Way/Record One Studios in the summer of 1999. The track was recorded at Los Angeles facility's Studio B, featuring an 80-input Solid State Logic SL 9000J console. When it came time for Clapton to record on the Diane Warren song, Allen Sides, owner of Ocean Way Studios worked on the release as the leading
recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
. The recording was produced by Rob Cavallo. Greg Curtis and Blumpy were in charge of the recording's music programming and Chris Lord-Alge mixed "Blue Eyes Blue". The recording featured Eric Clapton
singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
and playing the guitar,
Greg Curtis Greg J. Curtis (born October 18, 1960) is an American lobbyist and attorney from Utah. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he is a former member of the Utah State House of Representatives. Early life and career Curtis grew up in his ...
on keyboards and background vocals, Tim Pierce and Darryl Crooks on rhythm guitar,
Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degr ...
as the bassist,
Steve Ferrone Steve Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Average Whi ...
on drums, Jamie Muhoberac on keyboards, Luis Conte and Mike Fasano on the percussion instrument. Orchestral composer David Campbell arranged the strings for the release. The song was released on July 27, 1999, as part of the ''Runaway Bride'' soundtrack on compact disc and
music cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Otten ...
, seven days after the single had been released. On October 12, 1999, the song appeared on the
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
'' Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton''. On September 11, 2001, "Blue Eyes Blue" was released as part of the double album '' Unplugged/Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton''. On November 25, 2002, the pop title was released on the compilation album ''Songs of Love'', by various artists.


Composition

''Billboard'' magazine's Paul Verna thinks, the track belongs to the genre of pop music. Clapton himself called his take on the song "girls-like" and "soft".


Music video

To help promote both the single and soundtrack's sales figures, Clapton filmed a music video to accompany the single release. In the beginning, the music video shows Clapton, who dressed in a men's wedding outfit, sitting in front of a white church with a Martin Triple-O acoustic guitar, followed by a scene from the movie, in which Julia Roberts is riding a horse. Afterwards, Clapton is shown singing and playing the song inside the church, while several snippets of the horse-scene re-appear. Several scenes from the movie appear with Clapton being shown in between the movie sequences. Two minutes and twenty seconds into the music video, Clapton is shown, not wearing his entire suit anymore, playing and singing the song outside the church in a garden, where the wedding ceremony of ''Runaway Bride'' was held. Afterward, the video shows Clapton playing his solo on the acoustic guitar. The video ends with Clapton sitting in front of the white church, as he did in the beginning of the shoot. The music video was produced by Luke Scott and directed by Richard Goldstein for Warner Music Entertainment, which released the video in high-definition picture on both the VHS and DVD of ''Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton''. The music video "Blue Eyes Blue" reached number nineteen on
VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
's most-played music video chart in the United States.


Track listing


Reception

''Billboard'' magazine's music critic Catherine Applefeld Olson calles the release a hot adult contemporary song. Another critic for the magazine, Paul Verna, reviews: "Clapton turns in a silky performance – reminiscent of his Babyface collaboration ' Change the World' of the Diane Warren tune". ''AllMusic'' critic
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
thinks, "Blue Eyes Blue" makes the soundtrack to the film ''Runaway Bride'' a "crowd-pleaser" and "actually stronger than the average soundtrack of its ilk". The single debuted at number twenty-five on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart, where it stayed a total of twenty-six weeks on chart, even gaining an Airpower recognition while charting in the second week, eventually peaking at number four on the ''Billboard'' chart. The single did not reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, but peaked at number 112 on the magazine's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, selling a total of 100,837 copies while on the chart. "Blue Eyes Blue" also reached number twenty-nine on ''Billboard'' magazine's Adult Top 40 chart, where the release stayed for seven weeks. In Canada, the single reached number thirty on ''RPM'' magazine's Top Singles sales chart, selling 1,064 copies in its first week on chart. In addition, the pop single peaked at number two on the magazine's Adult Contemporary track chart, and reached position forty-seven on the chart's 1999 year-end compilation. In Europe, the single was a medium successful release, reaching only number 94 on the British singles chart, where the release stayed one week in the charts, selling just 9,322 copies. In Germany, the release peaked at number 84 on the Media Control singles chart and stayed a total of five weeks on the nation's singles chart. In
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, "Blue Eyes Blue" stayed six weeks on the Lista Przebojów Programu Trzeciego chart, eventually peaking at number twenty-eight. In
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, the release reached the Top 10, peaking at number six on its second charting week and was certified with a Gold disc by the Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa, commemorating the sale of more than 20,000 copies in the country. In total, the single stayed thirdteen weeks on the Portuguese Top 40 singles chart. In
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, the single spent a total of four weeks on the country's singles chart and peaked at number five on its second week on chart. In Spain, "Blue Eyes Blue" reached its highest European position on the singles chart, peaking at number three in August 1999. It was also presented a
Platinum certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the Productores de Música de España for outstanding singles sales of more than 50,000 copies. In Japan, the single peaked at number ten on ''Oricons Top Maxi Singles sales chart and reached number five on the Japanese Hot 100 singles chart. "Blue Eyes Blue" also topped the nation's international singles chart for one week and placed itself on number forty-five on the chart's 1999 year-end compilation. In Japan, the single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for sales exceeding 50,000 copies. In total, the single "Blue Eyes Blue" sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide.


Charts and certifications


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Release history


Cover versions

In the same year as Clapton's version, Dutch artist
René Froger René Froger (born 5 November 1960 in Amsterdam), is a Dutch singer. Froger was born, and spent his first years in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood in Amsterdam. His father, Bolle Jan, had a café where Froger started performing. He started his ...
released his version on his 1999 album ''I Don't Break Easy''.


References

{{authority control 1999 songs 1999 singles 1990s ballads Eric Clapton songs Reprise Records singles Warner Records singles Songs written by Diane Warren