Bette Davis Eyes

MarkMc1990 · #1 10-22-2011, 10:01 PM

Would anyone else have loved to hear a Stevie demo of this 80's hit? I think it would have sounded so interesting hearing an '81 Stevie record this song. I know songs like these are usually offered to or sampled by many artists before one clinches the deal, I wonder if Stevie was ever in contention for it? Kind of like how she was offered "These Dreams" which ended up going to Heart.

mottabam · #2 10-22-2011, 10:35 PM

I believe she was also offered "Call Me" and wasn't interested. At least Debbie Harry and Blondie made it a hit.

DefDumbandBlond · #3 10-23-2011, 12:02 AM

I actually really like that song so I would have loved to hear Stevie sing it!

@mottabam Yeah, Giorgio Moroder offered Stevie the song first, then he offered it to Blondie and Debbie wrote her own lyrics for it.

Ghost_Tracker · #4 10-23-2011, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkMc1990

Would anyone else have loved to hear a Stevie demo of this 80's hit? I think it would have sounded so interesting hearing an '81 Stevie record this song. I know songs like these are usually offered to or sampled by many artists before one clinches the deal, I wonder if Stevie was ever in contention for it? Kind of like how she was offered "These Dreams" which ended up going to Heart.

For whatever it's worth, there was STRONG suspicion at the time this song came out that it was ABOUT Stevie!

And that the woman shown in sillouette in the video is supposed to be her.

"All the boys - think she's a spy she's GOT - Bette Davis eyes -
she KNOWS you!..... and she knows JUST what it takes to make
a PRO blush! She's FEROCIOUS!.... "

P.S. - Speaking of Stevie doing a Heart cover, I think it would be amazing to see her cover "Barracuda" live.
She'd knock that out of the park, I bet!

With Waddy on guitar.

mikephxaz · #5 10-23-2011, 12:37 AM

The second song from Kim Carnes album, following the song Betty Davis Eyes is called Hit & Run...it would have been a great Stevie Nicks song....

THINKABOUTIT · #6 10-23-2011, 12:55 AM

It boggles my mind how many songs Stevie was offered...or others that were written for her & she also turned down

"These Dreams"
"Running Down a Dream"
"Call Me"
etc..etc...

mikebise · #7 10-23-2011, 08:43 AM

Giorgio Moroder offered Stevie an instrumental titled "Machine Man" to which she would have written her own lyrics. She would not have sung "Call Me", since those are Debbie's later lyrics after Stevie turned down the project. Stevie was busy with the Tusk tour and her own solo recording.

She did quote "Bette Davis Eyes" in a poem she wrote in 1986 on the Rock A Little Tour. She even quotes the "Bette Davis Eyes" video, with the "Slap slap! Slap!" part. (Yes, Stevie types out the "Slap"s!).

drzubritsky · #8 10-23-2011, 08:57 AM

The Kim Carnes version of "Bette Davis Eyes" is a cover version of a song that originally appeared on a Jackie DeShannon (the song's co-writer) album in 1974. So it wasn't a situation of "Bette Davis Eyes" being a hot new song making the rounds with singers vying to nab it.

I doubt that a Stevie version would have been as good as Kim Carnes'. Val Garay's production of the track was very striking and creative at the time. Stevie and Jimmy Iovine were in a very conventional L.A. rock mode at the time, and probably wouldn't have come up with nearly as memorable a treatment.

mikebise · #9 10-23-2011, 11:03 AM

Yeah, people were calling Kim "New Wave" at the time because of the production of "Bette Davis Eyes" and "Draw Of The Cards".

But Stevie obviously loved Kim's version of it (and the video!), if she wrote about it in her poetry.

drzubritsky · #10 10-23-2011, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikebise

Yeah, people were calling Kim "New Wave" at the time because of the production of "Bette Davis Eyes" and "Draw Of The Cards".

I kind of forgot about that, but, yes, "Bette Davis Eyes" was categorized by the mainstream as a "new wave" song, strange as that may seem today. Probably more of a reflection on the stale state of top 40 radio in the very late 70s/early 80s (prior to the arrival of MTV).

TerraRhiannon · #11 10-23-2011, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THINKABOUTIT

It boggles my mind how many songs Stevie was offered...or others that were written for her & she also turned down

"These Dreams"
"Running Down a Dream"
"Call Me"
etc..etc...

Was These Dreams a track or just lyrics? Cause I know Bernie Taupin and another guy wrote the lyrics, I was just wondering if Heart wrote the music for it.

I would so love to hear Stevie do a cover of These Dreams for fun, and Bette Davis eyes as well!

APerfectLie · #12 10-23-2011, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerraRhiannon

Was These Dreams a track or just lyrics? Cause I know Bernie Taupin and another guy wrote the lyrics, I was just wondering if Heart wrote the music for it.

I would so love to hear Stevie do a cover of These Dreams for fun, and Bette Davis eyes as well!

I don't know, but I know that Stevie turned it down because of the title being too close to "Dreams". Fast forward 30 years later

TerraRhiannon · #13 10-23-2011, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

I don't know, but I know that Stevie turned it down because of the title being too close to "Dreams". Fast forward 30 years later

LOL

Well then. Now we know it's because she actually did hate the idea of the song at the time.... or the lyrics or something. 'to close to Dreams' was just an excuse.

Johnny Stew · #14 10-23-2011, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

I don't know, but I know that Stevie turned it down because of the title being too close to "Dreams". Fast forward 30 years later

It wasn't that the title was too close to "Dreams," she turned it down because the lyrics were too close to the kind of lyrics she wrote herself. Which makes sense -- after all, why sing someone else's approximation of your own lyrical style?

TerraRhiannon · #15 10-23-2011, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

It wasn't that the title was too close to "Dreams," she turned it down because the lyrics were too close to the kind of lyrics she wrote herself. Which makes sense -- after all, why sing someone else's approximation of your own lyrical style?

Uh I suppose, but why record a song with lyrics that are nothing like the lyrics you would write. Then it wouldn't sound like your song

What I'm trying to say is, a lot of Stevie's songs were written by other people, so she probably wouldn't have recorded them if they didn't sound a little like her song writing.

Maybe that doesn't make sense. Hmm.