In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel song)

"In Your Eyes" is a song by English rock musician Peter Gabriel from his fifth solo studio album So (1986). It features Youssou N'Dour singing a part at the end of the song translated into his native Wolof. Gabriel's lyrics were inspired by an African tradition of ambiguity in song between romantic love and love of God.

"In Your Eyes" was not released as a single in the UK but released as the second single from So in the US, achieving strong radio airplay and regular MTV rotation. It reached number 1 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks on 13 September 1986 and peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November. Gabriel released two extended versions of the song as a 12" vinyl single in the US. The first ran 6:15 and was the single version. The second, "Special" mix, ran 7:14 and was the B-side. In Australia, "In Your Eyes" peaked at number 97 in November 1986.

The track was featured in the teen drama film Say Anything... (1989) starring John Cusack and Ione Skye. The song was the finale of the Secret World Tour and the final track on the 1994 Secret World Live album, where it is over 11 minutes long and includes the extra lyrics from the Special Mix, in addition to solos by the other singers and players. It was included on the US version of his 2003 compilation Hit, but not the European or Japanese versions.

In 2005, the song gave Gabriel his first gold single, certified in the US by the RIAA.

Background
Inspired by a trip to a cathedral in Barcelona, Spain, Gabriel wrote lyrics for another So era song, "Sagrada". Gabriel derived the lyrics from two sources: the Sagrada Família in Barcelona and the construction of the Winchester Mystery House, but he never finished the composition despite performing it live on a few occasions. "Sagrada" was scrapped early on, although some elements, including the vocal melody and chord changes, were transferred over to "In Your Eyes". The song was restructured on several occasions and required six reels of tape to piece together.

When determining the track order for So, Gabriel wanted "In Your Eyes" to be the final track, but its prominent bassline meant it had to be placed earlier on the vinyl edition where the phonograph stylus had more room to vibrate. This restriction was no longer an issue for later CD releases, and the track was placed at the end of the album.

Recording
The song incorporates vocals from Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour. Gabriel invited N'Dour to his Ashcombe House for lunch and played him a demo of "In Your Eyes" with the intention of having N'Dour record some vocals in English. Instead, N'Dour translated certain lines of the song into his native Wolof language and improvised his parts on the spot, prompting Gabriel to join in. Jenny Cathcart, a BBC researcher who acted as N'Dour's interpreter, recalled that "everybody was incredibly uplifted that afternoon. Youssou didn't even know he was going to do this; it was as if it was meant to be". Jerry Marotta, who was one of the two drummers who played on "In Your Eyes", recalled that N'Dour was several hours late for the recording session and recorded his vocal take in thirty minutes.

Despite not being credited with the instrument in the album's liner notes, in a 2023 interview with Rick Beato, Daniel Lanois stated that he played an acoustic twelve-string guitar on the song's chorus. Lanois was not impressed with the quality of the guitar and believed that it was "not a very nice instrument". He further stated that the guitar part provided "a support role that a drum might play. But in this case, the support was such that it was high frequency, harmonic, high-speed component underneath a relatively low slow phrasing from the vocal." The arpeggiating guitar part during the chorus was a composite of two different tracks that were layered over chordal accompaniment from a piano and synthesiser. David Rhodes, who played the song's electric guitars, noted his preference for having "a lack of definition" between the synthesizers and guitars.

Manu Katché was brought into the recording studio to play drums on "In Your Eyes", which was one of the first songs he worked on with Gabriel along with "Don't Give Up". Katché recalled that he struggled to find a proper approach to the song, so Gabriel loosened him up by performing an African dance.

"He was awkward, because he couldn't really dance. But if Peter, who didn't know me very well—because it was only the third or fourth day in the studio—tried to help me like that, then there was a message there. With that dance, that was the feeling he wanted me to feel."

Both Katche and Jerry Marotta played drums on the song, with the former also overdubbing a talking drum and additional percussion. Some of the drums were enhanced by a surdo sample, which was aligned with some of the kick drum hits.

Critical reception
Cash Box called it a "sweet and tuneful ballad" and praised Gabriel's "plaintive voice and sensational spacious production work." Billboard called it a "dreamily textured mood piece." Writing for AllMusic, Stewart Mason called "In Your Eyes" the "finest pure love song Gabriel had ever written and one of his best songs." Far Out Magazine said "just like every other mid-1980s album, it [So] needed a big ballad at its centre in order to sell big. Luckily, Gabriel had just the thing with 'In Your Eyes'", and that the song "was the most nakedly emotional song that Gabriel had ever produced up to that point. The simplicity of the song's sentiment never gets compromised, with Gabriel filtering in poetic interpretations of love and devotion."

Say Anything...
The song was used twice in the 1989 US Cameron Crowe film Say Anything..., as well as its trailer. A famous scene from the film occurs when broken-hearted Lloyd Dobler serenades his ex-girlfriend, Diane Court, outside her bedroom window by holding a boombox up above his head and playing the song for her. Repopularized by its usage in the film, the song reentered the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 41. This release was shorter, with a length of 4:53.

Crowe says that Rosanna Arquette, who is believed to be the inspiration for the song, encouraged Peter Gabriel to consider allowing the film to use the song. Gabriel asked to see Crowe's film and Crowe asked the production company to send Gabriel a rough cut. Gabriel rejected the use of his song, telling Crowe that he was uneasy about the overdose of the main character at the end; the studio had erroneously sent Gabriel the film Wired instead. He later approved the use of "In Your Eyes" upon seeing Say Anything....

In a September 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, discussing the 25th anniversary of So, Gabriel commented on the cultural impact of the scene, "It definitely gave [the song] a second life, because now it's so often parodied in comedy shows and it is one of the modern day Romeo and Juliet balcony clichés. I've talked to John Cusack about that. We're sort of trapped together in a minuscule moment of contemporary culture." In October 2012, as Gabriel played the first few bars of the song during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl, Cusack walked onto the stage, handed him a boombox and took a bow, before quickly walking off again. Cameron Crowe was also present at the concert and later tweeted "Peter Gabriel and John Cusack on stage together at the Hollywood Bowl tonight. Won't forget that... ever."

Personnel

 * Manu Katché – drums, talking drum, percussion
 * Jerry Marotta – additional drums
 * Larry Klein – bass
 * Tony Levin – bass
 * Daniel Lanois – 12-string guitar
 * David Rhodes – guitars, backing vocals
 * Peter Gabriel – lead and backing vocals, CMI, piano, synthesizer
 * Richard Tee – piano
 * Youssou N'Dour – guest vocals
 * Michael Been – backing vocals
 * Jim Kerr – backing vocals
 * Ronnie Bright – bass vocals
 * Kevin Killen – mixer

Performances
On the This Way Up Tour tour (1986–1987), it was performed with an extended vocal duet with Youssou N'Dour, mainly during his North American concerts.

In 1993, Gabriel performed the song on Saturday Night Live, during its 18th season.

On 10 April 2014, Gabriel performed the song with an extended vocal duet with N'Dour as Gabriel was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The event, which took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, was filmed and was later televised in late May 2014 on the HBO cable channel.