These Eyes

"These Eyes" is a 1968 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 1968 album Wheatfield Soul. Bachman had the original piano chords with an original title of "These Arms". Cummings changed the title to "These Eyes" and added the middle eight.^[1] It was first released as a single (backed by "Lightfoot"), in their native Canada, where its chart success (#7) helped land them a U.S. distribution deal with RCA Records. It was then released in the U.S. in April 1969, and became a breakthrough success for the group, as it would be their first single to reach the top ten on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at number six, and would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA for sales of over one million copies. While it was actually the 18th single released by the band, it was the first from the quartet of Cummings, Bachman, Jim Kale, and Garry Peterson as produced by Jack Richardson.^[2]

The Guess Who version of the song, features a string section,

The song is a rejection of a broken promise in a love relationship.

The song is noted for its repeated long phrase which starts in C Major, then goes up a whole note to D Major, then up a whole note again in E Major, and in the Coda, finally, to F Sharp Major, before the fade, with the words: "These Eyes/ Are Crying./ These eyes that see a lot of love, but will never see a woman like I have with you".

The song has been used in the films Now and Then (1995), Stay (2005) and Superbad (2007).

Covers

There have been a number of cover versions released over the years, perhaps most notably Junior Walker & the All-Stars' version. Released as a single in October 1969, this version was also a chart success in the U.S., reaching number three on the R&B Singles Chart and number 16 on the Billboard Pop Singles. The song was also covered by jacksoul on their 2006 album mySOUL.

Canadian hip-hop artist Maestro sampled this song for his 1998 Canadian hit "Stick to Your Vision" from the Built to Last album. In addition, the chorus (of which the first part states "These eyes/Seen a lot of shame in the game/These eyes/Seen a lot of pain in the fame/These eyes/Seen a lot of highs and lows/But that's just the way life goes") uses Burton Cummings' vocals for the words "these eyes" in a call-and-response manner.

In 2008, Gregg Gillis, better known to the public as Girl Talk, sampled the song for the track entitled "Set It Off" from his fourth album, Feed the Animals.

Alton Ellis' cover of this song is featured as Track 3 on his 1970 album Sunday Coming.

Chart performance

References

1. ^ "These Eyes" by The Guess Who: Songfacts
2. ^ Allmusic: Wheatfield Soul > Overview