"Eyes Without a Face" | ||||
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![]() Cover of 12" vinyl single | ||||
Single by Billy Idol | ||||
from the album Rebel Yell | ||||
B-side | "The Dead Next Door" | |||
Released | April 1984 (US) 4 June 1984 (UK)[1] | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 4:58 (album/video version) 4:08 (single version) | |||
Label | Chrysalis | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Keith Forsey | |||
Billy Idol singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Eyes Without a Face" on YouTube |
"Eyes Without a Face" is a song by the English rock musician Billy Idol, from his second studio album Rebel Yell (1983). It was released in April 1984 as the second single from the album. The song is softer and more ballad-like than most of the album's other singles. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Idol's first top-10 hit in the US.[5] The recording features the voice of Perri Lister—she appeared in the banned video for "Hot in the City"—who sings "Les yeux sans visage" (French for "Eyes without a face") as a background chorus. The title of the song refers to the English title of French director Georges Franju's horror film Les Yeux sans visage (1960).
In a retrospective review of the single, AllMusic journalist Donald A. Guarisco praised the song and wrote: "The music plays against the dark tone of the lyrics with a ballad-styled melody comprised of yearning verses that slowly build emotion and a quietly wrenching chorus that relieves the emotional tension in a cathartic manner."[6]