Released September 1984 Genre Rock
pop | Format 7"
12" Length 3:08 | |
B-side Dancing with the Big Boys Recorded Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada, May 1984 | ||
"Blue Jean" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie for his sixteenth studio album Tonight. One of only two tracks on the album to be written entirely by Bowie, it was released as a single ahead of the album and charted within the Top 10 in the UK and the United States, peaking at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively. The song is loosely inspired by Eddie Cochran.
Contents
- Composition
- 7 EMI America EA 181 UK
- 12 EMI America 12EA 181 UK
- Personnel
- Other releases
- Video versions
- Cover versions
- References
Following the commercial success of Bowie's previous album, Let's Dance, its singles and the Serious Moonlight Tour, "Blue Jean" was launched with a 21-minute short film, Jazzin' for Blue Jean, directed by Julien Temple. The song performance segment from this was also used as a more conventional music video. The film won the 1985 Grammy Award for "Best Video, Short form" (Later renamed "Best Music Video"), which proved to be the only competitive Grammy Award Bowie won during his career for over three decades. (In 2017, Bowie posthumously won four Grammies for Blackstar (album), including Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for the Blackstar title track. Blackstar (album) also won Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for its designer Jonathan Barnbrook.)
"Blue Jean" would remain in Bowie's live repertoire for the rest of his career, being performed on tours in 1987, 1990 and 2004.
Composition
Interviewed in 1987 and asked to compare a track like "Time Will Crawl" to "Blue Jean," Bowie said "'Blue Jean' is a piece of sexist rock 'n roll. [laughs] It's about picking up birds. It's not very cerebral, that piece." BBC reviewer Chris Jones criticised the song in his appraisal of Best of Bowie in 2002, arguing "Blue Jean barely exists, so formulaic is it."
7": EMI America / EA 181 (UK)
- "Blue Jean" – 3:08
- "Dancing with the Big Boys" – 3:32
12": EMI America / 12EA 181 (UK)
- "Blue Jean" (Extended Dance Mix) – 5:15
- "Dancing with the Big Boys" (Extended Dance Mix) – 7:28
- "Dancing with the Big Boys" (Extended Dub Mix) – 7:15
Personnel
Other releases
Video versions
There are 3 versions of the video:
- The full 21-minute version entitled Jazzin' for Blue Jean
- The 3-minute version of the performance of the title track, edited from the full Jazzin' for Blue Jean video. The video is available to download for the Xbox 360 karaoke game Lips.
- An alternate version recorded for MTV in England that has no relation to the other videos. This alternate version was not popularly available until the DVD release of Best of Bowie in 2002.