Monday August 23, 2021 "I Only Have Eyes for You" The Flamingos (50s)
"Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo".
For me that would be Paul Simon with the hit single "At the Zoo" from the fourth Simon & Garfunkel album Bookends. And then it occurred to me there are a bucket load of rock (& roll) groups that have taken their names from animals. So this week let's go to the rock & roll zoo, and we will do it by decade.
In 1959 doo wop group The Flamingos were looking for that big hit and they turned to a 1934 classic "I Only Have Eyes for You". Odd choice you might think, and you would be right. Their version was arranged by Flamingos member Terry Johnson, who was hoping to update this then 25 year old song and he came up with this almost spooky rendition. The Flamingos had several previous hits and have since been hailed as one of the finest and most influential vocal groups in pop and doo wop music history
“I Only Have Eyes for You” is one of the first songs I have a clear recollection of hearing on the radio and have from this very early beginning been intrigued by background vocals like 'sha bop, sha bop'. Who writes that stuff?...and yes we will be doing a week of background vocals.
Stay safe and well...and in a world of coincidence, as we started with Simon & Garfunkel for inspiration, Art Garfunkel would have a hit with "I Only Have Eyes for You" in 1975.
My love must be a kind of blind love
I can't see anyone but you
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)
Are the stars out tonight (sha bop sha bop)
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright (sha bop sha bop)
I only have eyes for you dear
(Sha bop sha bop)
The moon may be high
(Sha bop sha bop)
But I can't see (sha bop sha bop) a thing in the sky
I only have eyes for you
I don't know if we're in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
(Sha bop sha bop)
-You are here
(Sha bop sha bop)
And so am I
(Sha bop sha bop)
Maybe millions of people (sha bop sha bop) go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)
(Sha bop sha bop)