Blue Jean (single):David Bowie

"Blue Jean" is a song from the album Tonight by David Bowie. One of only two tracks on the album to be written entirely by Bowie, it was released as a single ahead of the album.

Loosely inspired by Eddie Cochran, the song was an uncomplicated composition, recalling earlier Bowie rockers such as "The Jean Genie," and is generally regarded as one of the better parts of a disappointing album.

Following the huge commercial success of Bowie's previous album, Let's Dance, its singles and the Serious Moonlight Tour, "Blue Jean" was launched with massive promotion. Julien Temple was engaged to direct a 21-minute short film to promote the song, Jazzin' for Blue Jean. The song performance segment from this was also used as a more conventional music video.

"Blue Jean" was a hit in the UK and America, reaching No. 6 and No. 8, respectively.

The song would remain in Bowie's live repertoire for the rest of his career, being performed on tours in 1987, 1990 and 2004.

Contents

 [hide] *1 David Bowie on "Blue Jean"

• 2 Track listing
  • 2.1 7": EMI America / EA 181 (UK)
  • 2.2 12": EMI America / 12EA 181 (UK)
• 3 Production credits
• 4 Other releases
• 5 Video versions
• 6 Cover versions
• 7 Charts
• 8 References
• 9 External links

David Bowie on "Blue Jean"

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."

Track listing

7": EMI America / EA 181 (UK)

1. "Blue Jean" - 3:08
2. "Dancing with the Big Boys" - 3:32

• Some versions of the 7" single were released on blue vinyl

12": EMI America / 12EA 181 (UK)

1. "Blue Jean" (Extended Dance Mix) - 5:15
2. "Dancing with the Big Boys" (Extended Dance Mix) - 7:28
3. "Dancing with the Big Boys" (Extended Dub Mix) - 7:15

• "Blue Jean" (Extended Dance Mix) remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez at Sigma Sound - NYC - Engineer: Jay Mark.
• "Dancing with the Big Boys" remixes produced by Arthur Baker.

Production credits

Producers

• David Bowie
• Hugh Padgham
• Derek Bramble

Musicians

• David Bowie: Vocals
• Carlos Alomar: Guitar
• Derek Bramble: Bass, Synthesizer
• Carmine Rojas: Bass
• Sammy Figueroa: Percussion
• Omar Hakim: Drums
• Guy St Onge: Marimba

Other releases

• It appears on the following compilations:
  • Changesbowie (1990)
  • Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993)
  • The Singles Collection (1993)
  • Best of Bowie (2002)
  • The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987 (2007)

[1][2]The VHS single cover==Video versions==

There are 3 versions of the video:

1. The full 21-minute version entitled Jazzin' for Blue Jean
2. 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.
3. 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 ofBest of Bowie in 2002.

Cover versions

• Example 2 - Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie (1998)
• Gallery of Fear - The Dark Side of David Bowie: A Tribute to David Bowie (1997)
• Pennywise
• Trench - Hero: The Main Man Records Tribute to David Bowie (2007)
• Papercranes - We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie (2010)

Charts

Chart (1984)	Peak position
Australian Kent Report Singles Chart	12
Austrian Singles Chart	16
Canadian Singles Chart	4
French Singles Chart	22
German Singles Chart	21
Irish Singles Chart	3
Norwegian Singles Chart	3
Swedish Singles Chart	5
Swiss Singles Chart	14
UK Singles Chart	6
US BillboardHot 100	8