It’s time for another trip back to Black and White Night, a one-time-only Roy Orbison concert with a backing band so deserving of the “all-star” label that you’ll spend half your viewing time wondering, “is that…?” (It is.)
This time, we take a look at “Blue Bayou,” Orbison’s 1963 hit single that peaked at #29 in the U.S. but made it all the way to #3 in the U.K. and #1 in Australia.
And if the U.S. didn’t reward “Blue Bayou” with the chart success it deserved on its original release, it made up for it in 1977 when Linda Ronstadt took her cover of it all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Blue Bayou” was part of Roy’s set on that Black and White Night in the autumn of 1987, but the show ran long, so when Cinemax broadcast the event on January 3, 1988, “Blue Bayou” was one of three songs edited out of the special.
When the concert was released on VHS, “Blue Bayou” was still missing in action, but when the DVD revolution came around, “Blue Bayou” was restored to its rightful place, and fans finally got to see the performance.
Here it is: Roy Orbison backed by Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen (of course), and more, in a sublime rendition of “Blue Bayou.”
That was Bruce’s one and only performance of the song, but that’s may be for the best. This one would be hard to top.
Watch more great performances from Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black & White Night here.
Blue Bayou
First performed: September 30, 1987 (Los Angeles, CA)
Last performed: September 30, 1987 (Los Angeles, CA)
