| Boy Blue | |
| Cover: | Cyndi Lauper BBlue.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Cyndi Lauper |
| Album: | True Colors |
| B-Side: | The Faraway Nearby |
| Released: | May 1987 |
| Recorded: | 1986 |
| Genre: | Dance-pop |
| Label: | Epic |
| Prev Title: | What's Going On |
| Prev Year: | 1987 |
| Next Title: | Maybe He'll Know |
| Next Year: | 1987 |
"Boy Blue" is a pop song written by Cyndi Lauper, Stephen Broughton Lunt, and Jeff Bova for Lauper's second album, True Colors (1986). It was released as the album's fourth single in 1987 (see 1987 in music). The single version is a remix. Charting at #71 on the Hot 100. Proceeds from the sale of the single were donated to AIDS organizations.
The official video was a live clip of the song in Paris, France and it was pulled from the concert video Cyndi Lauper in Paris. The video received heavy airplay on MTV when the single was released (during June and July 1987) and was rarely played after. A live version of "Boy Blue" was later released as the B-side of her single "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)".
Thematically like "True Colors" on the album, Lauper wrote this song for a friend who died of AIDS, and the title comes from a poem by Eugene Field called "Little Boy Blue". This poem is based on a kid's story:
"Little Boy Blue"
"I tried to write about my friend. I knew he really loved 'That's What Friends Are For.' I know that maybe he would have liked me to do a song like that. Instead I wrote about him personally. I don't know that my lyrics were good enough, I don't know that anything was good enough. Maybe it was too personal. I don't know. But I wrote it for him. It was because of him that I keep trying to do stuff. And other friends. So many talented people, so many of our friends and so many gifted people have passed on. Or struggle everyday. Just to live. And it was because of my friends and others that I do this. Maybe that song wasn't good enough, I don't know."October 2015.
When Lauper was asked about her intense live performance that was released as the video for the song, she responded:
"I used to cry every night when I sang that song. I was so mad. You know, you go through so much and I was so mad. I was mad that my friend was gone, I was mad at the way people treated me...We didn't know what the hell it was. We didn't know anything. Then all of a sudden it was out in the open and everyone was talking about it, but when he first told me about it I didn't understand. I didn't know. And then all of a sudden my friend was ill and ill and ill and then...It was so hard. I was so angry and every night I would sing my guts out, but you'd open your eyes after and it was the same. But sometimes, in a lot of ways, it was healing."October 2015.
The official music video for the song was a live video clip pulled from the "Cyndi Lauper in Paris" home video cassette and HBO special. It was directed by Andy Morahan.[1]
| Chart (1987) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop)[2] | 29 |
| Italy (Hit Parade Italia)[3] | 51 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[4] | 71 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 84 |