Private Eyes (song)

"Private Eyes"
Single by Hall & Oates
from the album Private Eyes
Released	August 29, 1981
Format	7" Vinyl record
Recorded	Spring 1981
Genre	Pop, rock, blue-eyed soul
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	Daryl Hall, Sara Allen, Janna Allen and Warren Pash
Producer	Daryl Hall, John Oates, Neil Kernon
Hall & Oates singles chronology
"You Make My Dreams" (1981) "Private Eyes" (1981) "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (1981)

"Private Eyes" is the hit 1981 single by Hall & Oates and the title track from their album of that year. The song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks, from November 7 through November 20, 1981. This single was the band's third of six number one hits (the first two being "Rich Girl" and "Kiss on My List"), and their second number one hit of the 1980s. It was succeeded in the number one position by Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," which was in turn succeeded by another single from Hall and Oates, "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)."

Background and writing

In an interview with American Songwriter, Daryl Hall states: "That’s a real Janna Allen [co-writer and sister of Sara Allen] song. Janna, and I, and Warren Pash wrote that. Warren and Janna wrote most of the song, and I took it and changed it around – changed the chords. Sandy [Sara Allen] and I wrote the lyrics. It’s a real family song, the Allen sisters and me."

The single carries a similar rhythm to the duo's number one hit from earlier that year, "Kiss On My List," with the difference being a handclap chorus that has made the song an audience-participation favorite at live Hall and Oates shows. It was one of the duo's first songs to appear in heavy rotation on MTV.

Music video

The music video featured the band dressed as detectives and was the first to feature the backup band of guitarist G. E. Smith, bassist Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, drummer Mickey Curry, and saxophone/keyboardist Charles DeChant.

In popular culture

The song is performed by private investigator Vinnie Van Lowe in the Veronica Mars episode "Kanes and Abel's." After Veronica tries to bug Vinnie's office, he asks his receptionist (also his mother) who his favorite band is, then leans out the window and sings the song to an eavesdropping Veronica. At one point he changes the chorus from "Private Eyes" to "Veronica Mars/I'm watching you." There was a popular reworking of this classic at Rockness 2010, performed by the Shire Sect and was appropriately renamed "Scanty Eyes", to encourage the practice of scanting, in particular, towards mothers on Valentines' Day.

The Disney Channel ran a DTV music video of the song, set mostly to clips from the Goofy cartoon short How to Be a Detective.

Captain Kangaroo in the early '80's had a puppet vignette of the song.

On the August 13, 2007 episode of WWE Raw, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Michael Cole dressed up as Hall & Oates and sang versions of "Private Eyes" and "Rich Girl."

In episode 3.16 of Psych, An Evening with Mr. Yang, Detective Lassiter is shown singing along to the song playing on his iPod. USA Network later parodied the original music video to "Private Eyes" in a promo for the television series.

In the television series Chuck, the titular character included the song in his stakeout mix.

In the film Knight and Day, the song is being played on a stereo system in a safehouse of a fugitive who is an inventor who is a fan of the duo, who later sports a vintage pin.

Covers

In 2010, The Bird and the Bee covered the song for their tribute album Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates.

Chart performance

Chart (1981)	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	6
New Zealand Singles Chart	19
South African Singles Chart	14
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	33
UK Singles Chart	32

Preceded by "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" by Christopher Cross

Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 7, 1981 - November 21, 1981

Succeeded by "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John