Open Your Eyes

Album: Love in the Future (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was the first non-original ever recorded by John Legend for one of his solo albums (his 2010 set of covers Wake Up was a collaborative project). The tune was originally sung by the '70s Blue-Eyed Soul artist, Bobby Caldwell, then later sampled by Common on his "The Light" cut. Producer Dave Tozer told SonicScoop: "Most people know the Common song more than the original, but this is covering the original Bobby Caldwell song, and the chorus has some of the flavor of the Common version. So this is the third time around, which encompasses some of the original and is also a nod to the Common version."
  • The expressive guitar solo was played by veteran producer Mike Dean, who worked with Love In The Future co-producer Kanye West on his Graduation, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus albums. Tozer told SonicScoop: "That's one he did on an earlier version of the song, interestingly enough, and we actually recut it a couple of different times. In the end we went back to the early original version, because we felt like it has the magic. That was done in a session in Hawaii, one of the earlier sessions with Kanye."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Subversive Songs Used To Sell

Subversive Songs Used To SellSong Writing

Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

90s Metal

90s MetalFact or Fiction

Test your metal - Priest, Maiden, and Beavis and Butt-head show up in this one.

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.