Bette Davis Eyes - Jackie DeShannon (1974)

[dieufossindda]

11 dedos para abajo??? :S

es que nadie reconoce el talento de la creadora del gran hit de Kim Carnes???

[judcolin3]

@dieufossindda las 2 lo escribieron juntas, Jackie solo lo canto primero

[dieufossindda]

@judcolin3 perdon, pero tengo entendido que la cancion original fue escrita por Donna Weiss y Jackie DeShannon. Puede que Kim figure en los créditos de su versión al añadirle modificaciones. De todas formas, no es cuestión de comparar... simplemente de apreciar los buenos versos que se escuchan en cualquiera de las dos.

[Tamzey8]

Nah deffo prefer Kim.

[JustAFocus]

This is interesting; I'd never heard the original before. I never liked the Kim Carnes version very much. Not sure I'm too crazy about this version either, though I really love the beautiful and talented Jackie DeShannon. My favorite version of this song is on YouTube -- search for Big Daddy -- Bette Davis Eyes. Done '50s style as a comedy novelty thing, but it's actually done really well and is my fave version of the song.

[CaptGage]

I had no idea that the original would be so different.

[handzam]

I just thought that Kim Carnes was the origin of this song. First time to hear the 70's version and I believe though Kim revive this, she put the writer as well as the music into a great stand out version. This song became no.1 in 1981 in 9 weeks, and became the no.1 song of the year. And even now a lot of people wanting to hear the 80's version even the generation of today.

[VirgoGal74]

Wow, this is a LOT different from Kim Carnes' version. This almost sounds like a 1920s or 30s ragtime tune.....weird!

[SteveCarras]

THis is very bouncy..nothing like Kim;'s excellent version.

[NotATube]

What's interesting isn't simply how the Carnes versions' arrangement turns it into almost a completely different song.

It's that someone had to have seen the potential for that drastically different version somewhere in this one to start off with! (It wouldn't have occurred to me- even with hindsight I can't see it.)

And *then* transformed it so effectively that had you never known about this one, you'd assume that the later version was the original written that way to start off with!

[AtLastOnTheGround]

It doesn't have the sensual, teasing quality that Carnes's version has.

[theblahs]

Kim Carnes is obviously a genius.

[lukeman62]

who do you morons think WROTE this song?

[TheLAKERSareGodsTeam]

Wow this is horrible!

[ladbrady]

I HATED THE KIM CARNES version, so this song is tainted.

[BelfastBailey]

I had NO IDEA that this even existed! WOW! The things you learn at 41!!! And I agree with Stroddler...Crazy in the Night was KICK BUTT!!!

[Stroddler]

Kim Carnes - one hit wonder!!! oh dear! - what about the other hits "Voyeur" and "Draw Of The Cards" - perhaps I imagined those 2 then!

[LesSmith45]

@Stroddler Not to mention one of her best crazy in the night

[Defensewhiz]

@LesSmith45 TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!

[barflew]

Kim Carnes was a one hit wonder, Jackie DeShannon is a living legend.

[WallsOfGericho]

Catchy tune, but you know which version is the best by the one most covered... I've never heard anyone cover "Bette Davis Eyes" using this arrangement... Kim Carnes had the voice & the mysterious music to accompany it... Gwyneth Paltrow does a good job, but Carnes sang the best version ever...

[jaemel1]

Loved Jackie, but Kim's version had the magic for sure.

[gotch09]

Not even on the same playing field as the Kim Carnes verson.

[drjn8]

When it comes to originals and remakes, most people say the original is better. But when it comes to "Bette Davis Eyes", it is the other way around.

I don't like this version very much. It sound's very oldie and it's like the music a grandma would dance to.

Kim Carnes' version has the mysterious vibe that I like in music. Kim's version definitely makes this one an obsolete, useless tune.

[shapeepster]

She wrote it, but she murders this song...how ironic!

[avedoncarol]

I liked the smokey, spooky sound of the hit version, but I'm delighted with this. I wouldn't say one was "better" than the other, but they are like two different songs.

[SuperTunaSandwich]

@avedoncarol

Agreed! Don't see how people can say Jackie De Shannon "murdered her own song" when her version and Kim Carnes' versions sound like two completely different songs!

The only thing that's the same is just the lyrics.

But (and I may get slammed by many for saying this) I like Gwyneth's version of the song better. What say you?

[guillaume2005]

this is a nice tune but still prefer the dark sounds of kim carnes version!

[TOCS268]

I am astounded. I completely forgot about this rendition of Betty Davis Eyes simply because it was a "so, so "song back in 74. Now, I think it is much classier than the more well known song by Kim Carnes. We all seem to fall back to the best of our past! Thanks for the posting it.

[philaboston]

its cool that she deshannon wrote this song. but, seriously, kim carnes made the song so much better.

[melismayhem]

I think Kim's version while good is very much a product of its time, and its dated. This while it may not be the best arrangement hardly sounds dated at all.

[tresckow]

wow the cover is waaaayy better one of the seldom occassions.

[hamster700]

liked the 1981 version

[JLizard]

Betty Davis was sexy enough, I love this fun jazzy beat.

[DannyBkyn]

I've only heard a snippet of Jackie's version when Kim Carnes' version was number one on American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. They played a bit of it. It's actually kinda hard to find. Even Jackie's greatest hits collections don't include it. Thanks so much for posting it!

[bobbybobbinson]

I can't believe how this song was transformed. This is just... boring, the other one is mysterious.

