For a cast-off outtake from a poorly-received album buried on the fourth disc of a box set and only ever performed live once, “Sad Eyes” sure generates a lot of discussion among fans.
I have many friends who regard “Sad Eyes” as a deeply romantic song and a few who view it more platonically in a “Two Hearts” vein. I’ve read interpretations that argue a theme of acceptance, and others that posit patience.
Me? I suspect I’m in the minority (though I’ve never taken a poll), but I’m of the firm belief that “Sad Eyes” is one seriously cruel and twisted song.
The protagonist of “Sad Eyes” is manipulative and self-centered. He’s astute and emotionally aware enough to be able to read people, but he’s a narcissist at heart. He uses his ability to satisfy his own desires rather than assuage the sadness of his desire’s object.
Let’s take a listen–a careful listen:
Because we’re going to focus on the lyrics for the remainder of this essay, let’s first take a moment to acknowledge the music and the arrangement. “Sad Eyes” hails from the Human Touch sessions, but it’s much more restrained and more gently produced than most of the songs that made the album.
That’s probably intentional on Bruce’s part to underscore the narrator’s predatory patience, but it nevertheless makes “Sad Eyes” one of the few Human Touch tracks that I can enjoy in the original album form. Kudos to the backing musicians–unless you read the liner notes, you might never know that they included original E Streeter David Sancious, American Idol’s Randy Jackson, and Toto’s Jeff Porcaro.
Now, about those lyrics.
Bruce never explicitly establishes the scene, but it’s not difficult to imagine we’re in a bar. Certainly, it’s someplace where two loosely acquainted individuals might encounter each other on a daily basis, and a place where they might spend some time out of time with minimal interaction.
Every day here you come walking
I hold my tongue, I don’t do much talking
You say you’re happy and you’re doing fine
Well go ahead, baby, I got plenty of time
Because sad eyes never lie
Our narrator may not say much, but the nameless woman certainly does. She professes to be happy and content (presumably in her marriage or relationship), but he thinks she professes too much. Despite her words, he sees something darker in her eyes, and although he recognizes it as sadness, it looks a lot to him like opportunity.
Their casual encounters take tenuous steps forward followed by occasional steps back, but he’s got nothing if not patience. He’s not about to make his move until his chances of success are guaranteed. And he knows they will be, because while her words profess fidelity, her actions convey uncertainty. And her eyes betray the truth:
Well for a while I’ve been watching you steady
Ain’t gonna move ’til you’re good and ready
You show up and then you shy away
But I know pretty soon you’ll be walking this way
Because sad eyes never lie
If there’s any doubt at all about the narrator’s motivations, Bruce dispels them in the bridge:
Baby don’t you know I don’t care
Don’t you know that I’ve been there
Well if something in the air feels a little unkind
Don’t worry darling, it’ll slip your mind
He’s been where she is now: on the unhappy end of a relationship. And he knows from his own experience that she’ll stray.
He also reveals his indifference: she may suspect that he doesn’t really care about her–that his motives are a little unkind–but he knows that when the time comes, she won’t care any more than he does.
Time passes, and our narrator notices that she starts making more of an effort with her appearance, as if she were meeting a love interest rather than an acquaintance. And he knows that the time is now right.
I know you think you’d never be mine
Well that’s okay, baby, I don’t mind
That shy smile’s sweet, that’s a fact
Go ahead, I don’t mind the act
Here you come all dressed up for a date
Well one more step and it’ll be too late…
The band drops away here, as Bruce suspends the moment in time… save for the percussion of her footsteps, which carry the song to its foregone conclusion.
But at the very end, in the final line, there’s a moment of self-awareness, as the narrator realizes that perhaps she wasn’t the only emotionally transparent one:
Blue blue ribbon in your hair
Like you’re so sure I’ll be standing here
I guess sad eyes never lie
In his moment of conquest, he recognizes his own sadness–the hurt that leads him to seek out temporary solace in others.
We’re left to wonder whether that makes a difference, but the gently fading yet unfaltering coda suggests it does not.
“Sad Eyes” may be a deeply unsympathetic song, but like many of Bruce’s songs about deeply flawed characters, it’s also a brilliant one. It’s subtle enough to fuel discussion and debate and has a twist ending that brings new shades of meaning upon a repeat listen.
It was probably a wise decision for Bruce to leave “Sad Eyes” off of Human Touch–it would have been overwhelmed by its disc-mates in both sound and content–but it deserves more awareness than it enjoys.
It’s not for Bruce’s lack of trying, though–at least at first. Not only did Bruce include it on his four-disc Tracks box set and its companion/follow-up 18 Tracks, he released “Sad Eyes” as the one and only single from Tracks–a treasure trove of gems that could have easily been radio hits.
But “Sad Eyes” didn’t become a hit, and he’s only ever performed it live once–by request, on electric piano during the anything-goes phase of the Devils & Dust Tour in 2005.
In my opinion, the song works even better when Bruce performs it solo–stripping away the additional backing musicians heightens the emotional isolation at the heart of the song.
So why hasn’t Bruce performed “Sad Eyes” more often? That’s one for the unsolved mystery pile, I guess.
Sad Eyes
Recorded: January 25, 1990
Released: Tracks (1998), 18 Tracks (1999)
First performed: July 23, 2005 (Atlanta, GA)
Last performed: July 23, 2005 (Atlanta, GA)
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