The Story Behind The Song
William Broad looked at his school report. In large, angry writing, his teacher had scrawled: "Billy is idle." "Yeah," the young lad thought, "a rock idol." And his famous persona was born.
Sporting a snarling lip and Mohican haircut, which frequently changed from one vibrant colour to the next, Billy Idol became the distinctive lead singer of punk outfit Generation X (see Dancing With Myself), which enjoyed modest success in the late 70s. He quit the band in 1981, heading to New York to become a solo artist. Even though his music was a more accessible new wave rock, his image and on-stage persona was heavily influenced by his punk days. He had minor US hits before Eyes Without A Face became his best-selling single, reaching No. 4 in US during the summer of 1984, and providing his chart breakthrough in the UK at the same time.
The classic 60s French horror film Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without A Face) centres on the relationship between a gifted but narcissistic surgeon and his daughter. Having caused his daughter's facial disfigurement in a car accident, the guilt-ridden surgeon tries to restore his daughter's beauty by luring girls to his mansion to murder them and graft their features onto his daughter's face (all the experiments fail). Throughout the film, the daughter wears a white mask that makes her look like a porcelain doll; obsessed with his daughter's image, the father robs his daughter of her humanity, except for the vitality of her eyes, which remain the only visible part of her face.
The film inspired the song co-penned by Billy Idol – the French title is memorably sung by backing singer Perri Lister during the chorus – but it would be a mistake to read too much into the relation. The song appears to be about loss of "a love what was once so alive and new" which can never be rekindled. It's about the illusions we create for ourselves, wanting to see a person as we want to and not as they really are; once we discover the truth it forever damages the relationship. The heavier, guitar-led bridge in the middle adds a disturbing, psychotic edge to the song, as if the disillusioned lover is so embittered he feels like killing his former flame.
"Steve came up with a blistering guitar riff for the middle of the song that added a whole other dimension," Idol explained, "rendering it more than just a ballad. I improvised a rapping part to go over the top. Rap was everywhere in New York at the time, in all the discos and clubs, so it made sense after my croon to start talking streetwise over Steve's supersonic barrage of sound."
As with all good lyrics, the precise meaning is hard to locate and leads to different emphasis or interpretations. Someone poignantly posted online that he lost the love of his life through his own actions (he was sent to a detention centre for a year) and he relates to the song because something special is never going to return, "it's gone from your eyes, I'd better realise." Other interpretations are more nuanced, and that the song is about vanity in an age that worships image over substance.
There was a cruel irony concerning the video, directed by David Mallet. Idol's contact lenses dried out during the shoot and fused to his eyes when he fell asleep on a flight. His corneas were scraped at a hospital and he wore bandages on his eyes for three days, becoming an inversion of his own song.
The effect of the lyric and music is quite hypnotising – if you fall under its spell it is hard not to see this as a grossly underrated piece of 1980s pop. Coincidently, the film was not rated by critics on its release in the 1960s. In fact, it took about 30 years for the film to be acclaimed as a classic of its genre. Alas, it is unlikely the song it inspired will get the critical acclaim it deserves.
Not that Idol is too bothered, we suspect, because Eyes Without A Face was a launch pad for commercial success and established him as a major star in the US. He is reputedly worth $50 million. Some teachers just don't get it, do they?
We hereby instate Eyes Without a Face by Billy Idol on The Wall as No.5 Best Single of 1984
I fell in love with this song the very first time I heard the opening slide of ethereal synths from the first bar. The haunting lyrics intrigued me as few songs have done and the backing vocals in French I found beautiful and irresistible.Ant B
