Well I’ve had quite the blogging hiatus. It’s been over six years since I’ve posted anything on my blog. I’m wanting to get back into it but I’m going to begin at a slower pace by finishing a series I started back in 2019. Actually there are two series I would like to finish but the first one I’m tackling is my series on Songs with Body Parts in the Titles, my Rock ‘n Roll Head to Toe series.

I completed the first three in the series before my hiatus (songs with the word Head, Hair and Face in the titles) and all three were featured in the Monday’s Music Moves Me blog hop. Last weekend I logged into my blog and tweaked a few things in those three posts (replaced videos that had been removed, etc). Today I’m making my return by participating again in the very cool and very fun Monday’s Music Moves Me (#4M) blog hop by posting Installment #4 – Songs that have the word EYE or EYES in their title.

A word of warning: there are a TON of songs with Eyes in their title! Like, a zillion of them! So, no surprise to anyone who remembers my past posts, this post is SUPER LONG. However, the playlist is upfront so all you have to do is hit Play and enjoy

The rest of the post is just info I gathered from my normal go-to sources (Wikipedia, Songfacts, IMDB, etc). I like learning the backgrounds of songs and info about the artists so hopefully some of you will pick up a few tidbits that you didn’t already know about these songs, if you decide to read any of this stuff and go down my rabbit hole of factoids. (By the way, I didn’t bother to source each and every paragraph or sentence that I copied and pasted; just know most of the info presented has been gathered from Wiki and Songfacts and the like. I do pick and choose and only include what I found interesting or illuminating. But I’m an info nerd…). 

So, here we go… First up, my EYES playlist, followed by a little info about each of the songs and the artists who brought them to us. I really like all of the songs I’ve included in my playlist but the first two are absolute all-time favorites of mine.

 

THESE EYES by The Guess Who

“These Eyes” is a song by the Canadian rock band The Guess Who. The song was co-written by the group’s lead guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings and originally included on the band’s 1969 album Wheatfield Soul. It was first released as a single in their native Canada, where its chart success (#7) helped land them a U.S. distribution deal with RCA Records. It was subsequently released in the U.S. in March 1969 and became a breakthrough success for the group.

By then The Guess Who had some big hits under their belt in their native Canada, but it was this song that earned them international acclaim and the US record deal with RCA. “These Eyes” became their first Top 10 hit in the US, peaking at #6. The next year, they had two US chart-toppers: “American Woman” and “No Sugar Tonight.”

 

Fun Fact: Randy Bachman started writing this song when he was waiting in the living room at the house of his date, Lorayne Stevenson. She was taking a long time getting ready so Bachman sat at the piano and wrote the beginning of this song. He would later marry Lorayne; they were married for about 10 years and had six children together. Bachman claims the song took him just 15 minutes to write once he sat down with his bandmate Burton Cummings to put it together. 

Fun Fact: While doodling on the piano in the living room of Lorayne’s parents’ home, Randy – a guitarist and definitely not a pianist – innocently constructed unconventional piano fingerings for the opening Dm7 and Cmaj7 chords. His Guess Who collaborator Burton Cummings, a trained Royal Conservatory of Music pianist, later complimented Randy for devising riffs that were technically wrong but sonically right for the emerging song. Bachman had the original piano chords with an original title of “These Arms.” Burton Cummings changed the title to “These Eyes” and added the middle eight chords. 

When they weren’t touring, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings would meet for songwriting sessions on Saturday mornings, and it was at one of these sessions that they completed the song. The band was still struggling at the time, and Cummings was still living with his mother, where these songwriting sessions took place. It turned out to be an enlivening songwriting environment, as the pair composed many of their early songs at Cummings’ mother’s piano.

Fun Fact: This song was used in scenes for the 2005 movie Stay. It was also used in the 2007 movie Superbad where a high-school student sings it to appease a tough group of people who insist he’s a singer.

 

ANGRY EYES by Loggins & Messina

“Angry Eyes” is a song by Loggins and Messina, an American pop rock duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved major chart success during the early-mid 1970s. Among their well-known songs are “Danny’s Song”, “House at Pooh Corner”, and “Your Mama Don’t Dance”. After selling more than 16 million records and becoming one of the leading musical duos of the 1970s, Loggins and Messina separated in 1976. Although Messina would find only limited popularity following the breakup, Loggins went on to achieve major chart success in the 1980s. In 2005 and again in 2009, Loggins and Messina reformed for tours in the United States

In this song “Angry Eyes”, Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina sing about someone looking down at them with angry eyes. It’s not clear if this person is a romantic interest, a friend, or a business associate, but there are certainly many angry eyes in the music industry that can create the kind of suspicion and paranoia engendered in this song.

Loggins and Messina are best known for their hit song “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” but “Angry Eyes” is a much better representation of their work. Running 7:37 with a 4-minute instrumental break, it’s a very ambitious song credited to both members of the duo. Produced by Messina, it’s a great showcase for the top-tier musicians who served as their band: Al Garth (sax, violin), Larry Sims (bass), Merel Bregante (drums), Jon Clarke (flute, sax), Milt Holland (percussion) and Michael Omartian (keyboards). Messina had the instrumental section mapped out for the musicians so they knew exactly what to play. The song was a staple of their setlists.

This was released as a single from their second album Loggins and Messina. Cut down to 2:24, it went nowhere, but the full album version did very well on FM radio, helping the album sell over a million copies in America.

Their first album, released in 1971, Sittin’ In, was slated as Loggins’ first solo album with Messina serving as producer and guest musician, but their collaboration was so successful they ended up releasing it as a duo and recording another five albums together, each one they thought would be their last as a duo.

How this “Angry Eyes” song came to be: Messina was working on the score to the 1972 comedy-western TV movie Evil Roy Slade when he came up with the guitar lick for this track. He recalled in a 2018 interview with The College Crowd Digs Me: “There was a scene in the movie where the bad guys were coming into town and we needed something that was just gonna feel ominous. And angry. So I had this guitar lick. I said, ‘Well, how about this one?’ And they went, ‘Oh yeah, that’s perfect!’ So we recorded a few pieces for the movie.” Later, Messina modified the lick to make it sound better for a song. When he was almost done writing the track, he brought Loggins in to help him finish and the result was Angry Eyes, one of my all-time favorites.

Musically the song is brilliant. It features extended instrumental breaks that showcase the band’s jamming and improvisational skills. Then there is the contrast between the gentle instrumental passages and the intensely delivered vocals.

Thematically the song is a complex song about betrayal, deception, and the pain of seeing someone you know through their own negative perceptions. It features distinct instrumental jams, particularly from Jim Messina’s guitar, and a dynamic contrast between mellow music and “vicious” vocals. While the meaning can be interpreted in many ways, it is ultimately a song about realizing the other person is hiding their true selves behind a “false disguise” and the difficulty of being seen clearly through those “angry eyes”.  

