"Dry Your Eyes" is a single by English rapper and producer Mike Skinner under the music project

the Streets The Streets are an English music project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner. The project has released six studio albums: ''Original Pirate Material'' (2002), ''A Grand Don't Come for Free'' (2004), ''The Hardest Way to M ...

. The song describes the protagonist trying to cope with his girlfriend breaking up with him. It was released in the UK on 19 July 2004. The song is the Streets' most successful single, reaching number one in the United Kingdom on 25 July 2004, six days after its release. "Dry Your Eyes" also went straight to number one in Ireland staying there for three weeks in a row. In Australia, the song was ranked number 19 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004. In October 2011, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' placed it at number 87 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

Music structure

"Dry Your Eyes" is composed in the key of

A major A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...

. It is written in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

and moves at a slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 80

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

. The song is carried by a

first inversion The first inversion of a chord is the voicing of a triad, seventh chord, or ninth chord in which the third of the chord is the bass note and the root a sixth above it.Walter Piston, ''Harmony'', fifth edition, revised and expanded by Mark DeVo ...

triad. The

radio edit In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form. Radio edits may als ...

of the song, lasting 3:22, omits the bridge and third verse. The official video uses this edit. However, some radio edits move the interlude after the second chorus to the beginning of the song. The melody was taken straight from a royalty-free samples CD released in 1999. A plagiarism claim by unknown artist Epic was reported in the press in 2004, but no case was ever made.

Critical reception

Leonie Cooper of ''

'' called "those violins, bringing all of the emotions" the best part of the song. Tony Naylor of ''NME'' called the song, "a hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck ballad for jilted lovers" and stated, "rarely has Skinner sounded so vulnerable, poignant and, well, normal."

Track listings

UK CD1 # "Dry Your Eyes" # "It's Too Late" (live radio session) UK CD2 and Australian CD single # "Dry Your Eyes" # "Let's Push Things Forward" (live radio session) # "Has It Come To This?" (live radio session) # "Dry Your Eyes" (enhanced video)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Cover versions

* A version of "Dry Your Eyes" featuring

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Univ ...

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

singing the chorus surfaced on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and received airplay on

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

radio station Indie 103.1. This version was recorded for a

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

competition (listeners were told to call in when they heard this version of the song) and was never officially released, because Chris Martin did not agree with his vocal performance. This version frequently found American airplay on WFNX after its release. * Brian Kennedy on ''

Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2 ''Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 2'' is an Irish charity album featuring a variety of artists performing Acoustic music, acoustic cover versions of popular songs. It was released in 2004 by RMG Chart Entertainment Ltd. Just like Even Bet ...

'' * A parody version was performed by comedian

Adam Buxton Adam Offord Buxton (born 7 June 1969) is an English actor, comedian, podcaster and writer. With the filmmaker Joe Cornish, he is part of the comedy duo Adam and Joe. They presented the Channel 4 television series ''The Adam and Joe Show'' (1996 ...

on the TV Show '' 2004: The Stupid Version'', with the lyrics being about a man getting kicked out by his girlfriend because he repeatedly urinates on the toilet seat and wets the bed. * "Dry Your Eyes" was performed in a scene from the 2021 comedy film '' People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan'', in which characters DJ Beats and DJ Steves cover the song in a karaoke bar.

References

{{Authority control 2004 songs 2004 singles 2000s ballads Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Scotland The Streets songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles Locked On Records singles 679 Artists singles