At just 13 years old, LeAnn Rimes became a bonafide country artist with her heartbreaking ballad “Blue.” Originally written and released by country artist Bill Mack in 1958, Rimes’ reimagining of the song resurfaced the story of a man’s realization that a lover’s words were just lies.
Videos by American Songwriter
Blue
Oh, so lonesome for you
Why can’t you be blue over me?
Blue
Oh, so lonesome for you
Tears fill my eyes ’til I can’t see
Three o’clock in the morning
Here am I
Sitting here so lonely
So lonesome I could cry
Blue
Oh, so lonesome for you
Why can’t you be blue over me?
Now that it’s over
I realize
Those weak words you whispered
Were nothing but lies
Bill Mack’s Hit
Rimes’ rendition of Mack’s lonesome ballad was released on her debut album of the same name, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and went to No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. The song also earned Rimes a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Mack, who died in 2020, a Grammy Award for Best Country Song, along with an Academy of Country Music Award for Song of the Year.
[RELATED: Digital Cover Story: LeAnn Rimes is Ready for ‘god’s work’ on 19th Album]
11-Year-Old Rimes
Originally recorded by Rimes on her 1994 independent release, All That, “Blue” had little traction at first but helped her shop herself around to Nashville labels.
“I remember one label I was in talks with wanted to completely get rid of ‘Blue,’” Rimes told American Songwriter around the 25th anniversary of Blue in 2021. “It’s so interesting that if I had gone one way with a different label what my life and career would have looked like. It would have been completely different.”
Mike Curb of Curb Records soon came across Rimes’ rendition of “Blue,” signed her, and had her re-record the track. “They actually released the wrong version,” revealed Rimes. “The one you’ve been hearing forever is me as an 11-year-old.”
She added, “It’s amazing to be a part of the fabric of American music. To have a place within that tapestry is beautiful. The song feels like second skin to me. If I open my mouth to sing it, it just feels like breathing. We’ve turned that song into a blues song or everything else. That’s what is beautiful about fantastic songs; they can be arranged and twisted into many different versions.”
Patsy Cline Nearly Recorded “Blue”
Told from a male’s perspective, Mack insisted that the song was never about Patsy Cline but it was meant for her to record.
“‘Blue’ came to me just like that, no studying, it just came to me,” Mack said in 2016. “Four or five years after my recording of ‘Blue’ came out, I went to San Antonio. Patsy was playing a show there. … I never did say the song the song was about Patsy Cline. Roy Drusky told me ‘That would be a great song for Patsy Cline.’”
Mack continued, “When he instilled that in my mind when I saw Patsy I said, ‘I’ve got this song that I want you to hear,’ and I sang it to her back in the dressing room and she said, ‘Send that thing to me. I like it.’ That was as far as it went with Patsy Cline.”
At the 2013 American Country Awards, Rimes paid tribute to her idol, Cline, and performed a medley of hits, including “Crazy” and “Walking After Midnight.”
“I think about it and almost cry,” said Rimes of the performance. “It was a moment where I got to honor someone who truly influenced every bit of who I am as an artist. When Patsy sang, the emotion that came from her was so powerful. That came through for me that night. To be on that stage connecting with her music and having been connected to her ever since I started my career —there was something just really emotional about that for me.”
[RELATED: Behind the Death of Patsy Cline and Her Lasting Legacy]
25 Years After “Blue”
In 2011, Rimes recorded a new version of “Blue,” featuring the Nashville swing band The Time Jumpers on her tenth album, Lady & Gentlemen. Today, Rimes sees “Blue,” which turned 25 in 2021, as the closing of one chapter in her musical life.
“I see it as a way maybe to close out some things, and to energetically celebrate the success I’ve had and dream up where I’m going,” said Rimes. “What happens in the next 25 years is going to be interesting and exciting.”
Photo by Norman Seeff / Sunshine Sachs Morgan
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