This Ode to a Hollywood Legend Became One of the Biggest Hits of the 1980s

Many hit songs endure with the timelessness of Hollywood legends. One such track, “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes, arrived in 1981 and became a lasting piece of pop culture by combining the two.

The soft-rock smash appears on Carnes’s sixth album, Mistaken Identity, though she wasn’t the first to record it.

Two Versions, One Hit

Written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974, “Bette Davis Eyes” was first recorded by DeShannon the same year.

Then Carnes’s dreamy interpretation, produced by Val Garay, arrived in 1981 and spent several weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, the biggest single of the year.

Though the lyrics wave at Hollywood legends like Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo, the true star is Bette Davis, the Academy Award-winning actress who became the first woman to receive the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Following the song’s blockbuster success, Davis thanked the writers for ushering her into modern times and said her grandson now saw her differently.

Her hair is Harlow gold,
Her lips a sweet surprise.
Her hands are never cold,
She’s got Bette Davis eyes.
She’ll turn her music on you,
You won’t have to think twice.
She’s pure as New York snow,
She got Bette Davis eyes.

In 1982, “Bette Davis Eyes” earned two GRAMMYS, one for Song of the Year and the other for Record of the Year. And it remains Carnes’s defining track.

And she’ll tease you, she’ll unease you,
All the better just to please you.
She’s precocious, and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush.
She got Greta Garbo’s standoff sighs,
She’s got Bette Davis eyes.

Roll You Like You Were Dice

The song has been covered many times, including a 2011 live rendition by Taylor Swift on her Speak Now World Tour.

She’ll take a tumble on you,
Roll you like you were dice.
Until you come out blue,
She’s got Bette Davis eyes.

Though she wasn’t the first to record it, it’s hard to imagine “Bette Davis Eyes” lasting impact on pop history if it weren’t for Carnes’s throaty performance. Backed by hazy synths and an 80s earnestness, the track introduced Davis to a new generation, and continues to do so today.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images