"Bette Davis Eyes" as written by Donna Weiss and Jackie De Shannon....
Her hair is Harlow gold
Her lips are sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll turn the music on you
You won't have to think twice
She's pure as New York snow
She got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you, she'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
She got Greta Garbo's standoff sighs, she's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll let you take her home
It whets her appetite
She'll lay you on the throne
She got Bette Davis eyes
She'll take a tumble on you
Roll you like you were dice
Until you come out blue
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll expose you, when she snows you
Off your feet with the crumbs, she throws you
She's ferocious and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy, she's got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you, she'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy, she's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll tease you
She'll unease you
Just to please you
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll expose you
When she snows you
She knows you, she's got Bette Davis Eyes
Her lips are sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll turn the music on you
You won't have to think twice
She's pure as New York snow
She got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you, she'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
She got Greta Garbo's standoff sighs, she's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll let you take her home
It whets her appetite
She'll lay you on the throne
She got Bette Davis eyes
She'll take a tumble on you
Roll you like you were dice
Until you come out blue
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll expose you, when she snows you
Off your feet with the crumbs, she throws you
She's ferocious and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy, she's got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you, she'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy, she's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll tease you
She'll unease you
Just to please you
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll expose you
When she snows you
She knows you, she's got Bette Davis Eyes
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
It might be significant that Harlow gold sounds almost like "hollow gold". Maybe not though. Harlow played a lot of femme's fatale. I don't think the song is about Marilyn Monroe rather than an imaginary woman. Monroe's on-screen presence wasn't mysterious and film noiresque and the woman in this song has nothing of the woman-child about her.
This is about an artists' embrace and expression of an iconic figure. It's well done by human standards.
It captures the essence of an angel-faced temptress who appears "pure as NY snow" and lures men in with her wit and charm, but as they are drinking into her passion, she is studying them closely and exposing their weaknesses...Eventually, just when they are transfixed into her seductive games, she uses these weaknesses against them, "rolls them like dice", and when she gets what she wants from them...leaves them hoping they are pleased with the crumbs of her affection; a take-no-prisoner seductress.
It is an homage to the femme fatale.
"She's precocious": As in outrageously brash and often used to describe a female sexually back in the day. Sexually precocious meant experienced and promiscuous.
"Tease you, unease, all the better just to please you.": To get want she wants.
"Make a pro blush": In the 70s and 80s calling a woman a Pro implied she was a sexual pro, meaning professional, as in the wold's oldest profession. Carnes is basically saying "She could make a hooker blush." Interesting fact, DeShannon's original lyric was "make a crow blush" which was a dated backwoods expression. It basically meant the same thing but without the sexual connotation. Carnes changed it in her recording.
"Pure as New York snow" has nothing to do with cocaine or meth. It is irony. New York snow, unlike in the country, is trampled on until it becomes sludge. Meaning, she is not pure at all.
I was going to add a comment about the 'New York Snow' line but you nailed it.
Definitely a reference to NY the city. The snow is grimy, grey and dirty and the line is pure sarcasm.
The correct line is "Make a Crow blush"...a common southern saying but it was misinterpreted for kim's cover of the song
She'll expose you [your secrets and weaknesses],
when she snows you [snow doesn't mean cocaine here. In modern slang it means when she plays you, fools you with her charm]
Off your feet [NOT Hope you're pleased (that lyric above is wrong), because she doesn't care; she'll play you and charm you off your feet and into bed where you and your secrets are vulnerable]
with the crumbs she throws you [with the little attention she pays you]
She's ferocious and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush [she could make a hooker blush and can get what she wants]
All the boys think she's a spy [just like WWI spy Mata Hari who Greta Garbo coincidentally played in the 1931 movie Mata Hari]
she's got Bette Davis eyes [the kind that can charm you with the bat of the lashes or stare through like ice]
Also, "Greta Garbo stand-off sighs" is a reference to Garbo's most famous movie line from Grand Hotel where she breathily says, "I want to be alone" and the fact Garbo was completely stand-offish with the public and press in her real life.
Her lips chapped bloody red.
Her hands are acy cold!
She toots that New York Snow.
It gave her Marty Feldman eyes!
She'll turn the misic real loud,
Then throw you on your ass.
She'll steal your New York Snow
She's got Marty Feldman eyes!
She'll squeeze you, when she see's you.
It'll unhinge you!
She's ferocious, and she knows just how to make you throw up!
She's got those Marty Feldman eyes!
She'll invade your home,
to feed her appetite.
Leave you tied to the throne!
Thinkin bout her Marty Feldman eyes?
She'll throw a rumble on you,
throw you on your ass.
You'll come up black and blue.
She's got those Marty Feldman eyes!
She'll expose you,
then she'll blow you.
Right in front of your friends!
She can lift a bathtub and throw it!
She's ferocious, and she knows just what makes you throw up.
All your friends will think she's a GUY!
She's got those Marty Feldman eyes.
But she'll tease you, bout how she knows you.
She's got those Marty Feldman eyes!"