The Blue Nile: Who are the Scots band named by Taylor Swift?

For years the Blue Nile have been one of Scotland’s most loved bands – now a new audience may discover them thanks to Taylor Swift.

The American superstar has referenced the 1980s Glasgow group on her new album The Tortured Poets Department.

The Blue Nile feature in the opening lyrics to her track Guilty As Sin?

But who are the band and why has she name-dropped them?

What does Taylor Swift say about them?

The Blue Nile: Who are the Scots band named by Taylor Swift?

The opening lyrics of Guilty as Sin? – the ninth song on The Tortured Poets Department – say:

Drowning in the Blue Nile. He sent me Downtown Lights. I hadn’t heard it in a while.

Taylor goes on to sing:

My boredom’s bone deep. This cage was once just fine. Am I allowed to cry?

She finishes by mentioning the Blue Nile again, reprising this line.

The song Downtown Lights was released in 1989 and was the Blue Nile’s only flirtation with American success, reaching No 10 on Billboard’s American Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Who are the Blue Nile?

The Blue Nile are considered by many music critics to be one of Scotland’s greatest ever groups.

Singer and guitarist Paul Buchanan, bassist Robert Bell and keyboardist Paul Joseph Moore played in bands together at university in Glasgow in the late 1970s before forming the Blue Nile in 1981.

Although Scottish music was flourishing in the early 80s, the group were never pigeon-holed into a scene.

Their debut album A Walk Across the Rooftops displayed melancholic, wistful pop music fuelled by synthesizers and Buchanan’s poignant lyrics.

Released in 1984, the record featured a cover image of the band gazing into a building on the site of a church on Cathcart Road in Glasgow’s Southside.

Considered to be a shy and unassuming group, the trio were reluctant to chase publicity, and took time over their work, to the extent that it allegedly took them several months to finally sign a record contract.

Second album Hats was released in 1989 and is considered a classic, with a 2018 poll by The Herald newspaper listing it as Scotland’s favourite ever album.

Two further albums followed but no new music has been released since High in 2004, although the group have not formally disbanded.

Buchanan has enjoyed a lengthy solo career, including an appearance at this year’s Celtic Connections festival.

Why has Taylor Swift referenced them?

Matty Healy of the 1975 has previously spoken of his love for the band

Guilty as Sin? appears to be a break-up song, based around her brief relationship in 2023 with the 1975’s singer Matty Healy.

Healy is known to be a huge fan of the Blue Nile.

In a 2016 interview with music site Vulture he listed Hats as one of his favourite albums from the 1980s, and added that they were “my favourite band of all time… Musically, they’ve inspired me so much.”

He also told Entertainment Weekly in 2018 that the group’s song Love If We Made It was directly inspired by The Downtown Lights, the song that Swift says made her cry.

How successful were The Blue Nile?

Paul Buchanan onstage with Laura Mvula at the Proms in 2016

The band were more a favourite of critics than of mainstream audiences at first, with their debut album only reaching No 80 in the charts.

However it was hailed by the music press, with Melody Maker, NME and Sounds giving it glowing reviews.

It also earned a big supporter in Peter Gabriel. In a BBC Sounds interview in 2019 Buchanan recalled that the former Genesis singer – by then a major solo star – would order boxes of the record to give to people he knew.

None of the group’s singles ever went higher than No 50 in the charts, a far cry from the massive sales every Swift record generates.

However their last three albums all cracked the top 20, and the band’s reputation has grown over the years.

Buchanan himself has seemed touched by the impact his songs have had on people.

Speaking to the BBC in 2019 he said: “If you’re somehow involved in a song that people like, or love, then it’s a privilege.

“If people love the song then I’m just grateful.”