Fun Fact: Messina used a pieced-together Telecaster with a microphonic pickup to produce the song’s distinct guitar sound. He explained: “A microphonic pickup is when it starts to get on the verge of wanting to feedback. And that in-between time that you’re hearing is called microphonic. In those days microphonics were created, at least in a guitar pickup, when you had copper wire and you coated it with something. In those days, they used lacquer to coat the wire. What most people did is… they’d put their guitar in the trunk of their car, and the sun would bake it. And as the temperature rises, the lacquer begins to melt. And the layers between the actual copper and the lacquer begin to thin. And as it thins, it allows the magnetism to creep out. The ultimate aspect of that is… it becomes microphonic. And the effect of it… is a very mid-rangey sound that almost becomes poppy. And of course, the way I played it, it overemphasized what that microphonic did. It gave it a sound. And just about everybody who heard that song made comments about the great guitar sound. Who knew, right?”

Fun Fact: This song was used in the 1979 movie The Main Event, starring Barbra Streisand.

 

SUITE: JUDY BLUE EYES by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes is a song written by Stephen Stills and performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN). It appeared on the group’s self-titled debut album in 1969 and was released as a single, reaching number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. In Canada, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes peaked at number 11. The song imitates the form of a classical music suite as an ordered set of musical pieces; the “suite” of the song is in four distinct parts. (further explanation of the Suite: Judy Blue Eyes can be found on various sites and in interviews with Stephen Stills, or this song was covered in my Kaleidoscope of Color Songs, the Blue Edition).

This wasn’t their first single, or even their biggest, but certainly one of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s most well-known songs. It established the harmony style that would be the group’s trademark for years to come. Graham Nash revealed to Rolling Stone that of the CS&N trio, Stills was the only to play an instrument on this song; he handled guitars, bass and percussion. Session man Dallas Taylor was the drummer. All three of the CSN
trio contributed vocals.

As for lyrics, the title “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (a play on words for “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes”) refers to Stephen Stills’ former girlfriend, folk singer/songwriter Judy Collins, and the lyrics to most of the suite’s sections consist of his thoughts about her, their relationship and their imminent breakup. Judy Collins is known for her piercing blue eyes.

Fun Fact: After dating Stills for two years, Judy Collins fell in love with the actor Stacy Keach. Devastated by their impending breakup, Stills wrote “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” as a response to his heartbreak.
Stills sang it to Collins for the first time on her birthday. “I was out in California,” she recalled to Uncut magazine. “Steven came and bought me flowers and a beautiful Martin guitar and sang ‘Judy Blue Eyes’ to me. We both wept and I said, ‘It’s gorgeous, but it’s not going to get me back.'”

Fun Fact: The full-length version of the song is considered a suite, with four separate sections and lots of musical changes throughout the suite. This album version runs 7:22, which was considered too long for radio, so the single was cut down to 4:35. Many FM AOR radio stations played the album cut, which is now considered the definitive version. Similarly, the Derek & the Dominos song “Layla,” released the following year, had a comparable trajectory: initially cut to 2:43 as a single, the full 7:10 album version is the one that endured.

Fun Fact: CSN performed “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” at the Woodstock and Live Aid festivals, and their performance at the former is featured in the film Woodstock (1970). Regarding that performance: Crosby, Stills & Nash’s set at Woodstock in 1969 – just their second gig together – opened with “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” The event ran long, so they didn’t go on stage until 3 a.m. the third night (The Who set a precedent by going on at 5 a.m. the night before). They played 16 songs in their set, the first nine acoustic and the last seven electric. Those who left to get to work Monday morning not only missed Crosby, Stills & Nash, but didn’t see Jimi Hendrix close out the festival.

Fun Fact: Neil Young was part of the band at Woodstock 1969, performing with Crosby, Stills & Nash as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). Although often rumored to have not been there because he refused to be filmed, Young was present and performed with the band, though his presence is sometimes overlooked in the famous Woodstock film. Woodstock was only CSNY’s second live public performance as a group, with their first being the night before in Chicago. The Woodstock lineup included David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Neil Young, along with bass player Greg Reeves and drummer Dallas Taylor. 

The “No-Show” Myth:
Neil Young refused to allow his image to be recorded on stage, which led to the misconception that he wasn’t there.

The CSN&Y legacy is full of brilliance and turbulence and their clashes are well-known by many but in case you want to go a little deeper into their troubles here’s some info for ya: The primary drama in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young stemmed from David Crosby’s volatile personality, including his drug addiction, his self-centered behavior, and particularly his harsh comments about Neil Young’s girlfriend, Daryl Hannah, in 2014, which led Young to declare CSNY would “never tour again.” These long-standing tensions, combined with individual creative and personal conflicts, such as Stephen Stills’s ego and drug use, ultimately broke up the band and prevented any meaningful reconciliation between the members.

This video explains the story of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, including their internal conflicts:

“Doctor My Eyes” is a 1972 song written and performed by Jackson Browne and included on his debut album Jackson Browne. Featuring a combination of an upbeat piano riff coupled with lyrics about feeling world-weary, the song was a surprise hit, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in spring 1972, after debuting on the chart at number 80. Browne would not see the chart’s Top 10 again until 1982’s soundtrack hit “Somebody’s Baby“, although “Running on Empty” just missed the Top 10, reaching number 11.

“Doctor My Eyes” was Jackson Browne’s first single. It’s far more compact than most of his songs, running a radio-friendly 2:55. It did very well in America and remained a fan favorite, garnering lots of airplay on Classic Rock and Adult Contemporary radio, and often earning a spot on Browne’s setlists. Getting that first hit under his belt was satisfying for Browne, whose first recorded album (in 1968) was never released.

Jackson Browne’s songs often ask if it’s better to see the world through the harsh lens of reality, or to just leave on the rose-colored glasses. He does just that in “Doctor My Eyes,” asking if it was unwise to leave his eyes open for so long, as now he must contend with a “slow parade of fears.”

Originally, the lyrics were about a guy who tries to get help but is doomed because it’s too late. Browne’s record company thought it was too much of a downer, so he made it into a story about a guy who has gone through a lot in life and comes to accept his fate.

Fun Fact: Interestingly, the song had a very literal inspiration. “I did, in fact, have something happen to my eyes,” Browne told Rolling Stone. “They became red, I could barely see – I didn’t know what it was. They gave me some drops: ‘Keep your eyes shut for a few days.’ By the time I wrote this, I could see again. But it was a metaphor for having seen too much, a loss of innocence.”

Browne’s Southern California musical cohorts David Crosby and Graham Nash sang harmony vocals. Browne was signed to Asylum Records, which was owned by David Geffen. According to Jackson, Geffen asked Nash if he thought there was a single on the album and Nash picked this one, with the proviso that Browne add a high vocal part, which he did. The guitar solo was played by Jesse Ed Davis, a brilliant but troubled musician who performed on albums by Willie Nelson, Marvin Gaye and John Lennon. Davis died in 1988 at age 43 in what appeared to be a drug overdose.

