Who was Baby Blue written about?

On April 25, 1988, George Strait released the emotional song “Baby Blue” as the second single off of his album If You Ain’t Lovin’, You Ain’t Livin’. 

The narrator mourns the loss of his blue-eyed girl in the chorus, as he sings, “And baby blue was the color of her eyes. Baby blue like the Colorado skies.”

The emotional song was a major chart success, and claimed the top spot on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart following its release. It was written by songwriter Aaron Barker, who also wrote two other #1 hits for Strait: “Love Without End, Amen,” “Easy Come, Easy Go.”

Those who were unaware that Barker wrote the song often assumed it was autobiographical on Strait’s part. He and his wife, Norma, lost their daughter Jenifer when she was only 13 years old.

There’s no telling if Jenifer comes to his mind when Strait sings the mournful song. But he didn’t write it, so it wasn’t meant to be about her and her story.

In fact, when you pay closer attention to the lyrics, it’s clear the song is meant to be about a lover who left the narrator brokenhearted. As Strait sings, “Like a breath of spring, she came and left, and I still don’t know why, so here’s to you and whoever holds my baby blue tonight.”

Still, the song packs an emotional punch that gets to us every time we hear it. Watch Strait perform “Baby Blue” during a 2017 show in Las Vegas by tuning in to the video below.

George Strait released the heart wrenching song “Baby Blue” on April 25, 1988. It was the second single off his album If You Ain’t Lovin’, You AIn’t Livin’. While the lyrics of the song don’t specify, and Strait has never confirmed, many believe this emotional song was written about the loss of his daughter, Jenifer.

In 1986, Strait’s family was rocked by tragedy. Jenifer, the eldest daughter of Strait and his wife Norma, was killed in a car accident. Jenifer was only 13 years old at the time, and was partially ejected from the passenger’s seat when the car she was in flipped over.

She was killed instantly, and in that moment Strait’s life was forever changed. Jenifer had a brother, whom Strait and Norma called ‘Bubba’. In the years to come, Strait avoided the media and refused interviews, too heartbroken to speak about Jenifer to the press.

While he didn’t want to speak to newspapers or magazines, Strait was able to convey his feelings through his music. Although Strait did not write “Baby Blue”, he imbues the words with the depth of his own emotions, and the lyrics seem to be written for Jenifer, who had beautiful blue eyes.

In the chorus, the narrator mourns the loss of this blue-eyed girl with these words: “And baby blue was the color of her eyes./Baby blue like the Colorado skies./Like a breath of spring, she came and left,/And I still don’t know why.”

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A man collapses to the floor, mortally wounded after a violent shootout. While he lies motionless on his back, eyes open, the cops burst in and discover his body. The camera slowly pans back towards the ceiling... After five years and 62 episodes, it’s finally the end for Walter White, the anti-hero of Breaking Bad.

Broadcast this September, it was one of the most memorable finales in US TV history, pulling in more than 10 million viewers. The soundtrack to White’s demise proved to be uncommonly popular too. Badfinger’s Baby Blue, initially a hit in 1972, had been chosen by series creator Vince Gilligan to mirror his protagonist’s love of blue methamphetamine.

“He’s with that meth lab that he designed, his baby so to speak,” Gilligan explained, “The lyrics back that up. And I think he is at peace with himself.”

In the immediate wake of the broadcast, Baby Blue sold more than 5,000 downloads, triggered a 9,000% spike in Spotify streams and leapt to No. 16 on the iTunes chart. A TV show about a drug-dealing 50-something school teacher was suddenly breaking Badfinger all over again.

Watching at home in Minnesota that night was Liverpool-born guitarist Joey Molland, the sole surviving member of the band’s classic line-up.

“I only found out that day that they were going to use the song on Breaking Bad,” he says. “So while I was surprised, I wasn’t stunned. The mix was different, as was the way they edited the whole thing, but I thought it was great.”

Baby Blue was the last major hit of Badfinger’s career. As with prior successes like _Come And Get It and Day After Day_, the song was a yearning rock ballad that provided a bridge between The Beatles and Big Star. Songwriter Pete Ham’s uncanny gift for a pop melody was fully to the fore, as were Badfinger’s trademark harmonies, which heightened the inherent melodrama of the subject matter.

Ham had written it for southern singer Dixie Armstrong, whom he’d met during the band’s US tour of 1971. “She came to one of the shows, they got talking and Pete really liked her,” Molland recalls. “I don’t know whether they fell in love straight away, but he invited her on the road with us and she came along. She came back to England, too. But we were working in the studio a lot and doing gigs, and I don’t think she was really into that side of it. And then Pete wouldn’t call her when he was away, though I don’t know why. We were just a bunch of guys, and didn’t sit around talking about romantic relationships.”

