Today's song was written by Montreal-born (and former Portlander) Warren Pash. He was driving down Ventura Boulevard in LA when he spotted a billboard for a new movie: The Private Eyes, starring Tim Conway and Don Knots.
As a musician/songwriter trying to make it in LA, Pash was working on a song called "I Need You To Need Me," but he knew that title wasn't the right bait for this hook.
"A little lightbulb went off in my head," said Pash. "I turned the car around, went back to where I was living, banged it out on the piano, re-titled it to [today’s title] and changed the lyric."
Pash brought the song to Jana Allen, who was the little sister of Sara Allen for whom this duo’s awesome song, ‘Sara Smile’ was written for. Jana had co-written “Kiss On My List” with one half of today’s duo. At the time, Jana was still trying to get a solo career going. (“Kiss On My List” was originally supposed to be her song.) Jana wanted to record [today’s song] but soon decided that it would make more sense for today’s duo than for herself, so she brought it to them.
Pash recalls, “I went, What are you trying to do, kill my opportunity to work with Daryl again? Why’d you give him that piece-of-crap tape? She says, ‘no, no, no… they’ll know what to do with it.'” and they did!
They rearranged the song and rewrote the lyrics, working it over until it sounded more like something they would do. Despite the changes, everyone involved, including Pash, all got songwriting credits.
Today’s song tells a story using a metaphor for detective work. The opening line ‘I see you, you see me’ which indicates the moment when they spot each other after casing a joint. Lines like ‘when it’s watching for lies you can’t escape…” give the song that eerie feel.
Some would even say (and HAVE said) it is downright creepy as the singer watches the unsuspecting girl’s every move from afar. But what is so unusual about this song, is the creepy subject matter combined with the irresistible upbeat pop sound. So happy, but so Creepy!
Hall and Oates...Private Eyes...I Know That Song!
And CONGRATS to Carla Conroy in Beavercreek for guessing this weeks theme: Songs With "Eyes" in the title. She scored free lunch from Jersey Mikes. A Sub Above!
We'll have another theme next week.