Browne, though, had never had his own band, so putting one together for the album was a challenge. He ended up anchoring it around bass player Lee Sklar and drummer Russ Kunkel, who were James Taylor’s rhythm section and much-admired session pros. Instead of working with a high-powered producer, Browne put engineer Richard Orshoff in that role and gave his players lots of input. They were able to transform the songs he had been playing solo on acoustic guitar into full arrangements.

Fun Fact: Jackson Browne and the Eagles were creative kin and rose to fame around the same time in 1972. Browne was first on the charts, with “Doctor My Eyes” peaking at #8 in America in May 1972. In July, the Eagles reached #12 with their first single, “Take It Easy,” a song Jackson Browne co-wrote with Glenn Frey. Browne included his version of “Take It Easy” on his next album, For Everyman.

Fun Fact: In the UK, it was The Jackson 5 who had a hit with “Doctor My Eyes”; The Jackson 5 recorded “Doctor, My Eyes” for inclusion on their sixth album Lookin’ Through the Windows, released in 1972. Their cover version was also released as a single in 1973. It did not chart in the US, but went Top 10 in the UK, peaking at No. 9. On their version, Jermaine Jackson came in too early and ended up repeating the first line. His error was allowed to remain in the final mix.

 

BROWN-EYED GIRL by Van Morrison

“Brown Eyed Girl” is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart. It is considered to be Van Morrison’s signature song.

Fun Fact: This song was originally called “Brown Skinned Girl” and was about an interracial relationship. Van Morrison changed it to “Brown Eyed Girl” to make it more palatable for radio stations. Some stations banned it anyway for the line, “Making love in the green grass.”

The female backing vocals were performed by The Sweet Inspirations, a gospel-influenced R&B group that performed on many hits for other artists in addition to their own material. You can also hear them on “Chain Of Fools” by Aretha Franklin and “I Say a Little Prayer” by Dionne Warwick. From 1963 until 1967, the group would back up several important artists in the soul, pop and rock genres, most prominently Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley. The Sweet Inspirations became Elvis Presley’s female backing singers in 1969, touring and recording with him until his death

Among the many awards Brown-Eyed Girl has received over the decades In 2007 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Across the pond this song was awarded a “Million-Air” certificate at the 2009 BMI London Awards dinner. The certificates are presented in recognition of songs by European artists that have achieved multi-million US radio and television performances and this track topped the 2009 list with an astounding nine million performances since it was first recorded.

 

SAD EYES by Robert John

“Sad Eyes” is a song written and recorded by Robert John, released in April 1979. “Sad Eyes” became one of several non-disco tunes to top the 1979 pop chart. It was released in April 1979, when many music fans were primarily listening to disco. In August 1979, there was a cultural anti-disco backlash that encouraged many to turn from disco to pop music instead. “Sad Eyes” is notable as the song that ended the six-week reign of the biggest smash hit of the year, The Knack’s “My Sharona”. This song fell into a soft rock sweet spot when the genre was huge. Lite favorites by the likes of the Commodores, Barry Manilow and Linda Ronstadt were all over the radio, counterbalancing the disco hits.

This song explores the sadness experienced by a woman because her lover is leaving to return to his girlfriend/wife. The lyrics indicate that the relationship was intended from the start to be a temporary one that would end upon the girlfriend’s return. The song is told from the man’s point of view and expresses his efforts to console her. The singer is dealing with a breakup that apparently he instigated. He tries to make a clean break, telling her what they had was good while it lasted, but she’s having a hard time accepting it and keeps crying, which he can’t handle. “Turn the other way – I don’t want to see you cry,” he tells her.

Fun Fact: Robert John is a singer from Brooklyn who had a minor hit way back in 1958 with a song called “White Bucks and Saddle Shoes,” which went to #74. At the time, he was using his real name: Bobby Pedrick, Jr. As Robert John he charted again in 1968 when a song he co-wrote, “If You Don’t Want My Love,” went to #49. In 1972 he had a big hit with a cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which went to #3. He had a few minor hits as a songwriter (“Can’t Help But Love You” for The Whispers, “I Can’t Move No Mountains” for Blood, Sweat & Tears), but was out of music by the late ’70s.

But in 1978, the producer George Tobin called Robert to reboot his career. Robert was doing construction work at that time. After the call, Robert John wrote “Sad Eyes.” Tobin produced the track, and it climbed to #1 in 1979, just ahead of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” In 2025, Robert John died at 79 following a stroke he suffered years earlier.

Fun Fact: “Sad Eyes” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #85 on May 19, 1979. Twenty weeks later it was #1. It then tied the record set by Nick Gilder’s single “Hot Child In The City” for taking the longest time to reach the peak position!

 

EYE OF THE TIGER by Survivor

“Eye of the Tiger” is the theme song to Rocky III, the biggest movie of 1982. Tony Scotti, the president of Survivor’s record label, played Sylvester Stallone (who wrote, directed and starred in the film) some tracks from Survivor’s previous album, Premonition. Stallone thought the sound, writing style and street appeal could fit in his new movie, so he called Survivor’s primary songwriters Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan and left messages on their answering machines.

The first two Rocky movies used a very popular orchestral theme written by Bill Conti. That song, “Gonna Fly Now,” was a #1 hit in 1977. Says Peterik: “We didn’t want to do anything like that. Stallone, in his first conversation to us made it real clear he wanted to distance himself from that first song. To him, it was great, but he wanted something to get to the youth market, the cutting edge. Looking back at age 53, it’s hilarious to think I was once part of the cutting edge. We attempted to steer clear of the ‘Gonna Fly Now’ thing.”

Sylvester Stallone, the director and star of Rocky III, enlisted Survivor after Queen denied him permission to use their song “Another One Bites the Dust”. Survivor derived lyrics and title from dialogue in the film and conceived a riff with chord changes to match the punches in the boxing scenes.

Jim Peterik told Songfacts regarding the origin of this song: “When we got the initial rough cut of the movie, the scene that ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ appears in was cut to ‘Another One Bites The Dust‘ by Queen. Frankie and I are watching this, the punches are being thrown, and we’re going, ‘Holy crap, this is working like a charm.’ We called Stallone and said, ‘Why aren’t you using that?’ He goes, ‘Well, we can’t get the publishing rights to it.’ Frankie and I looked at each other and went, ‘Man, this is going to be tough to beat.’ We had the spirit of, ‘We’ve got to try to top this.’ I started doing that now-famous dead string guitar riff and started slashing those chords to the punches we saw on the screen, and the whole song took shape in the next three days.”

“Eye of the Tiger” was played extensively on MTV and radio, and topped charts worldwide during 1982. The music video depicts the band members walking through city streets and an industrial warehouse. In May 2024, the video reached one billion views on YouTube. See the official video of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” here which aired in heavy rotation on MTV back in the day. (Seems so long ago, doesn’t it? Remember in the early 80s when everyone watched MTV constantly and music videos were all the rage?)

