Mamy Blue

"Mamy Blue" is a 1970 song by French songwriter Hubert Giraud. Originally written with French lyrics, the song was rendered in English in 1971 to become an international hit for the Pop-Tops, Joël Daydé (fr) and Roger Whittaker. A hit in Italy with Italian lyrics for Dalida and in France in its original French for Nicoletta, "Mamy Blue" was also rendered in a number of other languages in cover versions recorded by a good number of local recording artists across continental Europe, while a "local cover" of the English-language version by Charisma reached #1 in South Africa. The song's title is sometimes spelled "Mammy Blue" in the English-speaking world.

Composition and first recordings

The song was originally written with French lyrics in 1970 by veteran French songwriter Hubert Giraud; he conceived the song in his car waiting out a Parisian traffic jam and had completed its demo within a few days. After four months, the first recorded version of "Mamy Blue" was made – with Italian lyrics – by Ivana Spagna, marking that singer's recording debut.

In May 1971, Alain Milhaud, a Swiss record producer based in Spain, acquired the song for Pop-Tops, a Spanish group he managed. Milhaud produced the Pop-Tops' recording of "Mamy Blue" in a session in London after the group's frontman Phil Trim wrote English lyrics for the song. The French Barclay label expediently had the song covered by both Daydé and Nicoletta: Daydé's version – featuring Phil Trim's English lyric – was recorded at Olympic Sound Studio in London and the Decca Studio in Paris with Angela Morley as arranger, while Nicoletta's version was produced by Hubert Giraud and was the first recording of the song with Giraud's French lyrics.