Let's show some love for... Brown Eyes!
 

So Brown Eyes has been on heavy rotation in my house the past several days. Admittedly, I've been focusing my listening the past year or two on new bands (I'm big into the Brooklyn Indie music scene). But hearing Brown Eyes pop up on my I-tunes the other night has roped me back into listening to the Mac again. This song really has to be one of my all time favorite Mac compositions. It's just... perfect. Definitely the most sensuous and seductive song in the band's entire history.

What's kind of crazy is that I found the song to be very dull for the first year or so I owned Tusk (which was about 10 years ago now). I had the strangest thing change my mind about the song though. I was blasting down the road, and my car's sound system brought out something I'd never heard before. The uber-simple 3-note electric guitar progression which was layered behind the "sha la la la sha la la la's" of the chorus. It was a complete mirrored counter melody to Christine's smokey vocal. It totally added the extra layer I felt the song was missing... and it had been there the whole time!

One of the things I think is so great about this song is it's simplicity. It's almost bare bones... yet the whole makes up FAR more than the sum of it's parts. Brown Eyes has to have one of the best pairings of John's bass and Mick's percussion too. They're ultimately what define the song. To me this song defines what made Fleetwood Mac's 1970's albums so great... simplicity, and letting the extra space in the tracks do all the talking.

Shifting gears some... I recently rediscovered the version of this song from The Chain box set (the box set was a casualty of my car jacking several years back, and I've never replaced it). While the box set version is missing my favorite part of Brown Eyes (the 3-note progression), it's so different, that I love it too! The layering of the vocals are definitely more avant-garde/new wavish... which is very neat. And is that more of Peter Green's noodling I hear intermingled throughout the song? I know Mick said that Peter was the one who contributed the fabulously juicy last few notes on the Tusk album version.

I know I've rambled a lot, but let's talk about this song... anybody else love it the way I do? :D

No...(on both versions) unfortunately, that is Peter who comes in only just as the song is fading out....unless the songs comes to a cold ending a few bars later, they should've let the song play out a bit longer before the fade to give us fans a bit more of Peter's guitarwork.

Love Love Love this song!!! One of Christine's best and a highlight of both the Tusk album and the entire Fleetwood Mac catalog. I also like the box set version, except for how it sounds like Lindsey's vocals are more predominate than Christine's. Anyone else notice that??? I think it should have been the other way around...however it's still a brilliant song. Definitely one of the best examples of a song creating an atmosphere and mood.

I'd go as far to say that it's Christine's best song on Tusk. I would have loved to have heard her do more moody, atmospheric, sensual songs like this.
I always wondered about Peter Green's contribution because if it didn't actually say he was playing on this track I would have never known it was him.

:nod:

I really became a fan of this song with the Maulongated Remix that I first listened to earlier this year. This song is upbeat, sensuous, and ethereal (and probably 10 other words) all at the same time for me so it suits my mood no matter what it is. And it's not that I don't like the original version. Maybe I enjoy this version because it's more then 2x as long as the version on Tusk.

I remember reading an article not so long ago about how there was this "thing" for lack of a better word at this moment in time in the mid-late 1970s with some songs that just set this sort of spirtual aura. I can't recall much of it, but something to do with how songs in that time were using the layering of voices so it added this depth to the song. Or something like that. Anyway, that inspired me to throw together a playlist of other songs that sort of ascend to this aura for me and besides Brown Eyes, I've included Sara (FM of course), I'm Not in Love by 10cc, Wishing You Were Here by Chicago, Drive by the Cars and I threw in Miracles by Jefferson Starship cause it almost is there on that level. All these songs have that layered voices magic that I just find so satisfying.

No one has songs like this today. No wonder all I do is listen to music at least from 25 years ago.

I do love Brown Eyes. It reminds me of the Bob Welch days with the ethereal background/vocals and Mick's woodstick percussion. Surprising it's on Tusk because, to my ears, it sounds like a throw back to latter years.

Probably my favorite Christine song on Tusk. It's super simple, foggy, and the harmonies in the chorus simply make me melt. The sha-la-la's are so soft and gentle. Too bad they could never pull it the right way on stage. I also think that Lindsey's vocal could be stronger on the box-set version. I'll have to listen to it to make sure. Everything about this song does it for me.