Why did this song resonate so much with so many? The song has become very popular among people in physical therapy, marathon runners, weightlifters, and just about anyone facing a challenge. Says Peterik: “People training for boxing matches, that’s a natural, but in every sport, that song has crept into the motivational aspect of it. I never would have predicted it. It seems obvious now, but we just wrote a song for a movie. The fact that it was huge wasn’t a big surprise at the time, but what surprises me is that it’s still around. It’s still credible, it’s still not a joke, even though the Starbucks commercial kind of makes it a joke. I just know there’s something in the water with that song.”

Sullivan felt people related to the message of self-empowerment: “It’s about getting your ass out of bed. It’s about saying: ‘I’m not going to try to go to the gym Monday – I am going to go to the gym Monday.'” 

“Eye of the Tiger” reached number one on the charts of many countries. In the US, it was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks, spent 15 consecutive weeks in the top 10, and was the second-best-selling single of 1982. It was certified platinum in August 1982, for sales of two million copies. In the UK, “Eye of the Tiger” sold 956,000 copies and was number one on the UK singles chart for four consecutive weeks.

At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, “Eye of the Tiger” won Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Song of the Year. At the 55th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Original Song. 

Here’s a Rocky III music video movie trailer with scenes from the movie while “Eye of the Tiger” plays.

Fun Fact: The song has been used without authorization in several Republican campaigns, which Survivor has repeatedly opposed. Specifically, in 2012 Survivor sued the Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in Illinois federal court for using “Eye of the Tiger” without authorization as entrance music at his political rallies. The lawsuit was settled out of court. In the same year, another Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, agreed to stop using “Eye of the Tiger” at his rallies. In 2016, the Republican candidate Mike Huckabee agreed to pay $25,000 in compensation for using “Eye of the Tiger” at a rally without permission.

More recently: Frankie Sullivan blasted Nikki Haley for playing the song at her 2024 presidential campaign launch, saying that politicians using his music is “not appropriate.”

“Stop using my fucking song!” said Sullivan in an interview with Billboard.

Haley, South Carolina’s former Republican governor, kicked off her White House bid and took to the stage as “Eye of the Tiger” played for the crowd at the launch event in Charleston, S.C. 

“That song belongs with the ’Rocky’ franchise and they don’t (bother to) ask because they’d get a no. Absolutely,” Sullivan, 68, said. “I don’t care who it is, I don’t think it’s appropriate, especially with ‘Tiger,’ since it’s such a special song,” the musician said.

Indeed, it is a special song!

Fun Fact: “Eye of the Tiger” was used in a 1991 tv commercial for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal, whose mascot is Tony the Tiger. And Survivor’s song is prominently featured in another Frosted Flakes commercial in 2015.

 

IN YOUR EYES by Peter Gabriel

“In Your Eyes” is a song by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel from his fifth solo studio album So (1986). It features Youssou N’Dour singing a part at the end of the song translated into his native Wolof. Gabriel’s lyrics were inspired by an African tradition of ambiguity in song between romantic love and love of God. According to Gabriel, the lyrics could refer to either the love between a man and woman or the relationship between a person and God.

The West African musician Youssou N’Dour sang backup on this track, giving it a distinctive vocal texture. The New York Times described his voice as an “arresting tenor, a supple weapon deployed with prophetic authority”. Gabriel learned about him in 1984 when N’Dour was performing in England. They became friends and collaborators, with a mutual respect for each other’s music. N’Dour joined Gabriel on the So tour and was very well received – he was part of an extended version of “In Your Eyes” and also sang on Gabriel’s song “Biko.” In 1991 Gabriel performed the song in N’Dour’s native country of Senegal before a crowd of 70,000.

“In Your Eyes” was not released as a single in the UK but was the second single from So in the US, achieving strong radio airplay and regular MTV rotation. It reached number 1 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks in September 1986 and peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November. In 2005, the song gave Gabriel his first gold single, certified in the US by the RIAA.

Fun Fact: Peter Gabriel combined various real and electronic instruments to create the song. He worked the Fairlight CMI synthesizer and the Linn drum machine, and also played piano. When Guitar Player magazine questioned whether David Rhodes, who did guitar and backing vocals on the song, was upset over his 12-string being buried beneath synthesizers, the guitarist replied: “I think that’s fine. Often, I prefer that. I think sometimes it can be unnecessary to have a lot of definition between instruments. All the instruments should blend to make the song work, to build the atmosphere. The fact that you can’t hear your part, a particular sound, shouldn’t worry you at all. A lot of guitarists enjoy playing very loud and doing big solos. I’m not into that.”

He added: “The idea of making things work appeals to me a lot more. I approach things texturally and build them up, giving the music space to develop. With Peter, we use a lot of effects, so that it sounds as little like a guitar as possible.”  Now that’s a team player!

Fun Fact: The song was featured in the 1989 film Say Anything, starring John Cusack and Ione Skye. It’s in a scene where John Cusack plays this from a Boom Box he holds over his head to win the heart of Ione Skye. Director Cameron Crowe was going to use Billy Idol’s “Got To Be A Lover,” but it didn’t work with the scene. Crowe got the idea to use “In Your Eyes” when he played a tape from his wedding which had the song on it. Because it was a deeply personal song, Gabriel did not want to let him use it, but when Crowe called and sent him a tape of the movie, Gabriel loved it and gave his approval.

The producers of Say Anything were charged about $200,000 to use the song, but it was worth the price as it became one of the most famous scenes in movie history. The scene became a cultural touchstone, which was a little strange for Gabriel. He told Rolling Stone in 2012: “I’ve talked to John Cusack about that. We’re sort of trapped together in a minuscule moment of contemporary culture.”  (see a still from Songfacts):

One of the most iconic film song images of recent years, undoubtedly the most memorable scene from the 1989 film shot in and around Seattle Washington. The scene has character Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) serenading Diane Court (Ione Skye) outside her bedroom window playing this song (“In Your Eyes”) shortly after she broke up with him. The song, which had become “their” song, was playing on the radio during a romantic scene in his car when she pointed out the lyrics in the song and expressed how important the song was to her.

 

 

EYE IN THE SKY by the Alan Parsons Project

“Eye in the Sky” is a song by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released as a single from their sixth studio album, Eye in the Sky (1982), in May 1982. It entered the US Billboard charts in July that year and hit #3 in October 1982, #1 in both Canada and Spain, and #6 in New Zealand, becoming their most successful release. 

The rumor has it that this song gets its theme from George Orwell’s 1984, which revolves around a dystopian future where citizens are constantly monitored by a totalitarian world government. However, even the official page of the Alan Parsons project that talks about this song doesn’t mention any connection. There is also nothing in the lyrics to connect it with this novel – those who have read the book know there are no specific references to “eyes in the sky,” i.e. satellites and such, but just cameras and telescreens everywhere. Meanwhile, the lyrics make no reference to Big Brother, Ingsoc, Newspeak, proles, ministries, Room 101, and so on, which is common jargon in the book. So, let’s just say this is unconfirmed, and caution about making snap judgments regarding a novel that has become such a potent counterculture icon in exactly the same way that Guy Fawkes – and Che Guevara before him – became counterculture fashion. Otherwise we’d end up with a doubleplusungood untruth.

