"Blue Bayou" was originally recorded by Roy Orbison at the end of 1961, but released by Monument as the double A-side track on a Monument Records single in the UK. It later became signature song, with which she scored a charting hit with her cover of "Blue Bayou" in 1977. The song has since been recorded by many other artists over the years.
As was the case with many of Roy Orbison's lyrics, "Blue Bayou" told a sad story, one of loss, nostalgia, and heartbreak. Yet, unlike most such Orbison songs to dwell on such topics, the music of the track is gently happy-go-lucky. The charming melody and lazy, swinging pace ooze not so much despair as a return to happier times, on a swinging hammock on a lazy afternoon by the river, perhaps. The arrangement is understated but effective, starting off with just a drum and a bass (and we don't mean drum and bass electronic rhythms here!), then adding softly swaying female backup vocals. Those backup vocals are especially good when the song comes to a dead stop, the women getting things back in motion again by crooning the song's title. While Orbison's singing conveys sadness, it's muted in comparison to his most melodramatic hits, and tempered by an odd sense of anticipation, almost, of revisiting the Blue Bayou where he lost his girl. A breezy harmonica on the latter parts of the verses adds to the sense of wistful longing, as do the softly descending female harmonies in this section, while the use of soft harpsichord is in keeping with the attention to detail and sophistication that marked Orbison's Monument recordings.
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