"Elisabeth's Eyes" is a song by English musician

Nik Kershaw Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the ...

, which was released as the second and final single from his fourth studio album '' The Works'' (1989). It was written by Kershaw, and produced by Kershaw and

Julian Mendelsohn Julian Mendelsohn is an Australian record producer, audio engineer and mixer. Early life After completing school in Australia, Mendelsohn moved to the United Kingdom. He secured his first job in 1974 at Milner Sound Fulham Rd. Chelsea, run b ...

Background

Kershaw began writing material for his fourth studio album in early 1987 and went to

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' ...

later in the year to record with producer

Peter Wolf Peter Wolf (born March 7, 1946) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a solo artist. Early life and education Peter Wolf was born Peter Walter Blankfield on March 7, 1946 in The ...

. Ten tracks were completed, but Kershaw was ultimately dissatisfied with the results. When he returned to England, he began remixing and re-recording the material with the help of

. Kershaw also decided to drop two of the intended tracks and replace them with two new ones, "One Step Ahead" and "Elisabeth's Eyes". "Elisabeth's Eyes" was inspired by the pen pal relationship of Elisabeth Allan, a teacher from

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, and

Willie Darden Willie Jasper Darden, Jr. (June 1, 1933 – March 15, 1988) was an American man who was executed in Florida for murder during the course of a robbery. Darden's case was notable because of the 14 years that he spent on death row between his death ...

, an African American man who served 14 years on death row and was executed in 1988 in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for murder during the course of a robbery. Kershaw told radio presenter

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

in 1989, "For reasons she didn't really understand, Elisabeth began to write to him in prison and he wrote back. Towards the end he was writing three or four times a day. The letters were very personal, almost like love letters. They never met, but she was his one link with the outside world. I hope the song might help other people in Willie's position." Kershaw became aware of Allan and Darden after reading a newspaper article two days before Darden's execution about Allan and her campaign for his release. Kershaw then wrote the song a week later. After doing further research into Darden's case, Kershaw also believed he was innocent. He told the ''

Sunday Mercury ''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and now owned by Reach plc. The first edition was published on 29 December 1918. The first editor was John Turner Fearon (1869–1937), who left the Dublin-based ''Freeman's ...

'' in May 1989, "Any new subject you start finding out about changes your life. Death row wasn't something that concerned me before and I didn't really think about the death penalty very much."

Release

"Elisabeth's Eyes" was released by MCA on 7-inch vinyl, 12-inch vinyl and CD formats. The B-side is the non-album track "My Friend John". An extended version of "Elisabeth's Eyes" is included on the 12-inch and CD formats, and a club dub version was included on the 12-inch single. "Elisabeth's Eyes" was Kershaw's first single to fail to enter the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, ending a successive run of twelve entries on the chart. The single sold 3,000 copies within the first five weeks of its release. It was originally scheduled for release on 24 April but this was pushed back to 1 May.

Promotion

The song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by Mike Ross and produced by Ali Newling. On 22 May 1989, Kershaw performed the song on the British TV show ''

Wogan ''Wogan'' is a British television talk show which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 until 1992, presented by Terry Wogan. It was usually broadcast live from the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, until 1991. It was then broadcast ...

''.

Critical reception

On its release, Geoff Zeppelin of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'' wrote, "What a pity that this number should have all the emotional impact of a soggy bowl of cornflakes. Where are the royalties going Nik?" Ian Gittins of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' stated, "Kershaw wants to be taken seriously, so I furrowed my brow and listened intently to every nuance of 'Elisabeth's Eyes'. It's still shit." Jennifer Grant of the ''

Perthshire Advertiser The ''Perthshire Advertiser'' (originally the ''Perthshire Advertiser and Strathmore Journal'') is a tabloid newspaper, published by Reach plc, in Perth, Scotland. The ''PA'', as it is commonly known, has two editions, a Tuesday and Friday. ...

'' commented, "It's the new look, slick-backed single from midget Nik. But a new image hasn't altered his musical style any as this is predictable Kershaw pop." Marcus Hodge of the '' Cambridge Evening News'' felt the song to be "unfortunately too watery and bland to touch early belters like '

I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is a song by English singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw from his debut studio album, ''Human Racing'' (1984). It was his first single, released on 9 September 1983 to limited success. When re-released on 4 June 19 ...

'." Dick Jones of the ''Faversham Times'' stated it was "another token effort" from Kershaw and "disappointingly typical". He added, "Little Nik will never be a millionaire churning out this sort of pleasant, but immemorable trivial. The days of '

Wouldn't It Be Good "Wouldn't It Be Good" is a song by English singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw, released on 20 January 1984 as the second single from his debut studio album, ''Human Racing'' (1984). The release was Kershaw's second single, and features the non-album t ...

' and '

Human Racing ''Human Racing'' is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw, released on 27 February 1984 by MCA Records. Several songs like "Drum Talk" were based around improvisation; other songs, like "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on ...

' have well and truly gone yet pop's Mr. Clean appears to be trying to salvage further success from past glory." In a 2020 retrospective review of ''The Works'', Steve Harnell of ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' noted the "beautiful reggae bounce" of the song and added that it "should have been hit".

Formats

7-inch single # "Elisabeth's Eyes" – 4:37 # "My Friend John" – 4:08 12-inch single # "Elisabeth's Eyes" (Extended version) – 6:02 # "My Friend John" – 4:08 # "Elisabeth's Eyes" (Club Dub) – 4:41 CD Single # "Elisabeth's Eyes" (7" version) – 4:39 # "My Friend John" – 4:01 # "Elisabeth's Eyes" (Extended version) – 6:04

Personnel

* Nik Kershaw, Julian Mendelsohn – producers, mixing on "Elisabeth's Eyes" * Michael H. Brauer – remixer on extended version and club dub of "Elisabeth's Eyes" * Julian Mendelsohn – co-production on extended version and club dub of "Elisabeth's Eyes" * Nik Kershaw – producer of "My Friend John"

References

External links

* {{Nik Kershaw 1989 songs 1989 singles MCA Records singles Nik Kershaw songs Songs written by Nik Kershaw Song recordings produced by Julian Mendelsohn