"Blue Tango" is an instrumental piece by Leroy Anderson, written for orchestra in 1951 and published in 1952. It is a light orchestral work in a tango style, running 2 minutes 59 seconds. The scoring includes flutes, oboes, clarinets, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, glockenspiel and strings. Anderson recorded it with his Pops Concert Orchestra for Decca (catalogue number 27875, with "Belle of the Ball" on the reverse, recorded in June 1951). The orchestral version reached number one on the Billboard chart in 1952, and Billboard ranked it the number one song of that year.
Later, Mitchell Parish wrote lyrics for it, turning it into a popular song, and many artists have recorded it. Hugo Winterhalter's version for RCA Victor reached number eight on Billboard, and Les Baxter, Guy Lombardo and Ray Martin also recorded it; Martin's version appeared on the first UK Singles Chart. Alma Cogan recorded a vocal version in the UK in 1952. Bill Black's Combo returned the song to the charts in 1960, reaching number 16. In 1977 Amanda Lear recorded a version with her own lyrics, which did not chart.
