🎼She’s Got Bette Davis Eyes 👀
Bette Davis and Kim Carnes - 1981
After this song became a hit single, Bette Davis - then 73 - wrote letters to Kim Carnes and the songwriters to say she was a fan of the song and thank them for making her “a part of modern times,”
One of the reasons she loved the song was that her granddaughter thought her grandmother was "cool" for having a hit song written about her and that her grandson now looked up to her.
After it won Grammys, Davis sent them roses as well.
Kim Carnes
👀 Bette Davis Eyes (1981) HQ
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"Bette Davis Eyes" is a song written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, and made popular by American singer Kim Carnes.
DeShannon recorded it in 1974; Carnes's 1981 version spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Billboard's biggest hit of 1981. The Carnes version spent nine non-consecutive weeks on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 (interrupted for one week by the "Stars on 45 Medley") and was Billboard's biggest hit of the year for 1981. The single also reached #5 on Billboard's Top Tracks charts and #26 on the Dance charts. The song won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The song was also a #1 hit in 21 countries and peaked at #10 in the United Kingdom, her only Top 40 hit there to date. It also reached number two in Canada for twelve consecutive weeks, and was the #2 hit of 1981 in the country. Actress Bette Davis, then 73 years old, wrote letters to Carnes, Weiss, and DeShannon to thank all three of them for making her "a part of modern times," and said her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins, Davis sent them roses as well.
DeShannon recorded it in 1974; Carnes's 1981 version spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Billboard's biggest hit of 1981. The Carnes version spent nine non-consecutive weeks on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 (interrupted for one week by the "Stars on 45 Medley") and was Billboard's biggest hit of the year for 1981. The single also reached #5 on Billboard's Top Tracks charts and #26 on the Dance charts. The song won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The song was also a #1 hit in 21 countries and peaked at #10 in the United Kingdom, her only Top 40 hit there to date. It also reached number two in Canada for twelve consecutive weeks, and was the #2 hit of 1981 in the country. Actress Bette Davis, then 73 years old, wrote letters to Carnes, Weiss, and DeShannon to thank all three of them for making her "a part of modern times," and said her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins, Davis sent them roses as well.
Bette Davis Eyes 👀 Jackie DeShannon
According to DeShannon, she got the idea for the song after watching the 1942 Bette Davis movie Now Voyager.
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https://youtu.be/M9R2tiCnI6c
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https://youtu.be/M9R2tiCnI6c
Bette Davis** sent thank-you letters to singer Kim Carnes and to the authors (Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon) for making her “a part of modern times and history”. The elderly movie star also claimed that she
loved the oeuvre especially because her grandchildren (who only paid lip service to her considerable body of work in films) suddenly viewed their septuagenarian granny as “super cool” and “trendy” for having been the subject of a top song. A first-rate ego-booster…
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KIM CARNES LIFTS 'BETTE DAVIS' TO THE TOP
By John Rockwell July 26, 1981
By John Rockwell July 26, 1981
There is much talk these days about how the popular-record business is changing. But then something comes along to reaffirm the old ways of doing things. Take Kim Carnes, whose single, ''Bette Davis Eyes,'' has ridden serenely on the top of the charts for weeks and has propelled the album that contains it, ''Mistaken Identity,'' to the top of the album charts, as well.
Miss Carnes is a throwback in many ways. First, she has been around a long time, cranking out five previous albums with a shifting assortment of co-writers, producers and Los Angeles folk-rock session men in the time-honored way. She had had her successes, most notably a duet with Kenny Rogers on his ''Gideon'' LP and a cover version of Smokey Robinson's ''More Love'' last year.
But then, suddenly, she hits it rich with one song. Although she has yet to appear here live since her breakthrough, she has promoted the song ''live'' in another, more modern way - through video. To this taste, the video promotional vignette for ''Bette Davis Eyes'' is cluttered and uninteresting. But it has commanded a good deal of attention, and has apparently served the cause of concert and television promotion for the song in a way that live appearances used to do.
Whether she sustains that success remains to be seen; chances are she won't. But glorious one-shots are another pop tradition. The song itself is a winner, even with some risibly clumsy rhymes (''precocious'' and ''pro blush,'' above all). It is also several years old, having been written by Donna Weiss and another bit of pop's past, Jackie De Shannon. Yet it has been outfitted with a trendy, electro-pop arrangement, presumably by Miss Carnes's latest producer, Val Garay. Mr. Garay also has his roots in the past; before he became a producer he was one of Los Angeles's best-known engineers, having worked closely with Peter Asher, above all, on all the recent Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor albums.
Miss Carnes's voice conforms to tradition, as well. It sounds eerily like Rod Stewart's frayed tenor, so much so that Robert Christgau waspishly remarked that ''Bette Davis Eyes'' is Mr. Stewart's best work since ''Maggie May.'' Another comparison to Miss Carnes's voice would be Bonnie Tyler, the British singer who enjoyed a worldwide one-shot hit three years back with ''It's a Heartache.''
