Here’s a classic song of the day that was a hit for two different classic groups. The song is “These Eyes” and it was written by Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings of the Canadian group, the Guess Who.
The Guess Who recorded the first version of “These Eyes” and released it as a single in December of 1968. Early in 1969, the single peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart.
Junior Walker & the All Stars released their cover of “These Eyes’ in October of 1969. Their version was almost as successful as the original, hitting #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on Billboard’s R&B chart.
The song’s verse is based on a Dm7 – CMaj7 progression, but with an interesting inversion of the first chord. Randy Bachman started out by plunking out those chords on a piano in his date’s living room, while waiting for her to get ready. (His date was Lorayne Stevenson, who he later married and had six kids with.) The unconventional inversion (basically a first inversion, with the root on the top of the seventh of the chord) came about because Mr. Bachman really didn’t play the piano; he was a guitarist. It took his partner, Burton Cummings, who had a more formal musical training, to figure out what Mr. Bachman was playing—and congratulate him for coming up with such a unique sound.
One of the other notable things about “These Eyes” is the series of whole-step modulations at the end. The song starts in C major, but in the out chorus modulates up to D major, then to E major, then to F# major, before the song fades out. (Presumably the upwards modulations would continue, ad infinitum.) That puts a bit of a strain on whomever is singing it, as the vocal line keeps going higher and higher and higher. Sounds cool, though.
“These Eyes” is really a terrific tune, which is why it’s been covered by so many different artists. Which version is your favorite?