A little more credible is the claim that it’s a reference to ceiling cameras, particularly in casinos, where the same term “eye in the sky” is used. However, the basic message is that of somebody dumping a lover, while asserting that they know too well how the reaction will be.

HOWEVER: Alan Parsons did cop to a 1984 association on the album as a whole, telling Top 2000 a gogo: “We wanted to base the album on the sort of concept of big brother is watching you – there’s always a camera watching you, there’s always a helicopter in the sky overseeing you, and you can read a line of small newspaper print from space.”  Check out this short documentary by Top 2000 a gogo (Dutch Public TV) from 2017 as Alan Parsons tells the story of ‘Eye In The Sky’ by The Alan Parsons Project. 

Fun Fact: The lush sound Parsons created on this song is something he learned from his years as a sound engineer. He worked on some seminal albums, including Abbey Road by The Beatles and Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd. Who knew?!

Fun Fact: In America, “Eye in the Sky” is by far the biggest hit for The Alan Parsons Project, and their only Top 10 hit, although they had eight Top 40 entries from 1976 to 1984. It is their most-played song in concert since the group began performing in the ’90s. Interestingly, Parsons didn’t think highly of this song and had to be convinced to put it on the album. As his main collaborator Eric Woolfson (vocals) told it, he and the other musicians loved the song, but Parsons thought so little of it that he bet their guitarist Ian Bairnson that it would not be a hit.

Fun Fact: The cover art to the album Eye in the Sky – this song being the title track – has the famous Egyptian symbol of the eye of Horus.

Horus was one of the bird-headed Egyptian gods, with the head of a falcon. The eye symbol itself – in ironic contradiction to the lyrics – meant protection, power, and health.

Check out this montage of the album package: the cover art, the back cover, the liner notes on each side of the album sleeve and the actual vinyl album labels for each side which incorporates the Eye of Horus.

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Fun Fact: The instrumental track “Sirius” opens the album and leads into “Eye In The Sky,” but unlike some of the Pink Floyd tracks that radio stations played together, “Sirius” was usually dropped when “Eye In The Sky” got airtime. “Sirius” later came into its own as a jock jam when the Chicago Bulls started using it as introduction music in Michael Jordan’s rookie year. It became the soundtrack to the Bulls’ six championships in that era, and was appropriated by a number of other teams in various sports.

 

ANGEL EYES by the Jeff Healey Band

“Angel Eyes” is a hit by the Jeff Healey Band, a Canadian rock & blues band with Toronto born front-man Jeff Healey. Jeff Healey was not only a talented rock, blues & jazz guitarist as well as a singer/songwriter, he was blind. Interestingly he often recorded songs that mention eyes and sight. The first Jeff Healey Band single was called “See the Light,” so it wasn’t too surprising for him to record “Angel Eyes,” a song that starts:

                  Girl, you’re looking fine tonight

                  And every guy has got you in his sight

When he was almost one year old, Healey lost his sight due to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes. His eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given ocular prostheses. That didn’t deter Healey’s talent from emerging though: he picked up a guitar at age 3, he put it flat on his lap and played it that way, with his left hand pressing directly down on the fretboard. He kept that style his whole life, which gave him a very distinctive sound and a captivating stage presence – other guitarists watched in awe as his hands flew around the instrument.         Healey was often asked about being blind, and he never ascribed it as an asset or a liability (except when he would sometimes miss the chair when he sat back down after getting up to play on stage). And you probably wouldn’t have known he was blind unless someone told you, which was how he wanted it. Singing about a girl with “Angel Eyes,” then, wasn’t out of character. He expressed himself through his guitar and tried to sing lyrics that were relatable.

“Angel Eyes” was written by the songwriters John Hiatt and Fred Koller and released in 1988 on See the Light, the debut album for The Jeff Healey Band. The song was first released in the United Kingdom as the album’s second single in April 1989 and was issued in the United States several weeks later. The song peaked at No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 24 on Billboard‘s Album Rock Tracks chart.

Though “Angel Eyes” was the biggest hit for The Jeff Healey Band it was their only song to get much attention in America. They formed in Toronto in 1985 and are much better known in their home country, where many of their songs got airplay.

Healey built a buzz that landed him on stage with Stevie Ray Vaughan at a Toronto show on July 27, 1985, when he was 19. He quickly gathered two local musicians he had played with – Joe Rockman (bass) and Tom Stephen (drums) – and formed The Jeff Healey Band so they could take the many offers to play gigs. Earning a record deal was a challenge, so they issued the song “See the Light” as a single in 1986 independently and made a music video for it to use as a demo. Arista Records signed them and released the See the Light album in 1988. Clive Davis ran the label and made sure they had a song with hit potential to record, which is how they got “Angel Eyes.” Healey wrote five of the songs on the album but the rest came from outside writers.

Jeff Healey was incredibly talented and earned accolades from the likes of Mark Knopfler, B.B. King and Eric Clapton, but the Jeff Healey Band never became all that famous and Healey is rarely mentioned among the guitar GOATs. This could be because he wasn’t all that self-promotional, or because he didn’t land another big hit, but there are a lot of young guitarists who later discovered him on YouTube. Healey died in 2008 at age 41 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Watching the music video, there’s no indication that Healey was blind. At concerts, if you didn’t know he was blind you might go the whole show without figuring it out. He would often get up from his chair to play in short paroxysms, wowing the crowd. This is when his blindness would reveal – he’d often bump into things and sometimes have a hard time finding his chair when he went to sit back down.  (Source: songfacts.com)

Fun Fact: Did you know The Jeff Healey Band was the house band at the Double Deuce saloon in the movie Road House? It’s the movie in which Patrick Swayze played the bouncer/fixer who does a lot of serious ass-kicking at the Double Deuce (along with one of my favs the incomparable Sam Elliott). It was Jimmy Iovine, the man in charge of the music for the film, who got the Jeff Healey Band the gig; he had produced one of the songs on Healey’s debut album See the Light. The Road House film was released in May 1989, about eight months after the Healey’s album came out. The film gave the song a big boost and that’s when it reached its chart peak of #5 in the US (September 1989). Jeff Healey is also featured in the film’s trailer:

 

DIAMOND EYES by The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer

“Diamond Eyes” is a song on the collaboration album by The Edgar Winter Group and Rick Derringer. The album is self-titled as The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer. It was released in September of 1975 by Blue Sky Records. It was the band’s third studio album and the first to feature Rick Derringer on guitar following Ronnie Montrose’s departure. Derringer also co-produced the record with Steve Paul. 

The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer album is described as a blend of classic rock and rock music. In addition to “Diamond Eyes” the album’s 13 tracks include songs such as “Cool Dance,” “People Music,” “Good Shot” and “Nothin’ Good Comes Easy.” It features Winter on keyboards, sax, and percussion, and Derringer on lead guitar. 

