"Boy Blue" is a pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 song written by Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

, Stephen Broughton Lunt, and Jeff Bova

Jeff Bova

Jeff Bova is an American Grammy Award winning keyboardist, composer, arranger and record producer. He has been active in music industry since the mid-1970s, contributing to dozens of recordings by significant mainstream artists like Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker,...

 for Lauper's second album True Colors (1986).

It was released as the album's fourth single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 in 1987 (see 1987 in music

1987 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1987.See also:Record labels established in 1987-January-February:*January 3 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

). The single version is a remix (which cuts much of Lauper's more impressive vocal wailing, presumably in effort to make it more commercially accessible). Charting at #71 on the Hot 100, it was Lauper's first solo single that failed to make a real impact on the charts. Proceeds from the sale of the single were donated to AIDS organizations.

The official video was a live clip of the song in Paris, France and it was pulled from the concert video Cyndi Lauper in Paris. The video received heavy airplay on MTV when the single was released (during June and July of 1987) and was rarely played after. A live version of "Boy Blue" was later released as the B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 of her single "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)

Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)

"Hole in My Heart " is a song recorded by pop singer Cyndi Lauper for her 1988 film Vibes. It was written by Richard Orange, formerly of the band Zider Zee.-Song information:...

".

Song information

Thematically like "True Colors

True Colors (song)

"True Colors" is a song written by songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, additional lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. It was both the title track and the first single released from Cyndi Lauper's second album. It was the only original song on the album that Lauper did not help write...

" on the album, Lauper wrote this song for a friend who died of AIDS, and the title comes from a poem by Eugene Field called "Little Boy Blue". This poem is based on a kid's story:

"Little Boy Blue"

The little toy dog is covered with dust,

But sturdy and staunch he stands;

And the little toy soldier is red with rust,

And his musket moulds in his hands;

Time was when the little toy dog was new,

And the soldier was passing fair;

And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue

Kissed them and put them there.

Here is what Cyndi says about this song:

"I tried to write about my friend. I knew he really loved 'That's What Friends Are For

That's What Friends Are For

"That's What Friends Are For" is a 1982 song written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and introduced by Rod Stewart for the soundtrack of the film Night Shift.-Dionne Warwick cover:...

.' I know that maybe he would have liked me to do a song like that. Instead I wrote about him personally. I don't know that my lyrics were good enough, I don't know that anything was good enough. Maybe it was too personal. I don't know. But I wrote it for him. It was because of him that I keep trying to do stuff. And other friends. So many talented people, so many of our friends and so many gifted people have passed on. Or struggle everyday. Just to live. And it was because of my friends and others that I do this. Maybe that song wasn't good enough, I don't know."

When Lauper was asked about her intense live performance that was released as the video for the song, she responded:

"I used to cry every night when I sang that song. I was so mad. You know, you go through so much and I was so mad. I was mad that my friend was gone, I was mad at the way people treated me...We didn't know what the hell it was. We didn't know anything. Then all of a sudden it was out in the open and everyone was talking about it, but when he first told me about it I didn't understand. I didn't know. And then all of a sudden my friend was ill and ill and ill and then...It was so hard. I was so angry and every night I would sing my guts out, but you'd open your eyes after and it was the same. But sometimes, in a lot of ways, it was healing."

Chart performance

Chart (1987)	Peak position
U.S. United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...  Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	71
Cash Box Top 100 Singles	84
Italian Singles Chart Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...	49