Love the live versions from the Mirage tour

Agreed. Brown Eyes is just a gorgeous song, very dream-like. I think Over & Over is close second. Actually, I like all of Christine's Tusk material with the exception of Never Forget.

I love this song and the layering of everyone's vocals. They also sound so good on "Honey Hi". I love that song also and all the layering vocals and harmonies.

This thread has inspired me to listen to it right now. :nod:
When I was in Halls Gap in September I played Tusk a lot, and was becoming more familiar with the songs (I got the album for my birthday in May). I kept hearing this beautiful, gorgeous song every so often that would set me about almost crying in that blissful emotional mix of a happy crying. :laugh: The sha la las really grabbed me! During that holiday I'd be eagerly awaiting that mysterious song I adored whenever I played the album through. I later bothered to find out the title - Brown Eyes.
If I was to compile a list Mac songs in order of preference, you'd find it to be constantly fluctuating! But Brown Eyes will always be near the top (just like Silver Springs and Little Lies). Of course, back on that holiday, it was (surely) my favourite.
Well, back to listening to it, now for the third time in a row. :)

I absolutely love this song. It's probably my favorite Christine-song ever. It's so sexy, and atmospheric, and jazzy, and everything. And the "shalalala"s are just pure genius. It's one of the reasons why I love Tusk so much.

Oh I'm in total agreement with everything you just said! :thumbsup:

I really love the "shalalala's" too... you NEVER hear anything like that in current day music. I love the fact that's all the chorus contains. It's so simple... and by saying absolutely nothing, it says even more than words could express. In a weird way, it kind of reminds me of old horror movies... where you never see an actual murder, or see the actual perpetrator... what your mind comes up with is SO much better, so much scarier. It's kind of the same thing for me with the chorus of Brown Eyes being the "shalalala's"... it lets your mind drift and wander into the steamy lust that is the subject matter of this song. :cool:

I don't get this song. It sounds sorta boring to me.

I totally agree. Brown Eyes is one of the sexiest songs ever. I love it. It certainly has its own ambience and I love all of the things you mentioned as well. All the parts - from the lyric to the music to the harmonies and background truly do come together in such a subtle, pure way. It's like standing in a rain forest of jazz fusion.

It is ... just perfect.

By the way, found this on youtube...pretty cool:

Brown Eyes is by far my favourite Christine song of all time. I think it's one of the few Christine songs that are "sexy", as oppose to pretty and upbeat. I love the dark and atmospheric tones of it, and I think it's probably one of the most adventurous pieces on Tusk, in a weird way.

Yeah, love Brown Eyes. It's hot. I also like Christine's vocal of it on the Tusk Tour Rehearsals. I don't think it works as well live as some of her other songs, but as someone said earlier, the Mirage live versions are very good.

I actually don't care for Brown Eyes. It's my second least favorite christine song on Tusk next to NEver Make Me Cry. Think About Me, Honey Hi and Over and Over are all far superior.

See, I think very few of Christine's songs are upbeat. Pretty yes, but with a sad, deceptive undercurrent most of the time, which makes the prettiness ironic and the sadness more painful, for me. I think this is true of SYLM, for sure, but I even hear a song like Love in Store in that fashion, because you know the love is really great, but they seem to focus on that love being taken away an awful lot!

There just seems to be a yearning and fear, behind most of the lilting melodies and I find it quite poignant. Michele

Well, that was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn't in English haha (great post, by the way). The "shalalala's" are just perfect in this song, because it's a simple one, it gives a much deeper feeling. The whole arrangement is perfect, in fact.

Sexiest Fleetwood Mac song ever

Gail

I love the way she arranges the key parts... it's pretty cool...

Hi everyone. I'm new here.

I saw this thread before my account was approved and wanted to comment on it.

I too think it's one of Christine's best on any album. It was one of the first songs I learned on the piano after Songbird.

Very ethereal and soft but sultry at the same time. The vocal and arrangement are top notch.

Merry Christmas everyone. Glad to be here.

