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

[louielouie2000]

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?

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

And is that more of Peter Green's noodling I hear intermingled throughout the song?

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.

[Andy Man]

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.

[trackaghost]

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.

[Amlyn]

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.

[desertangel]

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.

[GoldDustBoy]

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.

[Lala]

Love the live versions from the Mirage tour

[GypsySorcerer]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

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.

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.

[fringed n fab]

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.

[jaycee]

This thread has inspired me to listen to it right now.
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. 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.

[Sleepless-Child]

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.

[gretchen]

Originally Posted by GypsySorcerer

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.

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

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Sleepless-Child

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.

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.

[David]

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