Eyes Without A Face

The second single from the "Rebel Yell" album, this song was Idol’s first Top Ten hit in the US, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Among the first three songs written for the album, guitarist and co-writer Steve Stevens said that the chord changes were his spin on a classic ‘50s doo-wop progression. The song is a favorite among the Idol catalog and remains in their current live set. While the woman in the relationship in the Billy Idol song is "Eyes Without a Face," the narrator has become the face without the eyes. Wrapped in guilt for what once was a perfect love, he must face his own pettiness and the fact that he has forever altered his partner and their relationship. The soft female vocals in the song are singing "les yeux sans visage," which is French for "eyes without a face." For another '80s song with female backing in French, check out "Games Without Frontiers." The video was directed by David Mallet, who also did Idol's "White Wedding" clip. Mallet once again accented the video with three girls slapping their own butts in time to the music. Idol's memories of the video are painful ones. His contact lenses dried out during the shoot, and when he fell asleep on a flight to his next gig in Arizona, they fused to his eyes. He had to get his corneas scraped at a hospital and wear bandages on his eyes for three days. The French vocals on this track were sung by Idol's girlfriend, the dancer Perri Lister, who was part of a performance group called Hot Gossip. Lister appeared the video for this song and three others by Idol: "White Wedding," "Rebel Yell" and "Hot In The City." Judi Dozier and Steve Stevens did the keyboards and synth programming on this track. The big clapping sound was generated with a Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer, and the strings came from a Prophet V.