Everyone knows “Bette Davis Eyes” if they listened to the radio in 1981, when Kim Carnes’ breakthrough single spent nine weeks at No. 1 and was single of the year. Many people know the song was written by Jackie DeShannon. But not many have heard her version of her most famous tune, which she released in 1974. It sounds nothing like the hit.
So how did the version everyone knows come about? DeShannon’s writing partner, Donna Weiss, included another arrangement of the song (producer Val Garay said it sounded like “a Leon Russell track, with this beer-barrel polka piano part”). Looking for a darker undertone to the song, Garay turned to Los Angeles session keyboard player Bill Cuomo, who came up with the tune’s now-signature synthesizer riff. The song was recorded in one take.
