"Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is a song by Italian music group Eiffel 65. It was first released in October 1998 in Italy by Skooby Records and became internationally successful the following year. It is the lead single of their 1999 debut album, Europop. The song is the group's most popular single, reaching number one in at least 18 countries, charting at number three in Italy, and peaking at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 2000. In the United Kingdom, the song initially entered the top 40 purely on import sales; it was only the third single to do this. The song also received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 2001 Grammy Awards. Writing and production Written by Eiffel 65 lead singer Jeffrey Jey, keyboardist Maurizio Lobina, and producer Massimo Gabutti, "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" was inspired by Lobina's composed opening piano hook. The producers of the song then came up with the idea for a dance song. Jey explained that his inspiration for the lyrics was how a person chooses their lifestyle. The colour blue as the main theme of the song was picked at random, with Lobina telling him to write nonsensical lyrics. Gabutti came up with the "da ba dee" hook. The pitch-shifted vocal effect used in the song was created with a harmonizer. Lyrics and composition "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is written in the key of G minor, with the vocal range spanning from C3 to E4, and is set in common time with a moderate tempo of 128 beats per minute. The song's lyrics tell a story about a man who lives in a "blue world." It also explains that he is "blue inside and outside," which, alongside the lyric "himself and everybody around 'cause he ain't got nobody to listen," and "blue are the feelings that live inside me" may indicate that the term blue represents his emotional state; however, the song also explains that a vast variety of what he owns is also blue, including his house and his car ("a blue Corvette"): different blue-coloured objects are also depicted on the single's cover. Critical reception The song received mixed reviews from critics. Chuck Taylor from Billboard wrote that "the hook here, with its dancy but curiously compelling singsongy rhythm and lyric, is destined to react instantly with listeners far and wide." He also noted that it