In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel song)

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“In Your Eyes”

Single by Peter Gabriel
from the album So

Released

1987

Format

7" single, 12" single, CD single

Recorded

1986

Genre

Pop/Rock/ballad

Length

5:29 (7" LP version)
8:55 (12" special mix)

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel, Bill Laswell and Daniel Lanois

Peter Gabriel singles chronology

"Sledgehammer"
(1986)

"In Your Eyes"
(1986)

"Red Rain"
(1987)

"In Your Eyes" is a hit rock/pop single from Peter Gabriel's 1986 album So. It reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks and #3 on Billboard Hot 100 in both 1986 and 1987. It was not released as a single in the UK. Gabriel later released an extended version of the song which was 7-9 minutes in length (as compared to the original 5:29). Like many of his songs, "In Your Eyes" contains significant African influences, even more so when performed live (on the So tour) as an extended vocal duet with Youssou N'Dour.

In 1989, the song appeared in the Cameron Crowe film, Say Anything, in a scene where broken-hearted Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) serenades his former girlfriend (Ione Skye) outside her bedroom window by holding up a boombox above his head and playing the song for her. (This scene is now a standard pop culture reference for romance.) Although this popularized the song, it failed to crack the top 20.

The song was the finale of the Secret World Tour, and is the final track on the Secret World Live album.

The song was included on the US version of his 2003 compilation Hit, but not on the European or Japanese versions.

In 1993, Gabriel performed the song on Saturday Night Live.^[1]

"In Your Eyes" was written about Gabriel's one-time girlfriend, actress Rosanna Arquette, and is one of two songs recorded in the 1980's about her. The other being "Rosanna", the first track on the 1982 album "Toto IV", by Toto.

[edit] Track listing

"In Your Eyes" (LP Version) – 5:29
"In Your Eyes" (Special Mix) – 8:55

[edit] Cover versions

Neal Morse recorded an acoustic version of the song, along with Solsbury Hill, for an Inner Circle (fan club) release.
A Pop punk rendition of the song was released by the band SR-71 on their third album Here We Go Again.
An acoustic cover was also performed by Darren Hayes for the "I Miss You" single.
Jeffrey Gaines has released both a studio and an acoustic cover of the song (this version is often mistaken for Ben Harper).
Christian artist Nichole Nordeman performed a cover of the song on her album Woven & Spun.
Aaron Lewis of Staind performed a cover of the song with his previous band J-Cat.
The Pat McGee Band covered this song on one of their live shows.
It was sung by Kalan Porter, Teresa Sokyrka and Jacob Hoggard on Canadian Idol.
Lori McKenna contributed a cover of the song to the 2005 compilation "High School Reunion."
Sara Bareilles covered this song in her iTunes exclusive live session.
Dianne Reeves covered this song on various live performances in jazz style.