"L'amour est bleu" (; "Love Is Blue") is a song whose music was composed by André Popp, and whose lyrics were written by Pierre Cour, in 1967. Bryan Blackburn later wrote English-language lyrics for it. First performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros (appearing as Vicky) as the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967, it has since been recorded by many other musicians, most notably French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat, whose familiar instrumental version (recorded in late 1967) became the first number-one hit by a French lead artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in America. The song describes the pleasure and pain of love in terms of colours (blue and grey) and elements (water and wind). The English lyrics ("Blue, blue, my world is blue …") focus on colours only (blue, grey, red, green, and black), using them to describe components of lost love. The English version by Vicky Leandros also appeared as "Colours of Love" in some locations including the UK. Eurovision Song Contest The Greek-born 17-year-old Vicky Leandros represented Luxembourg at the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest, where she performed "L'amour est bleu" as the second song of the contest. At the close of voting, the song had received 17 points, placing it fourth in a field of 17, behind "Il doit faire beau là-bas" (France), "If I Could Choose" (Ireland) and the winning song, "Puppet on a String" (United Kingdom). Despite not winning the Eurovision, Leandros recorded the song in many different languages for release in 19 countries. The song was a modest hit in Europe, and had some success in Japan and Canada (No. 40). The versions she recorded aside from French included English (as "Love Is Blue"), German ("Blau wie das Meer"), Italian ("L'amore è blu") and Dutch ("Liefde is zacht"). The song achieved greater success through cover versions of the song by other artists. Some forty years after its original release, "L'amour est bleu", along with Domenico Modugno's "Nel blu dipinto di blu" (better known as "Volare") and Mocedades' "Eres tú", still counts as one of very few non-winning Eurovision entries ever to become a worldwide hit. The song has since become a favourite of Contest fans, most notably appearing as part of a medley introducing the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, one of only three non-winning songs to be involved (the others being "Dschinghis Khan" and "Nel