A funny song about a depressed man. The chorus has been one of the most discussed chorus in pop history (have a look at the meaning section to find out). You can also watch a cartoon video showing the literal meaning of the song (watch cartoon).

Here's a karaoke version.

Yo! listen up, here's the story
About a little guy that lives in a blue world
And all day and all night
And everything he sees
Is just blue like him
Inside and outside

Blue his house
With a blue little window
And a blue corvette
And everything is blue for him
And his self
And everybody around
'Cause he ain't got nobody to listen...

I'm blue, da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die

I'm blue, da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die

I have a blue house with a blue window
Blue is the colour of all that I wear
Blue are the streets and all the trees are too
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue

Blue are the people here that walk around
Blue like my corvette, it's standing outside
Blue are the words I say and what I think
Blue are the feelings that live inside me

I'm blue, da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die

I'm blue, da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die

I have a blue house with a blue window
Blue is the colour of all that I wear
Blue are the streets and all the trees are too
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue

Blue are the people here that walk around
Blue like my corvette, it's standing outside
Blue are the words I say and what I think
Blue are the feelings that live inside me

I'm blue, da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die

I'm blue, da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die
Da ba dee, da ba die

YO! (slang)= A cry used as a greeting or to attract someone's attention. Pronounced /joʊ/ ( BrE: /jəʊ/).
Listen up= A more emphatic way to say "Listen".

BLUE HIS HOUSE= A shortened sentence which means "his house is blue".

CORVETTE= An expensive brand of car (you can see the picture here), so this depressed man is rich. There guys, money doesn’t bring happiness.

EVERYTHING IS BLUE FOR HIM= From his point of view (in his opinion) everything is sad.

AND HIS SELF= In some English dialects they use "his-self" instead of "himself". Or maybe this really means "his self", which is "his inner essence".

‘CAUSE (coll.)= Because

AIN’T (coll.)= The negative form of the verbs "to be" and "to have":
- I ain’t no doctor= I’m not a doctor
- He ain’t no money= He has no money
- I ain’t got nobody= I haven’t got anybody.
Notice that in these examples we’re using the double negative (ain’t / nobody), which is incorrect in standard English but quite common in slang (very colloquial English).

DA BA DEE= We’ve already talked about this line in the section about the general meaning of the song.

IT’S STANDING OUTSIDE= He refers to his car (a corvette), which is parked outside.

First of all, let’s say that in English blue is the colour of sadness, so the expression "I’m blue" means "I’m sad, I’m depressed". You can also say "I feel blue". "The blues" means depression, so you can say "I've got the blues" (I'm depressed) or "That gives me the blues" (that makes me feel sad). The music style called "blues" is a sad kind of music.

So the most obvious meaning for this song is the life of a man who is depressed. He feels so sad that all his life and everything around him looks depressing. When you are depressed, even the trees and the sky looks sad and depressing.

But the most interesting thing here is the chorus, the magic line "Da Ba Dee, Da Ba Die". If you listen carefully to it, it is not easy to know what it says, so there has been lots of opinions about what is "the secret message" contained in that cryptic sentence. Some popular interpretations are: "I’m blue and I’m in need of a guy / in Auberdeen I would die / and I believe I will die"...

Well, reality is often less exciting, and the truth is that the chorus says exactly that, "Da Ba Dee, Da Ba Die". Then, the vocals were distorted using a device called "vocoder" and so it sounds strange and mysterious, but there’s no secret message there.

Anyway, my favourite comment comes from Ranna (Boondocks, IA), who says:
"My friends and I used to sing that part as "I'm blue, if I was green I would die." we were in elementary [school] so we thought the person's favorite color was blue and they hated the color green, so if they were green, they wouldn't like it. that's a bunch of 9-year-olds' interpretation of the song when it first came out. We really weren't very deep."