don't it make my brown eyes blue

Crystal Gayle cried her way into our hearts and the top of the charts with this jazzy country crossover.  'Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue' was a sequel of sorts to her first single 'I've Cried the Blue Right Out Of My Eyes' that was written by her older sister Loretta Lynn.  Richard Leigh wrote the song; but his publisher was going to give it to Shirley Bassey instead of Gayle, even though she had a number one country hit with another of his songs 'I'll Get Over You'.  Producer Allen Reynolds convinced songwriter Leigh to let him have the song for Gayle instead.  They recorded at Jack's Tracks in Nashville. Hargus "Pig" Robbins on played keyboards came up with the piano riff; Charles Cochran played the horn parts on a Wurlitzer. Gayle's first vocal take became the single. Reynolds recalls:  "It came so fast that she wasn't sure that she had done her best job. I had to let her try to sing it again on two or three different occasions until she was comfortable with the original, and that's what we went with. Everything on that recording was the original take as it went down, except the string section I added later."  It was the leadoff single for her album 'We Must Believe in Magic'.

'Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue' became a worldwide success, going to number five in the UK; four on the US adult contemporary chart; two on the US pop chart; and number one on the Canadian adult contemporary, country, and pop charts.  It became her second US country number one.  It became her biggest hit and her signature song and won her a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.   







I don't know when I've been so blue
Don't know what's come over you
You've found someone new
And don't it make my brown eyes blue

I'll be fine when you're gone
I'll just cry all night long
Say it isn't true
And don't it make my brown eyes blue

Tell me no secrets, tell me some lies
Give me no reasons, give me alibis
Tell me you love me and don't let me cry
Say anything but don't say goodbye

I didn't mean to treat you bad
Didn't know just what I had
But honey now I do
And don't it make my brown eyes
Don't it make my brown eyes
Don't it make my brown eyes blue

Tell me no secrets, tell me some lies
Give me no reasons, give me alibis
Tell me you love me and don't let me cry
Say anything but don't say goodbye

I didn't mean to treat you bad
Didn't know just what I had
But honey now I do
And don't it make my brown eyes
Don't it make my brown eyes
Don't it make my brown eyes blue

Don't it make my brown eyes
Don't it make my brown eyes blue