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Randy Bachman started writing this song when he was waiting in the living room at the house of his date, Denise. She was taking a long time getting ready so Bachman sat at the piano and wrote the beginning of this song. Denise - the girl he was waiting for - he married. Burton claims the song took him just 15 minutes to write once he set down with his bandmate Burton Cummings to put it together. (thanks, Nathan - Winkler, Canada)
In 1968, this was a #1 hit when it was released in The Guess Who's native Canada. It got them a US record deal with RCA Records.
This was The Guess Who's first Top 10 hit in the US. They hit #1 there the next year with "
American Woman."
Randy Bachman had the original piano chords with an original title of "These Arms." Burton Cummings changed the title to "These Eyes" and added the middle eight. (thanks, Barry Kesten - Bellmore, United States)
Jr. Walker and The All Stars also charted with a cover of this song in 1969. It went #16 pop, #3 R&B in the US. (thanks, Robin - Birmingham, AL)
This song was used in scenes for the 2005 movie Stay. (thanks, cameron - mesquite, TX)
This was used in the 2007 movie Superbad where a high-school student sings it to appease a tough group of people who insist he's a singer.
Comments (25):
Pam Tillis
The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.
Michael Bolton
Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.
Harry Shearer
Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on
The Simpsons.
Jim, Frederick, Oklahoma