[shaggycub]

Don't get me wrong, I really dig Jackie, her voice is gorgeous. *However*, this arrangement is not very good. It's too laid back and jazzy. This version sounds like a rip off of "Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah)" Kim's version imbues the lyrics with a sense of mystery and ramps up the sex appeal. It's not so much Kim's voice, since both have a similar smokey quality, but it's all in the arrangement. Jackie's is far too playful, Kim's is slightly ominous.

[varsityredheads]

My buddy and I saw Jackie at the Main Line in Philly live in support of this album. My buddy talked his way backstage to "interview" her. He said she was 100% wonderful.

[PetPiv]

We would never "know" this song if not for Kim Carnes's version ....

[efrem1]

Interesting tune that different from Kim Carnes. Each has its own strengths like the versions of Eli's Coming by Laura Nyro and Three Dog Night.

[elaikar5]

Jackie composed this song....

[henrysinaga]

Catchy tune but Kim Carnes version is pure magic

[Honkmeier]

word

[jhigh2]

Cute , never even heard the original until

now , sounds like a ' playoff ' version for

when credits are rolling.

[jenaardell]

whoa, what a difference!! this original version sounds like a bad broadway tune. i love kim carnes' scratchy voice... her version gives me goosebumps!!

[knobylob]

this version is cute and fun. i like all the versions

[Geert365]

I think i can see why people love this. But i am also just "brainwashed" / "programed" by the eighties. This is very easy to listen to, i like it. Shockingly different e.c.t.

[h7hannah1995]

i dont like this even tho shes got a gd voice i sooooo prefer kim carnes' version!

[Darzy92]

I like this version, i dont particularly prefer it but its definately different...pity it wasnt a bigger hit...

[hifiguy268]

It was never released as a single, as I recall. I've had the album since the mid '70's. In fact, I don't think any songs from New Arrangement were ever released as a single.

I like both versions but prefer Jackie's voice.

[susandiane311]

Never knew she wrote this. You learn something new everyday. It almost sounds like "Bad Bad Leroy Brown"!

[tam358]

That's it! Thank you.

[tttar]

It's amazing, how everything's popping up on YouTube now.

I've got that album and for years got a kick out of showing how much production can change the sound of a song.

To think that Jackie might have had a number one hit with that!

[TICoTACoCZ]

I didn't know, that Kim Carnes version is not original..., this version is not bad, but I prefer Kim Carnes and Gwyneth Paltrow, that is better for dancing.

[corrupt200]

neither did I, I only knew Kim's 1981 version

[brack75]

This is 10000000000000000000000000x Better than kim carnes

[deanriam]

Why? Cause you're an elitist who thinks the original is always better? Sorry, but this sucks.

[brack75]

NO becuase 80s music sux and jakie deshannon is great.. not overly produced like kim carnes

[HunterHunter88]

This song has no structure; it also has no lasting appeal liek kim carnes'...

[bluehairspaz]

its refreshing, but i have to say kim did a good job of taking the song and making a completely different feeling. this is light and fun. she will really destroy you and hurt you, but its light and fun. kim's version is appropriately menacing. this is the seventies, ah she is a user of men, but its fun, then kim reflected the 80's backlash against the sexual revolution with the onset of aids, and fear of women prevalent in movies like fatal attraction.

[OmeletteThePuppy]

This may be blasphemy, but I think Jackie has a much better voice than Kim Carnes, and puts a lot more personality into her performance. Also, I like the arrangement - "dated" does not equal bad, and I think in hindsight, this sounds a lot more authentic than the techy 80s stuff going on in Carnes's version.

[Supermercado]

This sounds like it should be sung on Broadway in 1932. Who said vaudeville was dead?

[romanwoman]

Yeah, more people know about Kim Carne's version, but I actually like this.

[aut0daFe]

It's amazing how a rather dull tune like this can be turned into an amazing generation-defining song. Power of arrangement and production!

[drjn8]

I prefer the Kim Carnes version. This version is soooooooo dated.............

[refforendum]

i do prefer kim carnes cover of this song.

[gmcorrea]

Ironically, the song was co-written and recorded by Jackie DeSahnnon in 1975, and was a sleeper given new life by Kim Carnes's throaty delivery and Bill Cuomo's high-tech arragement."My version didn't quite come out the way it was written," Jackie DeShannon admitted in her own BEST OF liner notes, "but I always believed in the song." Jackie DeShannon wrote the song because she never forgot the look in Paul Henreids eyes when he lighted those 2 cigarettes in the ending of "Now Voyager."

[Bebewhite88]

DEAR gmcorrea

Dont beleive all u read. this came from the lips of KIM CARNES herself live on tv interveiw. Jackie did NOT write one word of the lyrics to bette davis eyes. The co writer wrote the words. The cowriter did her own demo and the co-writer is the one who went and played the song for CARNES.

iF jackie ever said or intimated that she wrote ONE word of the song...she wasnt telling the truth.

[gmcorrea]

Jackie DeShannon did the music and Donna Weiss wrote the lyrics. This information came from the fact sheet of Bette Davis Eyes.

[scrufferdog]

And you know this exactly How?

[Bebewhite88]

This song won a songwriter's grammy for song of the year and the songwriters are Donna Weiss and Jackie Deshannon. Weiss is the lyricist and deshannon wrote the music. If you need more proof go look at the lead sheet/sheet music. Or look at the 5 million or so lyric websites with the song info on the internet.