Speaking of having no idea that a record you liked was a cover version (which I was last week), how many of you knew that “Bette Davis Eyes” was originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon in 1974? I certainly didn’t.
DeShannon co-wrote the song and her original is in a jazzy honky-tonk style which just sounds bizarre and wrong if, like most people, you’re only familiar with Kim Carnes’ hit 1981 version. The best cover versions are ones that re-imagine a song and, if they do it well enough, make it impossible to hear it any other way which Carnes certainly did. Her smoky, noir treatment seems so much more suited to a song with evocative lyrics like “Her hair is Harlow gold” and “She got Greta Garbo stand-off sighs” that you wonder how it could have been done any other way.
Before this, the sandpaper-voiced Carnes had been around for several years as a songwriter and singer doing things like singing duets with Kenny Rogers with middling success. Then she hitched her star to the then-trendy “New Wave” wagon with this record and scored a massive hit. But though it’s all cool synths and electronic claps this sounds more like Adult Contemporary Soft Rock than the Human League. It’s slicker and more polished than British synthpop from 1981 (it came out the same year as Dare), with a luxe sheen that became one of the hallmarks of the decade and helped electronic pop move from Sheffield discos to big-time movie soundtracks.
I don’t know (or care) if it was a calculated move to get a hit, but I’ve always liked the sultry, neon glow of this. If it wasn’t used in Miami Vice it should have been.
Download: Bette Davis Eyes (Extended Mix) – Kim Carnes (mp3)