On the Billboard Hot 100,the song was No. 1 for five weeks,interrupted for just one week by "Stars on 45" before it returned to the top spot for another four weeks,becoming Billboard's biggest hit of the year.[8] The single also reached No. 5 on Billboard's Top Tracks charts and No. 26 on the Dance charts.[9] It reached No. 2 in Canada for twelve consecutive weeks,and was 1981's No. 2 hit in that country,after "Stars on 45".[10][11] It peaked at No. 10 in the United Kingdom,[12] to date Carnes's only Top 40 hit in that country. Additionally,it ranked No. 12 on Billboard's list of the top 100 songs in the first 50 years of the magazine's Hot 100.[6] "Bette Davis Eyes" was a No. 1 hit in 21 countries.[13]
"Bette Davis Eyes" was written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon,the latter of whom recorded the song that same year for her album New Arrangement.[14] Weiss had traveled to DeShannon's house with a set of lyrics,including several additional verses that were ultimately scrapped. DeShannon refined some of the lyrics and also developed the song's music.[13] In this original incarnation,the track is performed in an "R&B lite" arrangement,[1] featuring a prominent uptempo piano part,as well as flourishes of pedal steel guitar and horns.[15] However,it was not until March 1981,[16] when Carnes recorded her version of the song in a radically different synthesizer-based arrangement,that it became a commercial success.
According to producer Val Garay,the original demo of the tune that was brought to him sounded like "a Leon Russell track,with this beer-barrel polka piano part."[a] Carnes initially rejected the song based on the demo's arrangement,until keyboardist Bill Cuomo,using the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer,came up with the signature riff which defines Carnes's version.[18] In an interview with Dick Clark on the National Music Survey,Carnes credited Cuomo with the song's new arrangement,saying that "the minute he came up with that,then it fell into place. Everybody went,'That's it!'"[13]
Only three takes were recorded,the first of which was used with no overdubbing. Craig Krampf insisted on incorporating a Synareelectronic drum into the song,although Garay objected to the instrument's inclusion on the grounds that it was "the most annoying thing I'd ever heard in my life." However,Garay changed his mind once Krampf hit the Synare on the chorus and found the instrument to be a great addition to the song. The drums were miked at close proximity using a Sennheiser MD 421 on the bass drum,a Shure 56 and Sennheiser MD 441 on the snare drum,Telefunken 251s on the toms,and an AKG 452 on the hi-hat. Carnes sang her vocals through a Neumann U67 microphone situated next to the mixing console.[18]
Actress Bette Davis was 73 when Carnes's version became a hit. She wrote letters to Carnes,Weiss,and DeShannon to thank them for making her "a part of modern times" and said that her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins,Davis sent them roses and happily accepted the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes,hanging them on her wall.[13][19] The opening line,"Her hair is Harlow gold" is a tribute to starlet Jean Harlow,[20] the leading sex symbol of early 1930s films,often nicknamed the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde",whose look inspired Marilyn Monroe,Madonna,and others.[21][22][23]
Critical reception
Record World called it a "haunting pop-rocker" and said that Carnes's "earthy vocal rasp and guitar chimes are unforgettable."[24] Joe Viglione of AllMusic believed that "Bette Davis Eyes" was superior to all other tracks on Mistaken Identity.[25]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Other versions
Gwyneth Paltrow version
American actress Gwyneth Paltrow covered "Bette Davis Eyes" for the soundtrack for the 2000 road trip film Duets.[80] This version was released as a single in Australia on March 26, 2001,[81] debuting and peaking at No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart on April 8, 2001.[82] It spent nine weeks in the top 10,[82] and came in at No. 35 on Australia's year-end chart for 2001. It earned a platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipping more than 70,000 units.[83]
American singer Ethel Cain performed the song at a concert in Paris as a tribute to old Hollywood in June 2024.[85] Cain released the single "Fuck Me Eyes," which has been interpreted as a spiritual "sequel" to the original, which she called one of her favorite songs ever.[86]
Jojo Siwa cover
American reality star and singer Jojo Siwa released a version of the song on July 11, 2025.[87] She debuted the song at a live performance the previous May, dedicated to her boyfriend, reality star Chris Hughes.[87] Kim Carnes made a statement to TMZ criticizing the cover as "a bit too close" to her own version.[88]
The song is a major plot element of the second season episode 9, "Invasion of the Potty Snatchers", of the show Bless the Harts, in which the character of Betty Hart reminisces about a high point of her high school time, in which she received public acclaim for singing the song; Maya Rudolph's rendition of the song in the episode has been called "a highlight of the season thus far".[89]
The song was parodied in the October 10, 1981 episode of Saturday Night Live in the sketch "Buh-Weet Sings", when Buckwheat (Eddie Murphy) sings the song so incomprehensibly that the subtitles read "?????".[90]
↑ Bette Davis Eyes (US 7-inch Single liner notes). Kim Carnes. EMI. 1981. 006-86 359.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Bette Davis Eyes (US 12-inch Maxi Single liner notes). Kim Carnes. EMI. 1986. 052-86 359.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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