"These Eyes" is a song by the Canadian rock bandThe Guess Who. The song was co-written by the group's lead guitaristRandy Bachman and lead singerBurton 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, along with the influence of CKLW-AM Windsor's radio station music directorRosalie Trombley, helped land them a U.S. distribution deal with RCA Records. It was then released in the U.S. In March 1969, and became a breakthrough success for the group, as it would be their first single to reach the top ten on the BillboardPop 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.
Background and writing
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. At first, the band didn't even want to release the song considering the gentle ballad too great a departure from their hard rock roots. The song features an orchestral arrangement by Ben McPeek.
Content
The song is noted for its repeated long section which starts in C major, then goes up a whole tone to D major, then up a whole tone again in E major, and finally in the coda to F-sharp major, before the fade, with the words: "These Eyes/ Are Crying./ These eyes have seen a lot of loves, but they're never going to see another love like I had with you".
Personnel
Burton Cummings - lead vocals, Hohner Pianet electric piano
Randy Bachman - guitar
Jim Kale - bass
Garry Peterson - drums
Covers
Among the many cover versions released over the years, Junior Walker & the All-Stars' version reached number three on the R&B Singles Chart and number 16 on the Billboard Pop Singles in October 1969. Alton Ellis' cover of this song is featured on his 1970 album Sunday Coming. This reggae arrangement was produced by Coxsone Dodd. In 1971 another reggae adaptation followed: "These Eyes " by Stranger Cole followed by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics instrumental version titled "Mighty Alley". Subsequently U-Roy and Hopeton Lewis sang and toasted new lyrics over "Mighty Alley" to create the recording "Tom Drunk", both recordings produced by Duke Reid. Herman Marquis also issued an instrumental version titled "Tom's Version", produced by Byron Smith. Michael Bolton, then known as Michael Bolotin, covered the song on his 1976 sophomore solo album Everyday of My Life. Canadian hip-hop artistMaestro sampled this song for his 1998 Canadian hit "Stick to Your Vision" from the Built to Last album. In addition, the chorus uses Burton Cummings' vocals for the words "these eyes" in a call-and-response manner. Canadian musician Lawrence Gowan released a cover of the song on his Best of...greatest hits release in 1997 as a tribute to the Guess Who being the first concert he ever saw when he was a child. The song was also covered by jacksoul on their 2006 album mySOUL. The song was also featured in the 2007 American comedy filmSuperbad where it is sung by Michael Cera. 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. Angie Stone did a soulful version of the song on her 2016 Covered in Soul album.