Welcome to the party! :wavey:

And your first post is about Brown Eyes... I like you already! :D I definitely agree with everything you said about the song too! :thumbsup:

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, a big fan of Brown Eyes. I could listen to it all day.

Hands down my favorite Christine song ever. I think its not only gorgeous, but sensual and a little haunting. It's the type of track that I adore both if I'm listening to it intently or letting it kinda drift through the back of my mind.

I love this song by Christine McVie they did this song live on the Tango In The Night Tour in 1987.

In 1981 I was working as a waiter at Denny's on the late night shift. One night it was around 3:00am and no one was in the restaurant. I sat on top of the woodden counter and sang Brown Eyes to myself in my head but with my hand I would open and close the cabinet door below me as if it were the bass line in the song. This not only made the sound of the bass, but the drums too.

Another one of Christine's songs that I find somewhat similar is Mystified. Both songs have a very dreamy quality for me.

"Brown Eyes" has been helping me through work this week. Were it not for "Brown Eyes" and a few other songs (one of which was "Hold Me") I would've been driven spare!
I was helping my father with his garden maintenance (his small business), and we were under great pressure from his many and varied clients to clean up their gardens before Christmas. It's amazing how much more endurable that work is when you let songs play over in your head for hours at a time (with an occasional change of song every hour or so)!
And I was quietly singing "Brown Eyes" while I was playing tennis today.
An appraisal of this track will feature prominently in my letter to Christine! :D

Be careful! She told (a fan I believe) that she didn't like the song, and said it doesn't go anywhere.

The rest of the band must have seen something in it. I can't believe they would have used it as just a filler track.

Although the lyric is important to the song, it's the arrangement and chord structure that makes it. This song really shines in that regard.

I can't believe she doesn't like it, but I too have written songs that I don't like that others have.

That almost doesn't surprise me. It's not typically "Christine"... but perhaps that's one of the reasons I like it so much. It's not wrought in a perfectly conceived pop song mould. When I first bought Tusk, I didn't think the song really went anywhere either, and found it dull. It's so strange how discovering that 3-note progression in the background of the chorus totally changed this song for me. It was no longer boring, wandering, or too simple. The song had the perfect counter point. And that's all I needed to fall in love with it.

Interestingly enough, even Lindsey seemed to even dismiss this song in an interview earlier this year. But then again, I do find most of the songs the band members chose as their favorite by the other writers to be a bit odd. For instance, Stevie's favorite Lindsey song is "Stephanie"... seriously, WTF? :laugh:

In the '80's, I didn't think a lot on the Tusk album was radio playable. I heard several though, but never did hear Brown Eyes.

The way she plays the progression of the Bm7 and A with her keyboard work and John's bass and Mick's drums, make this an outstanding addition, but I don't think it was fully appeciated back then. I haven't fogotten Lindsey either. The Roland Space Echo 201 that was used on this sounded very good with his part.

The G in the chorus helps to resolve to the tonic of the verse.

And you're surprised by this because....? :lol:

Well, Christine's wrong, isn't she? And people like being told they're wrong, right? :lol:
I'm also mentioning "Little Lies" in the letter (see why in my Songs That Give You Nostalgia thread), which she may not like either, considering how much FM ignores Mirage and TITN in their tours... :shrug:

Seriously! Besides, it probably brings back a specific memory... :D

Thanks, Michael, & welcome to the Ledge!

It sounded to me like Stevie was searching for a song of Lindsey's to name and she just thought about that one by default, 'cause it had a nice title, if nothing else. I never thought she really liked Stephanie particularly as a song. I know she once said she wouldn't have been with him all those years if she didn't like his music and he had beautiful instrumentals to which she loved to perform her ballet moves. Still, I just get the impression that while she may like passages of his music, his words and vocals just don't do that much for her. So, when she said he had that beautiful solo on Frozen Love, I think she meant it and was proud of it, but I think once he starts singing on a song, it ruins it for her somehow or she closes her mind to it.

I mean even when she said she liked Walk a Thin Line, the best thing she could think to say about it was that it was slow. I think she's just kind of immune to his songs.

Michele

Thank you David.