About The Song
“My Eyes Adored You” is a 1974 song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It was originally recorded by The Four Seasons in early 1974. After the Motown label balked at the idea of releasing it, the recording was sold to lead singer Frankie Valli for $4000. After rejections by Capitol and Atlantic Records, Valli succeeded in getting the recording released on Private Stock Records, but the owner/founder of the label, Larry Uttal, wanted only Valli’s name on the label. It is from the album Closeup.
“My Eyes Adored You” is one of the most poignant songs about unrequited love. Valli sings about a girl he loved since his school days, but never attained. She was close to him, but she may just as well have been a million miles away.
This was written by Kenny Nolan and Bob Crewe, the team that gave us “Lady Marmalade,” which replaced this song at #1 on March 29, 1975.
While this was credited to just Frankie Valli, his Four Seasons bandmates sang on it with him. They recorded the song for Motown Records, which they joined in 1970 on the promise that label boss Berry Gordy would personally look after them. That didn’t happen: Gordy got preoccupied working on the film Lady Sings The Blues, starring Motown great Diana Ross. The group released an album on Motown called Chameleon in 1972 that was critically acclaimed but sold poorly. The group was one of the biggest hitmakers of the early and mid-’60s, but hadn’t cracked the Top 40 since 1967. With their foray to Motown a bust, it looked like they were done, but when their contract with the label ended in 1973, Valli, his bandmate Bob Gaudio, and the song’s co-writer Bob Crewe purchased the masters to “My Eyes Adored You” for $4000 and shopped it to other record companies. They finally found a taker in the Private Stock Record label, which released it in 1974 with the artist credited as Frankie Valli. It rose to #1 in America and revived Valli’s career. With his voice back in the spotlight the Four Seasons made a group comeback a year later with “December 1963 (Oh What a Night),” which went to #1 in 1976.
The lyrics, “Walking home every day over Barnegat Bridge and Bay” are a reference to a real place on the coast of New Jersey.
According to the songs’s writers, the original title was “Blue Eyes of Georgia,” by they changed it to “My Eyes Adored You” when they brought it to Valli.
Video
Lyrics
My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me
You couldn’t see how I adored you
So close, so close and yet so far
Carried your books from school
Playin’ make believe you’re married to me
You were fifth grade, I was sixth when we came to be
Walking home every day over Bonnicut Bridge and Bay
‘Til we grew into the me and you
Who went our separate ways
My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me
You couldn’t see how I adored you
So close, so close and yet so far
Headed for city lights
Climbed the ladder up to fortune and fame
I worked my fingers to the bone
Made myself a name
Funny, I seem to find
That no matter how the years unwind
Still I reminisce about the girI miss
And the love I left behind
My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me
You couldn’t see how I adored you
So close, so close and yet so far
All my life I will remember (Though I never laid a hand on you)
How warm and tender we were way back then (My eyes adored you)
Whoa-whoa, baby (Like a million miles away from me)
(You couldn’t see how I adored you)
Oh the feeling, sad regrets (So close)
I know I won’t ever forget you, my childhood friend (So close and yet so far)
My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me
You couldn’t see how I adored you
So close, so close and yet so far
My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you
My eyes adored you