The album has a really cool cover:

Inside the album is the vinyl disc and a bonus photo of the band and the song lyrics:

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Edgar Winter (born December 28, 1947) is a multi-instrumentalist, performing on the keyboards, and as a vocalist, saxophonist and percussionist, well-versed in jazz, blues and rock. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group. He is easily recognized by his albinism. After recording with his brother, Johnny Winter, Edgar was signed to his own Epic Records contract in 1970 and recorded two R&B flavored albums, “Entrance” and “Edgar Winter’s White Trash”. In 1972 he formed The Edgar Winter Group, which included Dan Hartman, former Sawbuck members Ronnie Montrose and Chuck Ruff and later included the band’s producer Rick Derringer in place of Montrose. It was with this band that Winter had his biggest success with the album “They Only Come Out at Night. During performances, Winter showed his virtuosity by performing on the keyboards, synthesizer, saxophone, and drums, all within the confines of the single song “Frankenstein” on stage.

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In live performances of “Frankenstein” Edgar Winter further pioneered the advancement of the synthesizer as a lead instrument by becoming the first person ever to strap a keyboard instrument around his neck, giving him the on-stage mobility and audience interaction of guitar players.

In an August 2020 article in HiFi News by Steve Sutherland on the re-issue of The Edgar Winter Group’s 1972 album They Only Come Out at Night, Edgar Winter tells how he came to tweak one of his favorite then-new instruments for live performances, especially of the song “Frankenstein”:

‘When it first came on the scene, the synthesiser was a very controversial instrument,’ he recalls. ‘I have been both accused of and acclaimed for ushering in the era of the synth. People saw it as putting musicians out of work, for dehumanising music, etc. … 

(“Frankenstein”) wasn’t supposed to be a single. They slapped it on the B-side of another track, ‘Hangin’ Around’, but the deejays started to flip the disc and before they knew it, the monster became… yup… a monster.

And along with it came a true monstrosity. The album may have sold over two million copies on the back of the two hits but it also spawned a grotesque beast, second only to the headless bass as a curse on the whole of music-kind. Mr Winter unleashed the synthesiser from its very moorings and sashayed forth to boogie…

‘I happened to be the first guy to get the idea of putting a strap on the keyboard. It’s such an obvious idea, yet one that no one had thought of. When I saw that the Arp 2600 models were one piece of machinery, but it was in two pieces, and was relatively lightweight – the brains of the thing was a mad scientist contraption console with all kinds of knobs and sliders.

‘I thought, “Hey, I think you could put a strap on this thing and play it like a guitar”, which is exactly what I proceeded to do. I will never forget that moment, the first time I walked out with the keyboard on a strap, the audience went crazy. It was one of those wild rock ‘n’ roll moments.’

 

He’s fascinating to watch. I saw Edgar Winter live a few years ago on my second 70s Rock and Romance Cruise. He’s masterful as he seamlessly goes from instrument to instrument: keyboard to guitar, next on to the drums and then killin’ it on the saxophone, and back to the keyboard strapped around his neck. He’s amazing.

Another major member contributing greatly to the album is of course Rick Derringer. Before joining The Edgar Winter Group, Derringer had already worked with Edgar and his brother Johnny Winter. He produced The Edgar Winter Group’s hugely successful 1972 debut studio album They Only Come Out at Night. A commercial success, the album reached #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart and features the band’s signature songs, “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride“. Derringer also produced the 1974 follow-up album, Shock Treatment, on which he also played guitar.

 

EYES WITHOUT A FACE by Billy Idol

NOTE: I already covered this song in my previous post Installment #3 – the FACE edition so for this post I simply copied the “Eyes Without a Face” info and pasted it below:

“Eyes Without a Face” is a song by English rock musician Billy Idol, from his second album Rebel Yell (1983). It was released in 1984, as the second single from the album. The song is softer and more ballad-like than most of the album’s other singles. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Idol’s first Top 10 hit in the USA. The song is notable for the female voice of Perri Lister singing the French vocals. Perri Lister, also a dancer, is Idol’s girlfriend, and was part of a performance group called Hot Gossip. Lister appeared the video for this song and three others by Idol: “White Wedding,” “Rebel Yell” and “Hot In The City.” In this song she sings “Les yeux sans visage” (French for “Eyes without a face”) as a background chorus. The title of the song refers to the English title of French director Georges Franju’s 1960 film Les yeux sans visage.

An interesting song interpretation with contrasts & comparisons to the film (from Songfacts):

Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face) is the title to a chillingly horrific yet classically poetic 1960 film from acclaimed French director Georges Franju. In it, a gifted plastic surgeon is involved in a near fatal auto accident which horribly disfigures the once beautiful face of his beloved daughter. Along with his assistant, he abducts young women so that he may surgically remove their facial features and graft their beauty onto that of his daughter’s grotesque countenance.

More than the typical Mad Scientist gore flick of the “horror” genre in movies, it deals with real humanistic themes rather than the loud crash and bang after a minute long string instrument is played in a high key. The arrogance, vanity, and what we ultimately come to realize, guilt of the father who now treats his daughter as a sort of porcelain doll with interchangeable parts. Though he supposedly loves her so, what he does in effect, is dehumanize her for the sake of his own personal redemption.

The song “Eyes Without a Face” uses similar imagery for effect. However, he tackles the concept of the modern romance and uses the same metaphors the movie used to show the absence of humanity and how cold and callous the modern world has grown to be. All that we (in the song’s case “we” have the role of the narrator) have endured getting here has made us like the doctor. While the daughter has become eyes without a face (she wears a mask a la Halloween’s Michael Myers and the only visible part of her face are her eyes), the doctor has become a face without eyes. He has blinded himself to the hideousness that he has involved himself, his family, and his poor victims in.

While the woman in the relationship in the Billy Idol song is “Eyes Without a Face,” the narrator has become the face without the eyes. Wrapped in guilt for what once was a perfect love, he must face his own pettiness and the fact that he has forever altered his partner and their relationship.

In a retrospective review of the single, AllMusic journalist Donald A. Guarisco praised the song and wrote: “The music plays against the dark tone of the lyrics with a ballad-styled melody comprised of yearning verses that slowly build emotion and a quietly wrenching chorus that relieves the emotional tension in a cathartic manner.”

Fun Fact: (Well, maybe not so fun): Idol’s memories of the music video are painful ones. The video was directed by David Mallet. Set in a hellish netherworld, the video begins with a verse-long shot of Idol’s face, which appears to be disembodied, illuminated by flames, and floating out of the dark towards the viewer. The second verse focuses on Idol having a violent fit while lying on his back and partially submerged in a shroud of white smoke. During the song’s bridge, the scene changes to Steve Stevens soloing on guitar while Idol poses dancing in a flaming hexagon surrounded by hooded acolytes. The video’s highly aggressive imagery, illustrated with sets that are accented by flame, shadow, and smoke, contrasts strongly with the relative slowness and restraint of the song.

