| "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byChuck Berry | ||||
| from the albumAfter School Session | ||||
| A-side | "Too Much Monkey Business" | |||
| Released | September 1956 (1956-09)[1] | |||
| Recorded | April 16, 1956[2] | |||
| Studio | Universal Recording Corp. (Chicago)[3] | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll,rhythm and blues | |||
| Length | 2:19 | |||
| Label | Chess1635[1][2] | |||
| Songwriter | Chuck Berry | |||
| Producers | Leonard Chess,Phil Chess[2] | |||
| Chuck Berry singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byBuddy Holly | ||||
| from the albumReminiscing | ||||
| B-side | "Rock-a-Bye Rock" | |||
| Released | 1963 (1963) | |||
| Recorded | 1957 | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Length | 2:07 | |||
| Label | Coral 93 352 | |||
| Songwriter | Chuck Berry | |||
| Producer | Norman Petty | |||
| Buddy Holly singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" is arock and roll song written and recorded byChuck Berry, originally released byChess Records in September1956 as theB-side of "Too Much Monkey Business." It was also included on Berry's 1957 debut album,After School Session. The song title was also used as the title of a biography of Berry.[4]
"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" was written after Berry visited severalAfrican-American andHispanic areas inCalifornia. During his time there, he saw a Hispanic man being arrested by a policeman when "some woman came up shouting for the policeman to let him go."[5]
"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" was recorded atUniversal Recording Corporation in Chicago, Illinois on April 16, 1956. The session wasproduced by the Chess brothers,Leonard andPhil. Backing Berry wereJohnnie Johnson onpiano, L. C. Davis ontenor saxophone,Willie Dixon onbass, andFred Below ondrums.[2]
The song was released in September 1956[1] and reached number 5 onBillboard magazine'sR&B Singles chart later that year.[6]
Glenn C. Altschuler, in a caption to photo of Berry, states that the lyrics of the song "played slyly with racial attitudes and even fears."[7] Martha Bayles noted that "Berry's penchant for bragging about his 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man''s appeal for white females outraged a lot of people."[8]
The song has been covered by many artists, includingBuddy Holly, whose recording was a posthumous hit in theUnited Kingdom in 1963, where it peaked at number three, and was released on the albumReminiscing, which reached number two on theUK Albums Chart.[9] Holly's version also peaked at number three in Ireland.[10]Johnny Rivers also covered the song on his first album,At the Whisky à Go Go, in 1964, as didNina Simone on her 1967 albumHigh Priestess of Soul andWaylon Jennings on a single from his 1970 albumWaylon. It was also covered byRobert Cray on the 1987 live tribute album to Berry,Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll and byPaul McCartney on his 1999 albumRun Devil Run and on a doubleA-side single with "No Other Baby".
The song was also performed by the so-called "Million Dollar Quartet":Johnny Cash,Carl Perkins,Jerry Lee Lewis, andElvis Presley in a jam session on December 4, 1956.[11] Lewis also released a solo version on his 1970 albumShe Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye.[12] Cash recorded it with Perkins on his posthumous 2003 albumUnearthed. "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" was performed in theBroadway musicalMillion Dollar Quartet, which opened in New York in April 2010,[13] and was included in the albumMillion Dollar Quartet, recorded by the original Broadway cast, withLance Guest as Johnny Cash, Robert Britton Lyons as Carl Perkins,Levi Kreis as Jerry Lee Lewis, and Eddie Clendening as Elvis Presley.[14]
It was also covered byLyle Lovett on his 2012 albumRelease Me.
The song is referenced inJohn Fogerty’s song "Centerfield" with the line, “A-roundin' third, and headed for home, It's a brown-eyed handsome man.”
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