The sentiment of Baby Blue is rueful. Ham seems trapped by the life of a travelling musician unable, or unwilling, to sustain his newfound love. ‘Guess I got what I deserved/Kept you waiting there too long, my love,’ he sings in the kind of plangent tones echoed in Without You, the monster hit for Harry Nilsson that Ham co-wrote with bandmate Tom Evans.

Molland remembers recording the song on the same day that Ham brought it in. “Pete had written it on acoustic guitar and had some ideas for the linking licks. So I took over that job, we all ran through it a few times, and recorded it. Then we did a couple of overdubs to fatten it up.”

In the producer’s chair was Todd Rundgren. He’d taken over the reins of parent album Straight Up from George Harrison, who himself had replaced Geoff Emerick behind the desk but was now engaged in his Concert For Bangladesh project. Rundgren was intent on returning to Emerick’s original idea of capturing Badfinger live in the room.

“He was into recording the band rather than doing multiple overdubs and going for the big, Phil Spector kind of production that George had been after,” explains Molland. “But he was very rude to us, to tell you the truth, so it wasn’t a lot of fun. He told us he didn’t think we could play very well. But I have to admit that he did do a great job, because Straight Up was our biggest record.”

While Rundgren set about redoing some of the tracks done with Emerick and Harrison, Baby Blue was the first new Badfinger tune he attempted. A key feature was his decision to feed a guitar through a Leslie speaker. He later described the effect it created as a “swirly guitar sound that was somewhat signature on the song”.

Nevertheless, the tortured gestation of Straight Up also fed into the release of the single. The story goes that Al Steckler, Apple’s US boss, was unsatisfied with Rundgren’s mix and asked Eddie Kramer to do a fuller one with a stronger guitar intro. “Al Steckler was an A&R guy in New York,” Molland says. “He was a sweetheart. But we didn’t know about the new mix until after it happened. Many years later, in fact.” Despite being assigned a release number, Baby Blue wasn’t even issued as a single in the UK. Though it rose to No. 14 in the US, Badfinger’s time at Apple was drawing to a close. The label had first picked them up in the late 60s, when Paul McCartney wrote and produced their breakthrough 45, Come And Get It. The band’s three albums up to and including Straight Up sold steadily, but their final LP for Apple, 1974’s Ass, was blighted by legal problems. Less than a year into an ill-advised new deal with Warner Bros, and with financial irregularities surrounding the group and management, Pete Ham hanged himself. He was 27. Eight years later, in ’83, Tom Evans also committed suicide.

Today, Molland still tours under the Badfinger name. But resurgence of interest sparked by Breaking Bad has left the guitarist with a dilemma.

“There are more gigs coming in, so it’s like a throwback to the old days,” he says. “But on a practical level, nothing’s really changed. I don’t know whether to be really excited because I’ll be working like a dog, or whether I should be going, ‘Wait a minute, man. Relax and take it easy!’”

Beatlemania

Baby Blue producer Todd Rundgren recently likened Badfinger to “an ersatz Beatles”, positing the idea that they were “almost filling a void that was opened up when The Beatles stopped recording together”.

Guitarist Joey Molland concedes that, while they were grateful for the initial leg-up from the Apple label, the comparisons soon wore thin.

“We got a lot of that in the early days,” he says, “especially after Paul wrote Come And Get It. People started expecting The Beatles to show up at our gigs. They’d say stuff to us like: ‘Is George playing in the band tonight?’ It was funny at first, but it got really tiresome.”

Was Baby Blue written about George Strait's daughter?

Though it has never been confirmed, it has long been thought that Strait sang this song for his daughter, Jenifer, who died on June 25, 1986, at the age of 13, in an automobile accident in San Marcos, Texas.

What is the meaning behind Baby Blue?

The song is about a guy who keeps his girl (his "baby blue") waiting too long and loses her. It seems to be based on his long-distance relationship with Dixie, which he couldn't maintain. Todd Rundgren produced this track.

Who wrote Baby Blue for George Strait?

Aaron BarkerBaby Blue / Lyricistnull

What song did George Strait dedicate to his daughter?

One of those #1 singles was the song “Baby Blue.” Though it has never been officially confirmed, it is believed George Strait recorded and sang the song in memory of his daughter Jenifer. The song was written by Aaron Barker, and co-produced by Strait with Jimmy Bowen.