The video was released in June 1984 and subsequently nominated for MTV Video Music Awards for “Best Editing” and “Best Cinematography”. It was shot over an exhausting three-day period on a set with fog machines, lighting, and fire sources. Immediately after the shoot, Idol flew to perform in Arizona, where he discovered that his contact lenses had fused to his eyeballs, attributing this to the harsh video shoot and dry plane air. He was taken to a hospital where the lenses were removed, his eyes bandaged for three days, and his scraped corneas grew back.

Yikes!

 

HUNGRY EYES by Eric Carmen

“Hungry Eyes” is a song performed by American musician Eric Carmen, a former member of the band Raspberries, and was featured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. “Hungry Eyes” peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 3 on the Cash Box Top 100 in 1988.

Eric Carmen is best known as one of the founding members of The Raspberries and writer of “All By Myself,” “Almost Paradise” (Ann Wilson and Mike Reno) and other hits of his own like “Make Me Lose Control.” This is one of the few songs Eric recorded that he did not write. He was asked to do it by his old Raspberries producer Jimmy Ienner, who was the musical director for Dirty Dancing. Eric said of recording this song:

“At the point when that happened, I had moved back from Los Angeles to Ohio and decided to concentrate on being a songwriter. I had become disillusioned with the idea of being an artist. I only learned to sing because I had to. I never really liked my voice, and I still don’t really. So I decided I’d just be a songwriter. I’d be in Ohio and have a normal life. One day, my former producer, Jimmy Ienner, called and said he was working on the film Dirty Dancing. He had this one song, and he thought I was the guy to sing it. He sent the tape. It sounded like Air Supply with Led Zeppelin’s drummer. It was very strange. But through it, you could hear there was actually a pretty good song in there somewhere. The next thing I knew, Dirty Dancing sold 15 million albums, and all of a sudden, I was a performer again.”

When Jimmy Ienner, Raspberries’ producer and Music Producer for the Dirty Dancing film asked Carmen to sing this song for the Dirty Dancing album because he was familiar with Carmen’s musical style Carmen was initially hesitant to produce a song for another film soundtrack because he believed that soundtrack music died “horrible deaths”.

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The song, Carmen’s second Top 40 song of the 1980s, ended up being his biggest hit since “All by Myself”. A few months after the success of “Hungry Eyes”, Carmen released the Ienner-produced “Make Me Lose Control“, which also reached the Top 10 in the US.

 

BETTE DAVIS EYES by Kim Carnes

“Bette Davis Eyes” is a song written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974. It was recorded by DeShannon that year but made popular by Kim Carnes in 1981. This was a huge hit in the US, where it was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks in the summer of 1981. It spent more weeks at the top spot than any other song that year. It went on to win the 1982 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

In this original incarnation, the track is performed in an “R&B lite” arrangement featuring a prominent up-tempo piano part, as well as flourishes of pedal steel guitar and horns. However, it was not until March 1981, when Kim Carnes recorded her version of the song in a radically different synthesizer-based arrangement, that it became a commercial success.

Carnes initially rejected the song based on the demo’s arrangement until keyboardist Bill Cuomo, using the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer, came up with the signature riff which defines Carnes’s version. In an interview with Dick Clark on the National Music Survey, Carnes credited Cuomo with the song’s new arrangement, saying that “the minute he came up with that, then it fell into place. Everybody went, ‘That’s it!'”

Critical reception of the song: Record World called it a “haunting pop-rocker” and said that Carnes’s “earthy vocal rasp and guitar chimes are unforgettable.” Joe Viglione of AllMusic believed that “Bette Davis Eyes” was superior to all other tracks on Carnes’ album Mistaken Identity.

The music video was directed by Australian film director Russell Mulcahy, who made many of the early MTV favorites. His videos were very artistic and filled with unexpected scenes. The costumed crowd smacking the floor and each other in time to the drum machine was a typical Mulcahy touch. The video was huge on MTV and gave the song a big boost.

Fun Fact: Actress Bette Davis was 73 when Carnes’s version became a hit. After this song became a hit single, Bette Davis wrote letters to Kim Carnes and the songwriters (Weiss and DeShannon) to say she was a fan of the song and to thank them for making her “a part of modern history.” One of the reasons the legendary actress loved the song is that her granddaughter thought her grandmother was “cool” for having a hit song written about her.

After their Grammy wins, Davis sent them roses and happily accepted the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes, hanging them on her wall. Bette Davis was an actress known for playing strong, independent women. Her movies include What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and All About Eve. She was famous for her New England accent and, of course, her eyes.

Fun Fact: Carnes has an unusually raspy voice. Some listeners who weren’t familiar with her thought it was Rod Stewart singing this song.

 

DARK EYES by Bob Dylan

“Dark Eyes is a folk song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the 10th and final track on his 1985 album Empire Burlesque. The song features a sparse arrangement in which Dylan’s vocal is only accompanied by his own acoustic guitar and a harmonica played in a rack, and is thus devoid of the “80s style” aesthetic for which the rest of the album is known. As a result, many critics and fans consider it a high point of the album. It was anthologized on the compilation albums Dylan in 2007 and The Essential Bob Dylan (2009 reissue).

According to his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan wrote the song specifically to close the album at the suggestion of engineer and producer Arthur Baker. The disturbing, forlorn tune was written by Dylan virtually on demand when Baker suggested something simpler for the album’s closing track. Baker recalled to Uncut magazine: “I mentioned this idea about doing an acoustic song to him, and then the very next day, he came in with this ‘Dark Eyes.’ I really thought it was a song he’d had. Because he had so many songs, he’d bring cassettes out, and he had just tons of songs. I never thought for a second that he’d just written this.”

In his book Dylan claims that inspiration for the song came from seeing a prostitute in a hallway at the Plaza Hotel on 59th Street in New York City:

“As I stepped out of the elevator, a call girl was coming toward me in the hallway—pale yellow hair wearing a fox coat—high heeled shoes that could pierce your heart. She had blue circles around her eyes, black eyeliner, dark eyes. She looked like she’d been beaten up and was afraid that she’d get beat up again. In her hand, crimson purple wine in a glass. ‘I’m just dying for a drink’, she said as she passed me in the hall. She had a beautifulness, but not for this kind of world. Poor wretch, doomed to walk this hallway for a thousand years”.

Dylan scholar Tony Atwood sees the song as similar to “Restless Farewell”, which Dylan had written specifically to close his album The Times They Are a-Changin’ over 20 years earlier. According to Atwood, both songs are about “being trapped inside what you are, unable to change, unable to be anything other than what you are.”

Spectrum Culture, the online webzine that provides in-depth reviews and features on music, film, food, and print media, included the song on a list of “Bob Dylan’s 20 Best Songs of the ’80s”. In an article accompanying the list, critic Kevin Korber notes that the song shows signs of being “put together quickly” but that its simplicity “arguably works in its favor. In a decade where Dylan seemed more and more in danger of getting lost in the studio, it serves as a reminder of where Dylan came from and what kind of songs he could still write”. In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon concur, writing that Dylan sounds “as if he wanted to return to his roots” and that the result is “worthy of his first albums”.