That kind of voice, raspy, soulful and uncontrolled, triggers powerful evocations in people; the sound is, for many, inherently passionate and emotional. Yet it is also a limited sound, in that many kinds of music are unsuited for it for technical or stylistic reasons. Furthermore, in her past albums, Miss Carnes has not evinced a very focused view of herself or what she wanted to say with her music, and she may continue to have such problems with her follow-up albums. Even the rest of ''Mistaken Identity,'' while pleasing enough, doesn't command attention in the way her hit single does.
But that is not to take anything away from her version of ''Bette Davis Eyes.'' With its erotic implications, mysterious imagery, arresting instrumental and yearning vocal, this is the pop-single phenomenon of the year.
Miss Carnes is a throwback in many ways. First, she has been around a long time, cranking out five previous albums with a shifting assortment of co-writers, producers and Los Angeles folk-rock session men in the time-honored way. She had had her successes, most notably a duet with Kenny Rogers on his ''Gideon'' LP and a cover version of Smokey Robinson's ''More Love'' last year.
But then, suddenly, she hits it rich with one song. Although she has yet to appear here live since her breakthrough, she has promoted the song ''live'' in another, more modern way - through video. To this taste, the video promotional vignette for ''Bette Davis Eyes'' is cluttered and uninteresting. But it has commanded a good deal of attention, and has apparently served the cause of concert and television promotion for the song in a way that live appearances used to do.
Whether she sustains that success remains to be seen; chances are she won't. But glorious one-shots are another pop tradition. The song itself is a winner, even with some risibly clumsy rhymes (''precocious'' and ''pro blush,'' above all). It is also several years old, having been written by Donna Weiss and another bit of pop's past, Jackie De Shannon. Yet it has been outfitted with a trendy, electro-pop arrangement, presumably by Miss Carnes's latest producer, Val Garay. Mr. Garay also has his roots in the past; before he became a producer he was one of Los Angeles's best-known engineers, having worked closely with Peter Asher, above all, on all the recent Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor albums.
Miss Carnes's voice conforms to tradition, as well. It sounds eerily like Rod Stewart's frayed tenor, so much so that Robert Christgau waspishly remarked that ''Bette Davis Eyes'' is Mr. Stewart's best work since ''Maggie May.'' Another comparison to Miss Carnes's voice would be Bonnie Tyler, the British singer who enjoyed a worldwide one-shot hit three years back with ''It's a Heartache.''
That kind of voice, raspy, soulful and uncontrolled, triggers powerful evocations in people; the sound is, for many, inherently passionate and emotional. Yet it is also a limited sound, in that many kinds of music are unsuited for it for technical or stylistic reasons. Furthermore, in her past albums, Miss Carnes has not evinced a very focused view of herself or what she wanted to say with her music, and she may continue to have such problems with her follow-up albums. Even the rest of ''Mistaken Identity,'' while pleasing enough, doesn't command attention in the way her hit single does.
But that is not to take anything away from her version of ''Bette Davis Eyes.'' With its erotic implications, mysterious imagery, arresting instrumental and yearning vocal, this is the pop-single phenomenon of the year.
This is a digitized version of an article from The
Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.
Kim Carnes 👀 Bette Davis Eyes
Lyrics - 1981
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👀 Comments 👀
“Bette Davis Eyes” was initially recorded by co-author Jackie DeShannon in 1974-1975, but it’s Kim Carnes’* cover version (1981) that became a major smash-hit. It earned the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the year. Kim Carnes released several other crowd-pleasers before and after, but none on par - by far - with that womanly #1.
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Upon first listen, “Bette Davis Eyes” might be construed as a tribute, an ode to the iconic lady. Not untrue. However, there is more to it. Let’s say that the main theme is quite akin to those of “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins and “Maneater” by Hall & Oates. In essence, the lyrics are a sophisticated warning⚠️: beware, beware of those FEMME FATALE alluring yet deceitful EYES, fellows!
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Bette Davis** sent thank-you letters to singer Kim Carnes and to the authors (Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon) for making her “a part of modern times and history”. The elderly movie star also claimed that she loved the oeuvre especially because her grandchildren (who only paid lip service to her considerable body of work in films) suddenly viewed their septuagenarian granny as “super cool” and “trendy” for having been the subject of a top song. A first-rate ego-booster... ♥️ 👀 ♥️
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Kim Carnes’ raspy voice led many to mistake her for Rod Stewart as the vocalist.
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A-list actress Ruth Elizabeth “Bette” Davis’ career spanned more than 50 years (1929-1989) and 100-odd credits. She was known for her forceful and intense style of acting. And for those distinctive deep blue eyes of hers, worthy of countless close-up shots.
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To me, this was the song that really introduced the world to the sound of the 1980s. By 1981, Disco was dead, and when this became a big hit in the Spring of that year, it was the first song to really introduce the synthesizer as the dominant instrument of the decade. Thank you to Mr. Bill Cuomo for kick-starting the greatest decade in music history.
“Bette Davis Eyes” was initially recorded by co-author Jackie DeShannon in 1974-1975, but it’s Kim Carnes’* cover version (1981) that became a major smash-hit. It earned the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the year. Kim Carnes released several other crowd-pleasers before and after, but none on par - by far - with that womanly #1.
👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀
Upon first listen, “Bette Davis Eyes” might be construed as a tribute, an ode to the iconic lady. Not untrue. However, there is more to it. Let’s say that the main theme is quite akin to those of “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins and “Maneater” by Hall & Oates. In essence, the lyrics are a sophisticated warning⚠️: beware, beware of those FEMME FATALE alluring yet deceitful EYES, fellows!
👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀
Bette Davis** sent thank-you letters to singer Kim Carnes and to the authors (Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon) for making her “a part of modern times and history”. The elderly movie star also claimed that she loved the oeuvre especially because her grandchildren (who only paid lip service to her considerable body of work in films) suddenly viewed their septuagenarian granny as “super cool” and “trendy” for having been the subject of a top song. A first-rate ego-booster... ♥️ 👀 ♥️
👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀
Kim Carnes’ raspy voice led many to mistake her for Rod Stewart as the vocalist.
👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀
A-list actress Ruth Elizabeth “Bette” Davis’ career spanned more than 50 years (1929-1989) and 100-odd credits. She was known for her forceful and intense style of acting. And for those distinctive deep blue eyes of hers, worthy of countless close-up shots.
👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀 ♪ 👀
To me, this was the song that really introduced the world to the sound of the 1980s. By 1981, Disco was dead, and when this became a big hit in the Spring of that year, it was the first song to really introduce the synthesizer as the dominant instrument of the decade. Thank you to Mr. Bill Cuomo for kick-starting the greatest decade in music history.
13 Rare Photos of an Unforgettable Star
Posted on 11.04.14 by John Farr
She was born Ruth Elizabeth Davis in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1908, and was, by her own admission, a Yankee.
Later in her life she said, “If Hollywood didn’t work out, I was prepared to be the best secretary in the world.” What saved her from the steno pool though, were her eyes. She always had Bette Davis eyes. A cinematographer felt they were “lovely” enough to make it worth keeping the actress who possessed them. A good call, if ever we saw one.
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When her parents separated in 1915, the young “Betty” as she was then known, was shipped off to boarding school. At the age of thirteen, her mother moved to New York, taking Betty and her younger sister Bobby with her. It was there that Davis caught the acting bug, thanks to the films of Rudolph Valentino and Mary Pickford.
She also changed the spelling of her name to the now-legendary “Bette” after French novelist Honoré de Balzac’s powerfully unconventional heroine, Cousin Bette.
Work in small parts on Broadway attracted the attention of a talent scout for Universal Pictures, and in 1930, at the age of twenty-two, “Bette Davis” boarded a train for Hollywood. Screen tests and early roles were not major successes, and she came perilously close to losing her first contract at Universal.
Later in her life she said, “If Hollywood didn’t work out, I was prepared to be the best secretary in the world.” What saved her from the steno pool though, were her eyes. She always had Bette Davis eyes. A cinematographer felt they were “lovely” enough to make it worth keeping the actress who possessed them. A good call, if ever we saw one. But her big break came when she went to work for Warner Brothers, and she was suddenly given roles that matched her spirit of individualism. Davis once said, “Hollywood wanted me to be pretty, but I always fought for realism.” This was a conflict that played out throughout her career, because Davis was pretty, very pretty, as her roles in films like “Jezebel” (1938) and “Dark Victory” (1939) attest.
The Davis that audiences often think of is the Davis of “All About Eve” (1950), and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”
(1962), the “bitch roles” that proved so popular, and the more ghoulish-looking Bette that became her lot with ill health and advancing
age.
But it is the young Bette to which we pay tribute with this album of
photos from the early period of her career. The realism that Davis fought for is there, most notably in her gritty performance as the shrewish Mildred in “Of Human Bondage” (1934), the role that launched her as a dramatic force. The steeliness that marks the Davis mien is also very much evident in one of her signature roles, as the
manipulative Regina Giddens in “The Little Foxes” (1941).
However, also present in the Davis before 1942, when the war began to
influence her life and the movies she made, was a softer side, a Bette
who could and did flutter her enormous, bountiful eyes. In close ups,
it's the eyes that dominate, and it is their sheer strength, confidence
and expressiveness that we're drawn to.
The young Bette has a delicacy to her, a nuanced manner of speech and
posture that evinces wisdom beyond her years, while still communicating
freshness and the spirit of youth. She’s sexy, glamorous, vulnerable
and playful.
Here is Bette Davis as you've never seen her before.
https://www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com/articles/bette-davis-eyes--31-rare-photos-of-an/2014/11
Bette Davis Tribute
(Bette Davis Eyes)
She could travel the spectrum from one extreme to the other. She could look and act as soft and beautiful on one end and look as equally hard and mean on the other end. Loved watching her act; great video presentation.
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A tribute to the legendary actress, Bette Davis.
Obviously the best song to use is Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes.
Sources: The pictur:e at the end can easily be found on google images and most of the clips are from her most successful films like All About Eve, Baby Jane and Jezebel
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