SONG OF THE DAY
“In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel (So, Geffen Records, 1986). Written by Peter Gabriel.
COVERS OF THE DAY
Dianne Reeves — Delicious, delicious, new jazz arrangement. Dianne Reeves is incredible brilliant at combining new, off rhythms with her soulful, “I’ve been through it all” voice to create, really, an entirely new piece.
Lydia Gray — A sweet, sincere version with a voice that sounds both naive/ fresh and knowing. Cool.
Marilyn Scott — It’s hard to compare this “jazz” to Dianne Reeves jazz, but this is certainly a nice thing to listen to. Good voice, good instrumentals. Just something to consider.
Lori McKenna — This is a truly great version! It takes the song into another genre, it’s moody, it’s a little dark. I love it.
Suzanne Fiore — Ooh, this is a scary version. Just piano and haunting female vocals. She drips it off her tongue like it’s her last words. Incredible.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
- “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks and #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.
- It was not released as a single in the UK.
- Gabriel later released an extended version of the song which was nearly 9 minutes in length (as compared to the original 5:29 version that appears on the album).
- 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.
- The song was the finale of the Secret World Tour, and is the final track on the Secret World Live album.
- In 1993, Gabriel performed the song on Saturday Night Live.
- The song was included on the US version of his 2003 compilation Hit, but not on the European or Japanese versions.
- In 2005, after 19 years of accumulated sales, the song brought Gabriel his first Gold single, certified in the U.S. by the RIAA.
- In 1988 (at the end of the 1987 NFL season), NBC Sports used “In Your Eyes” in for the prologue (narrated by Dick Enberg) of the AFC Championship Game between the Denver Broncosand Cleveland Browns.
- The song was used twice in the 1989 Cameron Crowe film, Say Anything…, as well as in its trailer. An iconic scene from the film occurs when broken-hearted Lloyd Dobler serenades his ex-girlfriend, Diane Court, outside her bedroom window by holding a boombox up above his head and playing the song for her. The scene has become a standard pop culture reference for romance.
- Peter Gabriel asked to see Crowe’s film and Crowe asked the production company to send Gabriel a rough cut. Gabriel approved the use of his song, but told Crowe that he was uneasy about the overdose of the main character at the end; the studio had erroneously sent Gabriel the film Wired instead.
- The song’s use in that iconic scene has been parodied in popular satirical shows. In the South Park episode “Raisins”, when Wendy breaks up with Stan, Bebe tells him to hold up a boombox playing Peter Gabriel outside Wendy’s window, to try to win her back. Instead of playing “In Your Eyes,” he plays Gabriel’s decidedly unromantic “Shock the Monkey”.
- The song is featured in the 2008 film The Rocker when ADD plays their first gig at a high school prom, but the drummer Fish soon ruins it by going into a massive drum solo.
OTHER SONGS TO HEAR
Song I found titled “In Your Eyes” that are not covers, but are in fact notable compositions of the same name:
Quincy Coleman “In Your Eyes”
Elizabeth Willis “In Your Eyes”
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones “In Your Eyes (acoustic)”
Anne-Marie David “In Your Eyes”
Charmaine Ford “In Your Eyes”
Yoon Sun Choi & Jacob Sacks “In Your Eyes”
VIDEOS OF THE DAY