Fun Fact: Dylan has only played the song eight times in concert: once in Sydney, Australia in 1986 and seven additional times in the U.S. in the fall of 1995. All of the 1995 outings were performed as duets with Patti Smith who was Dylan’s opening act for that leg of the Never Ending Tour. According to Smith, Dylan invited her to choose a song that they could perform together and “Dark Eyes” was her choice.

 

EYES CLOSED by Ed Sheeran

“Eyes Closed” is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released in March 2023 as the lead single from his fifth studio album Subtract. “Eyes Closed” debuted at #1 on the UK Official Singles Chart, giving Sheeran his 14th chart-topper in his native country.

“Eyes Closed” started in 2018 as a collaboration between Sheeran and pop producer Max Martin. Originally a love song, it was reworked in 2022 by Sheeran and Dessner, with a different instrumentation and lyrics detailing the loss of a dear friend.

The song pays tribute to his former music entrepreneur and close friend Jamal Edwards, who died in February 2022 from a drug overdose. Sheeran had been exchanging text messages with Edwards about an upcoming music video, while having dinner with Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn, and then he learned the next day that his best friend was gone. Talking about the loss, Sheeran revealed, “Blue was Jamal’s color, but now it’s all I feel. And I guess music helps heal, so I’m dancing with my eyes closed to try get through it”.

In addition to the death of Edwards, Sheeran’s wife Cherry was diagnosed that same month with a tumor that could not be operated on until after she had delivered their second child in June, and then his friend Shane Warne died in early March. He has cited his feelings of “fear, depression and anxiety” as the inspiration behind the song.

“Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumor, with no route to treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter,” he said. “I was spiraling through fear, depression and anxiety.”

The Harvey-inspired music video for “Eyes Closed” was released alongside the single. Directed by Mia Barnes, the video depicts Sheeran being followed by a big blue monster that only he can see during his night out, representing his grief. He soon finds other people with their own monsters, before finally facing his own and singing the song’s final line, causing it to disappear.

The song is prominently featured in the first trailer of Sheeran’s Disney+ documentary Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All, which explores details of his private life. I haven’t yet seen this documentary but it’s on my To Watch list. The trailer is great!

 

EYE TO EYE by Sheryl Crow

“Eye to Eye” is a song by Sheryl Crow featured on her eighth studio album 100 Miles from Memphis. It is her final release for A&M Records. The album received generally favorable reviews, so says Wiki. Among other positive reviews Billboard magazine specifically names the song in its comment: “100 Miles is a path Crow was certainly wise to tread”, praising her celebratory mind frame and the joyous mood of lead single “Summer Day”, as well as “Peaceful Feeling” and first track “Our Love is Fading”. Keith Richards’ swagger is also noticed on the reggae field “Eye to Eye”.

In the United States, 100 Miles from Memphis entered the Billboard 200 at number #3 with first week sales of 55,000 copies. It is Crow’s eighth top 10 album. In Canada, the album debuted at #2 on the Canadian Albums Chart, behind Eminem’s Recovery. The album was less successful in the UK, once one of Crow’s major markets, where it peaked at #34.

Songfacts had a few interesting tidbits:

This reggae-flavored track features the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards on guitar. Crow and the Stones go back a long way. She has performed with the British rock group in concert, sung duets with Mick Jagger, and Richards previously appeared on Crow’s 1999 Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park set. When she came up with this track, there was only one guitarist she could imagine adding his signature slashing riffs to the mix, and Richards duly obliged. “He has been such a champion for me, and the Stones gave me so many breaks along the way, from very early on,” she said.

Crow told Rolling Stone that Richards’ contribution was not the only way the Stones helped her with the making of 100 Miles From Memphis. “Writing the lyrics, it was like having a term paper hanging over my head,” Crow explained. “But I saw the documentary of making Exile on Main St., and there’s a scene where Mick has all these tunes that don’t have any lyrics, and it made me feel so much better. That’s one of my favorite records of all time, and I figure, ‘Well, if he had a suitcase full of songs he had to write lyrics for and it turned out that good, there’s some hope here.'”

“Eye to Eye” is a really good song. Hopefully the video in my playlist of her performing it live in 2010 at Roseland Ballroom, New York City doesn’t get removed but if it does you can watch it here on YouTube.

 

ARRESTED FOR DRIVING WHILE BLIND by ZZ Top

Although the word ‘Eyes’ isn’t specifically in the title of this song it surely implies eyes and so I’m including it as my final song in this installment. 

“Arrested for Driving While Blind” is a blues-rock boogie track by American blues-rock band ZZ Top. Written by all three band members Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, it was released as the second single from their fifth studio album Tejas (1976).

The song ostensibly concerns the pleasures, and legal pitfalls, of driving under the influence, after dark, as an antidote to limited leisure opportunities. The song references a number of popular alcoholic beverage brands:

When you’re driving down the highway at night

And you’re feelin’ that Wild Turkey’s bite

Don’t give Johnnie Walker a ride

Cause Jack Black is right by your side

You might get taken to the jailhouse and fined

You’ve been arrested for driving while blind.

 

While the song’s title and lyrics are seemingly about driving while intoxicated, the band insists it is not an endorsement of drunk driving. In a 1985 interview with Spin magazine bass player Dusty Hill said that the song was not meant to encourage people to drive drunk: “We wrote that song quite a while ago, and we caught a little flak about it. People think we’re suggesting that people should get drunk and go out and drive. That’s not it at all. Billy introduces it: ‘Don’t get arrested for driving while blind.’ We’re not saying, ‘Don’t drink.’ We’re just doing a tune.”

In that same interview Dusty Hill said: “I was never DWI. I have been very close. I’ve had a couple of wrecks in the past. But personally, it scared the s–t out of me having a wreck. I wasn’t completely whacked, but my response time wasn’t what it would be right now.”

“Arrested for Driving While Blind” was released as the album’s second single but only peaked at #91 on the Billboard Hot 100, a less successful showing than the band’s previous albums. Tejas was the last ZZ Top album under their contract with London Records and is considered by some to be a transitional record. It was recorded using the most modern analog equipment available at the time.

To close this installment out I leave you with a link to a 2019 On Milwaukee article by Larry Widen who interviews Billy Gibbons as he talks 50 Years of ZZ Top. Enjoy!

What did you think of my EYES playlist? What is your favorite Eye or Eyes song? There are so many songs with Eyes in the title; tell me which ones you love or Eyes songs that I skipped in the Comments section below. Thanks for checking out my Return Post!

Now here’s the linky list to all the other participants in the Monday’s Music Moves Me blog hop and check out their #4M posts:

This is a Blog Hop!   1. StacyUncorked       2. Ramblin’ with AM

3. CAAC       4. Songbird’s Crazy World      5. The Sound of One Hand Typing

6. The Glen       7. Angels Bark

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