Background Linda Ronstadt took the song to #3 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in late 1977, where it held for four weeks, as well as #2 Country and #3 Easy Listening. It also reached #2, holding there for four weeks, on the
Cash Box Top 100 chart. The single was
RIAA certified Gold (for sales of over 1 million US copies) in January 1978. It was the first of Ronstadt's three Gold singles.
Don Henley of the
Eagles sang backup on the recording. "Blue Bayou" was later
certified Platinum (for over 2 million copies sold in the United States). It was a worldwide smash, charting in countries such as
Australia,
Canada,
New Zealand, the
United Kingdom, and
Mexico, where it topped the singles charts. Ronstadt's version was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Record of the Year and for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Ronstadt also recorded a Spanish-language version of the song (translated by her father, Gilbert Ronstadt), titled "Lago Azul (Blue Bayou)", which was released in 1978 on the single Asylum E-45464, backed by "Lo Siento Mi Vida", a previously released Spanish song that Ronstadt herself co-wrote. This version has never been included on any reissues of
Simple Dreams. Ronstadt later performed the song on episode 523 of
The Muppet Show, first aired on October 26, 1980, in the UK, and May 16, 1981, in the United States. Because of this song, ''Dickson's Baseball Dictionary'' records that a "Linda Ronstadt" is a synonym for a
fastball, a pitch that "blew by you". That phrase was coined by
New York Mets broadcaster
Tim McCarver during a Mets telecast in the 1980s. Ronstadt's version appears, in edited form, in
Tony Scott's 2004 film
Man on Fire and in the 2017 film
American Made.
Track listings 7" vinyl US: Asylum Records E-45431
Side one • "Blue Bayou" (Roy Orbison, Joe Melson) – 3:57
Side two • "Old Paint (traditional, arranged by Linda Ronstadt) – 3:05
Chart performance Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications ==See also==