"Bette Davis Eyes" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Kim Carnes | ||||
from the album Mistaken Identity | ||||
B-side | "Miss You Tonite" | |||
Released | March 1981 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:48 | |||
Label | EMI America | |||
Songwriter(s) | Donna Weiss · Jackie DeShannon | |||
Producer(s) | Val Garay | |||
Kim Carnes singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Bette Davis Eyes" on YouTube | ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"Bette Davis Eyes" is a song written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974. It was recorded by DeShannon that year but made popular by Kim Carnes in 1981 when it spent nine non-consecutive weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It won the 1981 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. [6] The music video was directed by Australian film director Russell Mulcahy. [7]
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] 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." [lower-alpha 1] Keyboardist Bill Cuomo,using the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer,came up with the signature riff which defines Carnes's version. The recording was done in a single take. [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 accepted the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes,and hanging them on her wall. [13] [19]
Record World called it a "haunting pop-rocker" and said that Carnes's "earthy vocal rasp and guitar chimes are unforgettable." [21]
Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Billboard | The 500 Best Pop Songs | 425 | [22] |
Rolling Stone | The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s | 137 | [23] |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
All-time charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [60] | Gold | 100,000 [60] |
Canada (Music Canada) [61] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [62] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
France (SNEP) [63] | Platinum | 1,000,000* |
Italy (FIMI) [64] sales since 2009 | Platinum | 100,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [65] 2004 release | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [66] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
American actress Gwyneth Paltrow covered "Bette Davis Eyes" for the soundtrack for the 2000 road trip film Duets . [67] This version was released as a single in Australia on March 26,2001, [68] debuting and peaking at No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart on April 8,2001. [69] It spent nine weeks in the top 10, [69] 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. [70]
American singer Taylor Swift included a live performance cover of "Bette Davis Eyes" on her 2011 "Speak Now World Tour" album. [71]
Kim Carnes is an American singer and songwriter born and raised in Los Angeles. She began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a session background singer with the famed Water Sisters. After she signed her first publishing deal with Jimmy Bowen, she released her debut album Rest on Me in 1971. Carnes' self-titled second album primarily contained self-penned songs, including her first charting single "You're a Part of Me", which reached No. 35 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 1975. In the following year, Carnes released Sailin', which featured "Love Comes from Unexpected Places". The song won the American Song Festival and the award for Best Composition at the Tokyo Song Festival in 1976.
Mistaken Identity is the sixth studio album by American singer Kim Carnes, released in April 1981 by EMI America Records. The album spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, and was subsequently certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
"All Those Years Ago" is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison, released in May 1981 as a single from his ninth studio album Somewhere in England. Having previously recorded the music for the song, Harrison tailored the lyrics to serve as a personal tribute to his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon, following the latter's murder in 1980. Ringo Starr is featured on drums, and Paul McCartney overdubbed backing vocals onto the basic track. The single spent three weeks at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, behind "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, and it peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped Canada's RPM singles chart and spent one week at number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary listings.
"Waiting for a Star to Fall" is a song by American pop music duo Boy Meets Girl in 1988, written by the duo's members, Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill. They wrote the song after witnessing a falling star at a Whitney Houston concert and originally offered the song to Houston, but Arista Records CEO Clive Davis rejected it. American singer Belinda Carlisle then recorded a demo of the song but denied its inclusion on her 1987 album Heaven on Earth, so Rubicam and Merrill decided to record and release the song themselves.
Boy Meets Girl is an American pop-music duo consisting of keyboardist and vocalist George Merrill and singer Shannon Rubicam. They are perhaps best known for their hit song "Waiting for a Star to Fall" from 1988 and for writing two of Whitney Houston's number one hits: "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody ".
"Endless Love" is a song written by Lionel Richie and originally recorded as a duet between Richie and singer/actress Diana Ross. In this ballad, the singers declare their "endless love" for one another. It was covered by Luther Vandross with R&B-pop singer Mariah Carey, and also by country music singer Shania Twain. Richie's friend Kenny Rogers also recorded the song. Billboard has named the original version as the greatest song duet of all time.
