In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel song)

1986 single by Peter Gabriel

"In Your Eyes" is a song by the 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 brought Gabriel his first Gold single, certified in the US by the RIAA.

Inspired by a trip to a cathedral in Barcelona, Spain, Gabriel wrote lyrics for another So era song, "Sagrada". This song was scrapped early on, although some elements, including the vocal melody and chord changes, were transferred over to "In Your Eyes". The song incorporates vocals from Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour and an African talking drum. 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". 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." 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.

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."

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, only reaching #41. This release was shorter, with a length of 4:53. Gabriel asked to see Crowe's film and Crowe asked the production company to send Gabriel a rough cut. Gabriel approved the use of his song, but told 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. 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."