"Celebration" is a 1980 song by American band Kool & the Gang. Released as the first single from their twelfth album, Celebrate! (1980), it was the band's first and only single to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Don't Know Much" is a song written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow. Mann was the first to record the song in 1980, gaining a minor chart hit in the US. The song was made famous when it was covered as a duet by Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville in 1989. Their version was a worldwide success, topping the Irish Singles Chart and reaching the top 10 in several territories.
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is a song by American duo Hall & Oates. Written by Daryl Hall, John Oates and Sara Allen, the song was released as the second single from their tenth studio album, Private Eyes (1981). The song became the fourth number one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100. It features Charles DeChant on saxophone.
"Being with You" is a 1981 song recorded by American singer Smokey Robinson and is the title track from his Gold-certified album with the same name. The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart from March to early May 1981 and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, behind "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, his highest charting solo hit on the Billboard pop charts. It also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart.
Now let me tell you about a coincidental relationship between Smokey at #2 and Kim Carnes who's at #1 again this week. Kim's last hit was "More Love", her remake of an old Smokey Robinson hit. Well, Smokey liked Kim's version so much that he wrote her another song, but when Smokey's producer heard the demo, he told Smokey, "You oughta record it yourself!", and that's the song we just heard in the #2 position. And how ironic it is that Smokey's recording of the song he'd written for Kim Carnes has been kept out of the #1 spot by a Kim Carnes hit for 3 weeks running. - Casey Kasem, American Top 40
Voyeur is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes, released on September 8, 1982, by EMI America Records. Carnes began writing material for Voyeur while touring her previous album Mistaken Identity (1981).
Light House is the tenth studio album by Kim Carnes, released in 1986 through EMI. The album reunited Carnes with Val Garay, who produced her albums Mistaken Identity and Voyeur in the early 80s.
"Crazy in the Night (Barking at Airplanes)" is a song by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes and the lead single from her ninth studio album, Barking at Airplanes (1985). Written by Carnes, and co-produced with Bill Cuomo, the track was inspired by her eldest son's struggles with nightmares and fear of the dark as a child. It was released as a single in April 1985 by EMI America.
"Voyeur" is a song by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes from her seventh studio album of the same name (1982). Written by Carnes, her husband Dave Ellingson, and Duane Hitchings, the song is an uptempo synth-pop track. It is the first track from the album, and its lead single.
"Draw of the Cards" is a 1981 single release from Kim Carnes's Platinum-plus Mistaken Identity album.
"More Love" is a 1967 hit single recorded by the American soul group The Miracles for Motown Records' Tamla label. The single, included on the group's 1967 album Make It Happen, later reissued in 1970 as The Tears of a Clown. Kim Carnes's 1980 cover of the song reached the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts.
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"Oh Sherrie" is the debut solo single by American singer Steve Perry. Written by Perry, Randy Goodrum, Craig Krampf and Bill Cuomo, the song was recorded and released on Perry's first solo album Street Talk in 1984, which he released while still a member of Journey. The song is often regarded as an "honorary" Journey song, being credited to the band on several hit compilation albums and in other media, largely due to its resemblance to the band's trademark sound, as well as their performances of the song on the Raised on Radio Tour, which proved to be Perry's live swansong with the band. The track is composed in the key of F major with a time signature of 4
4, following a tempo of 120 beats per minute.
American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes has released 13 studio albums, one live album, five compilation albums, and 48 singles. She signed with Amos Records in 1971 and released her debut album Rest on Me in the same year. Her self-titled second album was released in the following year. Kim Carnes yielded one single, "You're a Part of Me", which became Carnes' first charting title. The song reached No. 32 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. None of Carnes's albums charted until the release of her fifth studio album Romance Dance (1980). The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard 200, No. 77 on the Canadian Albums Chart and No. 89 on the Australian Albums Chart. Romance Dance produced two hit singles; the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles cover "More Love", which made the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 10, and "Cry Like a Baby", which peaked right outside of the top 40, at No. 44.
Donna Terry Weiss is an American singer and songwriter. She won a Grammy Award in 1982 for co-writing "Bette Davis Eyes" (1974) with Jackie DeShannon.
It's hard to approach this album without focusing on the presence of "Bette Davis Eyes", which, issued forth from the tortured larynx of Kim Carnes, became one of the defining new-wave records.
The new version of 'Bette Davis Eyes' is state-of-the-art '80s synth-rock.
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